Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Based Inspection in Infrastructure Maintenance
A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Remote Sensing".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1154
Special Issue Editors
Interests: road inspection; bridge displacement; civil engineer; UAV; drones GNSS; Beidou; remote sensing
Interests: UAV inspection; machine vision; deep learning; deformation monitoring; precision navigation and positioning
Interests: deep learning; image analysis; robotics; structural inspection and evaluation; digital twin; building information modeling (BIM); automated construction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The rapid advancements in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology have revolutionized the field of infrastructure inspection. UAVs are now integral tools for performing detailed and efficient inspections of critical infrastructure, offering significant improvements over traditional methods. Their ability to access difficult-to-reach areas, coupled with advancements in sensor technologies (e.g., high-resolution imaging, LiDAR, thermal sensing), enables real-time, high-precision monitoring. This Special Issue explores the growing role of UAVs in infrastructure maintenance, focusing on their application in the monitoring, inspection, and assessment of structures such as bridges, roads, dams, and power lines.
This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in UAV-based infrastructure inspection techniques. It seeks to highlight the potential of UAVs to enhance the accuracy, efficiency, and safety of infrastructure maintenance practices. This Special Issue aligns with the journal's scope, emphasizing the intersection of remote sensing technologies and infrastructure management. We invite contributions that address both the technological advancements and practical applications of UAVs in infrastructure maintenance. Articles may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- UAV-based surface damage identification in bridges, roads, slopes, and dams;
- UAVs for detecting corrosion and cracking in steel and concrete structures;
- UAV-based infrastructure deformation monitoring;
- Deep learning for detection of surface damage;
- Machine vision-based methods for detection of surface damage in infrastructure;
- Sensor technologies covering machine vision, multispectral, thermal, LiDAR, etc.;
- Multi-source heterogeneous data fusion and damage detection;
- Non-contact monitoring for infrastructure.
Dr. Jiayong Yu
Prof. Dr. Wujiao Dai
Prof. Dr. Jiangpeng Shu
Prof. Dr. Qian Fan
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. Remote Sensing 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 2700 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.
Keywords
- unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
- infrastructure maintenance
- remote sensing
- inspection
- LiDAR
- thermal imaging
- machine vision
- structural health monitoring
- multi-sensor technologies
- deep learning
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