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Intelligent Sensing, Digital Twins, and AI Applications for Smart Infrastructure and the Built Environment

A Special Issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220) belonging to the section "Intelligent Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 333

Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Construction Informatics, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
2. Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA, UK
Interests: digital twins; BIM; artificial intelligence (AI); smart infrastructure; computer vision; facility management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering and the Built Environment, Birmingham City University, City Centre Campus, Millennium Point, Birmingham B4 7XG, UK
Interests: digital technologies; business management; health and safety; pedagogical research in higher education; construction management; plant and machinery management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 7a JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
Interests: digital twin; construction management; AI; off-site construction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sensing technologies, AI, IoT systems, and Digital Twins are meaningfully changing how infrastructure and built environments are monitored and maintained. Over the past several years, there has been growing interest among both researchers and practitioners in intelligent sensing systems that can support real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and more informed decision-making across the building and infrastructure lifecycle.

The integration of these technologies with BIM, computer vision, robotics, and structural health monitoring has opened up genuine opportunities for developing more resilient and responsive infrastructure systems, with applications spanning buildings, transport networks, smart cities, and energy systems. Yet practical challenges persist around data interoperability, sensor integration, scalability, and the practical realities of deploying intelligent systems outside of controlled settings.

This Special Issue aims to bring together original research and review papers addressing recent developments and emerging challenges in intelligent sensing, AI-driven methods, and Digital Twin applications for the built environment. We welcome contributions that engage with both theoretical questions and real-world implementation. Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Intelligent sensing systems for infrastructure monitoring.
  • Digital Twin applications for buildings and infrastructure.
  • Sensor integration and IoT-enabled infrastructure systems.
  • AI and machine learning applications in the built environment.
  • Computer vision and image-based infrastructure inspection.
  • Structural health monitoring and predictive maintenance.
  • BIM and information interoperability.
  • Smart asset and facility management.
  • Robotics and automation in construction and infrastructure.
  • AR/VR/MR applications for infrastructure systems.
  • Smart city sensing and urban digitalisation.
  • Data-driven decision support systems for infrastructure management.
  • Sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems.
  • Real-time monitoring and sensor fusion technologies.

Dr. Hamidreza Alavi
Prof. Dr. David John Edwards
Dr. Mudan Wang
Dr. Amir Mahdiyar
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors 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 2600 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

  • intelligent sensing
  • digital twins
  • artificial intelligence
  • smart infrastructure
  • building information modelling (BIM)
  • internet of things (IoT)
  • structural health monitoring
  • computer vision
  • smart cities
  • infrastructure monitoring

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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