Advances in Aerial Robotics for UAS Networks and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce the release of the Special Issue, “Advances in Aerial Robotics for UAS Networks and Applications”, and we look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned aerial systems (UASs) are gaining noticeable momentum in a variety of applications such as traffic monitoring, last-mile delivery, precision agriculture, surveillance, search and rescue, photography, reconnaissance, inspection, etc. A resilient, safe, efficient, and scalable deployment of such technology relies on the development of algorithms as well as control and management architectures based on aerial robotics principles. Aerial robotics refers to the design, control, perception, and autonomy of UAVs and UASs. It is based on the integration of aerospace engineering, robotics, control systems, computer science, and artificial intelligence to enable intelligent, autonomous UAS applications in complex, dynamic, and populated environments. The design and optimization of task scheduling protocols, intelligent planning, navigation, and control algorithms, as well as fleet management architectures, is a non-trivial challenge for enabling advanced autonomous UAV networks and UAS applications. Moreover, social acceptance barriers such as privacy, safety, and noise pollution concerns are of utmost importance for urban air mobility ecosystems, highlighting the need to develop human-centered decision-making algorithms as well as secure and resilient UAS communication protocols. The aim of this Special Issue is to spotlight the latest advancements in aerial robotics methods, focusing on UAV networks and UAS applications. This Special Issue seeks to attract researchers and engineers working in the exciting field of aerial robotics for UAS networks and applications. Both review papers and original papers are acceptable. We welcome authors to submit their research on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

• Autonomous UAS navigation;
• Intelligent control strategies for UAV flight control systems;
• Coordination, cooperation, and communications in UAV swarms and UAV networks;
• UAV path planning, trajectory optimization, and collision avoidance;
• UAV-based intelligent transportation;
• Energy-efficient routing and optimal job scheduling for UAS applications;
• UAV fleet control architectures;
• Human-centered decision-making for urban air mobility;
• Smart urban air mobility;
• Distributed estimation theory applied to UAV swarms;
• Control, cooperation, and communications in heterogeneous robotic systems (e.g., UAVs, UGVs, etc.);
• Unmanned traffic management;
• Artificial intelligence for large-scale urban air mobility operations.

Dr. Marco Rinaldi
Dr. Renan Sanches Geronel
Dr. Stefano Primatesta
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• aerial robotics
• UAS
• UAVs
• multi-agent system
• UAV networks
• optimization algorithm
• UAV control
• intelligent transportation system
• UTM
• applied AI
• UAM
• intelligent vehicles
• autonomous navigation
• intelligent control
• UAV swarm
• human-centered design