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101 Results Found

  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
1,753 Views
24 Pages

22 September 2025

This paper addresses the cruise range maximization problem for hypersonic drones by proposing a combined aerodynamic force/thrust vector trajectory optimization method. A novel continuous linear parameterization strategy for trajectory optimization i...

(This article belongs to the Section Aerospace Actuators)
  • Communication
  • Open Access
3 Citations
3,274 Views
11 Pages

15 April 2022

In this work, we focus on a drone-fleet-enabled package delivery scenario, in which multiple drones fly from a start point and cooperatively deliver packages to the ground users in the presence of a number of no-fly zones (NFZs). We first mathematica...

(This article belongs to the Section Intelligent Sensors)
  • Article
  • Open Access
15 Citations
4,386 Views
24 Pages

The application of drones has contributed to automated herbicide spraying in the context of precision agriculture. Although drone technology is mature, the widespread application of agricultural drones and their numerous advantages still demand impro...

(This article belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence and Digital Agriculture)
  • Article
  • Open Access
28 Citations
10,552 Views
23 Pages

30 August 2022

This paper presents an optimized robust trajectory control system for an autonomous tiltrotor bi-copter based on an incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion (INDI) strategy combined with a set of PID/PD controllers. The methodology includes a lower le...

(This article belongs to the Section Sensors and Control in Robotics)
  • Article
  • Open Access
14 Citations
4,871 Views
23 Pages

15 September 2022

This paper presents a trajectory determination and optimization method of multirotors equipped with a single-channel radar to obtain 3D Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging. The result is a realistic trajectory that allows to obtain an imaging of the ass...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advancements in Radar Imaging and Sensing Technology II)
  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
1,526 Views
38 Pages

To address the insufficient exploration ability, susceptibility to local optima, and limited convergence accuracy of the standard Student Psychology-Based Optimization (SPBO) algorithm in three-dimensional UAV trajectory planning, we propose an enhan...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploration of Bio-Inspired Computing: 2nd Edition)
  • Article
  • Open Access
25 Citations
4,520 Views
30 Pages

3D Global Path Planning Optimization for Cellular-Connected UAVs under Link Reliability Constraint

  • Mehran Behjati,
  • Rosdiadee Nordin,
  • Muhammad Aidiel Zulkifley and
  • Nor Fadzilah Abdullah

19 November 2022

This paper proposes an effective global path planning technique for cellular-connected UAVs to enhance the reliability of unmanned aerial vehicles’ (UAVs) flights operating beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS). Cellular networks are consider...

(This article belongs to the Section Sensor Networks)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
1,437 Views
19 Pages

This paper presents an offline optimal trajectory planning method for powered parachutes (PPCs) using dynamic model simulations, emphasizing their potential in applications such as remote sensing and aerial delivery systems. A six-degrees-of-freedom...

(This article belongs to the Section Aeronautics)
  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
4,094 Views
22 Pages

Trajectory Planning of a Mother Ship Considering Seakeeping Indices to Enhance Launch and Recovery Operations of Autonomous Drones

  • Salvatore Rosario Bassolillo,
  • Egidio D’Amato,
  • Salvatore Iacono,
  • Silvia Pennino and
  • Antonio Scamardella

23 September 2024

This research focuses on integrating seakeeping indices into the trajectory planning of a mother ship in order to minimize risks during UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) takeoff and landing in challenging sea conditions. By considering vessel dynamics an...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers of Oceans 2024)
  • Article
  • Open Access
19 Citations
4,261 Views
14 Pages

11 March 2021

In this paper, we address the application of the flying Drone Base Stations (DBS) in order to improve the network performance. Given the high degrees of freedom of a DBS, it can change its position and adapt its trajectory according to the users move...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue UAV-Based Wireless Sensor Networks Systems: Research, Technologies, and Applications)
  • Article
  • Open Access
17 Citations
6,929 Views
19 Pages

Autonomous drones offer immense potential in dynamic environments, but their navigation systems often struggle with moving obstacles. This paper presents a novel approach for drone trajectory planning in such scenarios, combining the Interactive Mult...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aerodynamics, Flight Dynamics and Control of Advanced Air Mobility Vehicles)
  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
2,003 Views
34 Pages

Increasing Automation on Mission Planning for Heterogeneous Multi-Rotor Drone Fleets in Emergency Response

  • Ilham Zerrouk,
  • Esther Salamí,
  • Cristina Barrado,
  • Gautier Hattenberger and
  • Enric Pastor

24 November 2025

Drones are increasingly vital for disaster management, yet emergency fleets often consist of heterogeneous platforms, complicating task allocation. Efficient deployment requires rapid assignment based on vehicle and payload characteristics. This work...

(This article belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
  • Article
  • Open Access
51 Citations
8,978 Views
18 Pages

Deep Reinforcement Learning for Truck-Drone Delivery Problem

  • Zhiliang Bi,
  • Xiwang Guo,
  • Jiacun Wang,
  • Shujin Qin and
  • Guanjun Liu

6 July 2023

Utilizing drones for delivery is an effective approach to enhancing delivery efficiency and lowering expenses. However, to overcome the delivery range and payload capacity limitations of drones, the combination of trucks and drones is gaining more at...

