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Innovative Sensor Systems and Applications: Enabling Navigation, Perception, and Decision-Making Across Domains

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Navigation and Positioning".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2025 | Viewed by 797

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
Interests: signal processing; sensor data fusion; applied optimal estimation; artificial intelligence; nonlinear system identification; fast orthogonal search; parallel cascade identification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical Engineering, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61761, USA
Interests: multi-sensor data fusion and integrated positioning technologies; navigation systems and control systems; robotics and autonomous platforms; optimization techniques; adaptive filtering; signal processing; multi-resolution data analysis; IoT; wearable technology; UAV applications; biomechanics; human-machine interaction; cybersecurity for autonomous systems; educational technologies; design thinking; and AI-powered solutions for applications in aviation, agriculture, healthcare, and intelligent systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sensors are transforming how systems and devices interact with their environments, enabling intelligent navigation, perception, and decision-making in diverse domains such as robotics, autonomous vehicles, wearable devices, public safety, agriculture, aviation, sports, and rehabilitation. These advances have transformed human activities and industrial practices, creating unprecedented opportunities for innovation and interdisciplinary research.

Integrating multiple complementary sensors with unique strengths is essential for achieving robust situational awareness and supporting large-scale and small decision-making. Core sensors for navigation and perception include accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, cameras, radar, ultrasound, LiDAR, hyperspectral and thermal cameras, infrared detectors, environmental sensors (e.g., temperature, humidity, pressure), and proximity sensors. When combined with enabling technologies such as GNSS, Wi-Fi, LTE, Bluetooth, ultrasonic, sonar, A-GPS, 5G, UWB, and edge computing, these systems deliver accurate positioning, real-time adaptability, and seamless communication, ensuring superior performance across a broad spectrum of applications.

This Special Issue aims to highlight the latest advancements in sensor technologies and their applications in navigation, perception, and decision-making systems. We invite researchers to contribute original studies and comprehensive reviews that explore cutting-edge developments in sensor design, integration, and application across various fields.

Research Topics

Advancing intelligent sensing and navigation for diverse applications:

  • Sensor Architecture and Calibration;
  • Signal Processing for Advanced Sensing;
  • Sensor Data Fusion Techniques;
  • Applied Optimal Estimation;
  • Multi-Sensor Integration and Decision Support;
  • Sensing, Monitoring, and Mapping Technologies;
  • Remote Monitoring and Laser Scanning;
  • Computer Vision for Perception Systems;
  • Indoor/Outdoor Navigation and Perception Systems;
  • Navigation and Visual Scanning Technologies;
  • Vehicle and Personal Location Tracking;
  • Artificial Intelligence in Sensing and Perception;
  • Decision Support Systems;
  • Novel Applications: Robotics, Vehicles, Wearables, Agriculture, Public Safety, Aviation, Sports Performance, Rehabilitation, Tactical Training, and Precision Navigation.

Prof. Dr. Michael J. Korenberg
Prof. Dr. Aboelmagd Noureldin
Assoc. Prof. Umar Iqbal
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. 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

  • advanced sensor data fusion and integration
  • navigation and perception in complex environments
  • indoor/outdoor localization and mapping technologies
  • robotics and autonomous vehicles sensor systems
  • wearable technologies for health, sports, and safety
  • intelligent and adaptive sensor architectures
  • multi-sensor networks for precision agriculture
  • public safety and tactical training sensors
  • aviation and aerospace navigation innovations
  • sports performance and rehabilitation monitoring systems
  • AI-driven sensing and decision-making technologies
  • remote monitoring and surveillance applications
  • environmental and proximity sensing in challenging conditions
  • hyperspectral and thermal imaging sensors

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

27 pages, 31172 KB  
Article
Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied Environments
by Benjamin Reimeir, Amelie Leininger, Raimund Edlinger, Andreas Nüchter and Gernot Grömer
Sensors 2025, 25(15), 4615; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154615 - 25 Jul 2025
Viewed by 513
Abstract
Future planetary exploration missions will rely heavily on efficient human–robot interaction to ensure astronaut safety and maximize scientific return. In this context, digital twins offer a promising tool for planning, simulating, and optimizing extravehicular activities. This study presents the development and evaluation of [...] Read more.
Future planetary exploration missions will rely heavily on efficient human–robot interaction to ensure astronaut safety and maximize scientific return. In this context, digital twins offer a promising tool for planning, simulating, and optimizing extravehicular activities. This study presents the development and evaluation of a digital twin for the AMADEE-24 analog Mars mission, organized by the Austrian Space Forum and conducted in Armenia in March 2024. Alternative local positioning methods were evaluated to enhance the system’s utility in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied environments. The digital twin integrates telemetry from the Aouda space suit simulators, inertial measurement unit motion capture (IMU-MoCap), and sensor data from the Intuitive Rover Operation and Collecting Samples (iROCS) rover. All nine experiment runs were reconstructed successfully by the developed digital twin. A comparative analysis of localization methods found that Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)-based rover positioning and IMU-MoCap localization of the astronaut matched Global Positioning System (GPS) performance. Adaptive Cluster Detection showed significantly higher deviations compared to the previous GNSS alternatives. However, the IMU-MoCap method was limited by discontinuous segment-wise measurements, which required intermittent GPS recalibration. Despite these limitations, the results highlight the potential of alternative localization techniques for digital twin integration. Full article
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