  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
4,927 Views
27 Pages

28 July 2024

Drone aerial videos have immense potential in surveillance, rescue, agriculture, and urban planning. However, accurately tracking multiple objects in drone aerial videos faces challenges like occlusion, scale variations, and rapid motion. Current joi...

  • Article
  • Open Access
6 Citations
4,208 Views
24 Pages

22 August 2024

In practical missions, quadrotor drones frequently face the challenge of navigating through multiple predetermined waypoints in cluttered environments where the sequence of the waypoints is not specified. This study presents a comprehensive multi-way...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Path Planning, Trajectory Tracking and Guidance for UAVs)
  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
4,275 Views
23 Pages

10 August 2024

This article introduces a rapid interception trajectory generation algorithm tailored for the mitigation of malicious drone activities and other high-speed airborne threats. The proposed method facilitates a high degree of flexibility in defining the...

  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
2,570 Views
32 Pages

7 August 2024

To address the issues of communication failure and inefficiency in clustered drone relay communication due to external malicious interference, this paper proposes a joint optimization method for relay communication rates under interference conditions...

  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
3,454 Views
22 Pages

31 August 2022

This paper presents a novel trajectory planning approach for nonlinear dynamical systems; a multi-rotor drone, built on an optimization-based framework proposed by the authors named the Nonlinear Model Predictive Horizon. In the present work, this me...

(This article belongs to the Section Aerospace Robotics and Autonomous Systems)
  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
4,097 Views
25 Pages

17 October 2024

This paper introduces a swift method for intercepting the state trajectory of large-scale invading drone swarms using quadrotor drones. The research primarily concentrates on the design and computation of multi-target interception trajectories, with...

  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
3,839 Views
25 Pages

20 April 2020

The optimization issues connected to a landing task of an unmanned aerial vehicle are discussed in the paper, based on a model of a mini-class drone. Three landing scenarios are considered, including minimum-time landing, landing with minimum energy...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1,340 Views
16 Pages

Drone localization is essential for various purposes such as navigation, autonomous flight, and object tracking. However, this task is challenging when satellite signals are unavailable. This paper addresses database-free vision-only localization of...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Research and Applications of Computer Vision and Image Processing)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
2,997 Views
22 Pages

Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs), as an innovative method employing neural networks for the implicit representation of 3D scenes, have been able to synthesize images from arbitrary viewpoints and successfully apply them to the visualization of objects...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Computer Vision and Deep Learning and Its Applications)
  • Article
  • Open Access
10 Citations
3,993 Views
18 Pages

For a communication control system in a disaster area where drones (also called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)) are used as aerial base stations (ABSs), the reliability of communication is a key challenge for drones to provide emergency communicatio...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 2024 and 2025 Feature Papers from Future Internet’s Editorial Board Members)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,702 Views
19 Pages

With the increased proliferation of drone use for many purposes, counter drone technology has become crucial. This rapid expansion has inherently introduced significant opportunities and applications. This creates applications such as aerial surveill...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in UAV Technology: Dynamics, Guidance, Navigation, and Control of Transformative Aerial Vehicles)
  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
10,705 Views
30 Pages

Simulation-Based Comparison of Novel Automated Construction Systems

  • Lukas Herrmann,
  • Roland Boumann,
  • Mario Lehmann,
  • Samuel Müller and
  • Tobias Bruckmann

31 October 2022

As automated construction processes require large workspaces and high payloads, the use of cables is a reasonable approach to span wide distances and share loads. Therefore, a cable-driven parallel robot is a suitable choice for automated masonry con...

(This article belongs to the Section Industrial Robots and Automation)
  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
10 Citations
3,640 Views
23 Pages

Bridging ACO-Based Drone Logistics and Computing Continuum for Enhanced Smart City Applications

  • Salvatore Rosario Bassolillo,
  • Egidio D’Amato,
  • Immacolata Notaro,
  • Luca D’Agati and ,
  • Giovanni Merlino and
  • Giuseppe Tricomi
  • + 1 author+ 0 author

13 May 2025

In the context of evolving Smart Cities, the integration of drone technology and distributed computing paradigms presents significant potential for enhancing urban infrastructure and services. This paper proposes a comprehensive approach to optimizin...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drone Communication, Networking, and Trajectory Control in Urban Environments)
  • Article
  • Open Access
20 Citations
5,299 Views
18 Pages

A qLPV-MPC Control Strategy for Trajectory Tracking of Quadrotors

  • Daniel Rodriguez-Guevara,
  • Antonio Favela-Contreras and
  • Oscar Julian Gonzalez-Villarreal

19 July 2023

This article proposes a model predictive control (MPC) strategy for a quadrotor drone trajectory tracking based on a compact state-space model based on a quasi-linear parameter varying (qLPV) representation of the nonlinear quadrotor. The use of a qL...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nonlinear and Adaptive Control of Intelligent Machines)
  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
6,185 Views
22 Pages

UAVs Trajectory Optimization for Data Pick Up and Delivery with Time Window

  • Ines Khoufi,
  • Anis Laouiti,
  • Cedric Adjih and
  • Mohamed Hadded

16 April 2021

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, are a class of aircraft without the presence of pilots on board. UAVs have the ability to reduce the time and cost of deliveries and to respond to emergency situations. Currently, UAVs are extens...

  • Article
  • Open Access
13 Citations
7,160 Views
23 Pages

This paper presents a trajectory generation method for a nonlinear system under closed-loop control (here a quadrotor drone) motivated by the Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) method. Unlike NMPC, the proposed method employs a closed-loop sys...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Navigation and Control of UAVs)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
3,183 Views
25 Pages

Enhancing Drone Detection via Transformer Neural Network and Positive–Negative Momentum Optimizers

  • Pavel Lyakhov,
  • Denis Butusov,
  • Vadim Pismennyy,
  • Ruslan Abdulkadirov and ,
  • Nikolay Nagornov,
  • Valerii Ostrovskii and
  • Diana Kalita
  • + 2 authors+ 0 author

The rapid development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has had a significant impact on the growth of the economic, industrial, and social welfare of society. The possibility of reaching places that are difficult and dangerous for humans to access w...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
2,851 Views
21 Pages

31 August 2024

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft attract attention due to their unique characteristics of reduced noise, moderate pollutant emission, and lowered operating cost. However, the benefits of electric vehicles, including eVTOL aircra...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Machine Learning, Control, and Optimization in Manufacturing and Industry 4.0)
  • Article
  • Open Access
25 Citations
5,272 Views
21 Pages

26 February 2022

In this paper, we present a distributed algorithm to generate collision-free trajectories for a group of quadrotors flying through a common workspace. In the setup adopted, each vehicle replans its trajectory, in a receding horizon manner, by solving...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Motion Optimization and Control of Single and Multiple Autonomous Aerial, Land, and Marine Robots)
  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
2,499 Views
20 Pages

Multi-Feature Re-Identification Enhanced Dual Motion Modeling for Multi Small-Object Tracking

  • Ruiqi Ma,
  • Qinghua Sheng,
  • Yulu Chen,
  • Zehao Tao and ,
  • Sheng Wang,
  • Xiaoyan Niu and
  • Shuhan Chen
  • + 2 authors+ 0 author

14 September 2025

Multi Small-Object Tracking (MSOT) is crucial for drone inspection and intelligent monitoring, yet traditional Multiple-object Tracking (MOT) methods perform poorly in such scenarios. The reasons include the following: small targets have low resoluti...

(This article belongs to the Section Sensing and Imaging)
  • Article
  • Open Access
11 Citations
4,726 Views
21 Pages

18 February 2025

The localization of unmanned aerial vehicles is an important topic due to several threats near sensitive sites. Localization based on their sounds has been a particular point of interest in past studies for many years. It requires the use of a microp...

  • Article
  • Open Access
14 Citations
3,471 Views
31 Pages

Urban drone applications require efficient path planning to ensure safe and optimal navigation through complex environments. Drawing inspiration from the collective intelligence of animal groups and electoral processes in human societies, this study...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Inspired Metaheuristic Optimization Algorithms 2025)
  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
3,873 Views
18 Pages

27 October 2022

This paper presents an adaptive trajectory planning approach for nonlinear dynamical systems based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL). This methodology is applied to the authors’ recently published optimization-based trajectory planning appro...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in UAV Navigation)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,704 Views
15 Pages

2 November 2024

Drones integrated with 5G New Radio (NR) base stations have emerged as a promising solution for efficient victim search and localization in emergency zones where cellular networks are disrupted by natural disasters. Traditional approaches relying sol...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Parallel, Distributed, Edge Computing in UAV Communication)
  • Article
  • Open Access
3,244 Views
24 Pages

17 March 2025

In drone countermeasure systems, drone tracking is commonly conducted using object detection methods, which are typically limited to identifying the presence of a drone. To enhance the performance of such systems and improve the accuracy of drone fli...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Deep Learning for Drones and Its Applications: 2nd Edition)
  • Article
  • Open Access
21 Citations
6,284 Views
33 Pages

1 April 2024

To improve the search efficiency of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm in disaster areas, the target distribution probability graph in the prior information is introduced, and a drone cluster search trajectory planning method based on probabilit...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Perception, Communications, and Control for Drones)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1,409 Views
19 Pages

2 December 2025

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as mobile sensor platforms has grown significantly in recent years, including applications where drones emulate radar targets or serve as dynamic measurement systems. This paper presents a novel approach to...

(This article belongs to the Section Radar Sensors)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
1,532 Views
21 Pages

To enhance the rapid and stable tracking of a specified trajectory by quadcopter drones, while ensuring a degree of resistance to external wind disturbances, this paper proposes an integrated control strategy that combines an optimization algorithm a...

  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
2,367 Views
12 Pages

21 May 2024

In recent years, the issue of trajectory planning for autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has received significant attention due to the rising demand for these vehicles across various applications. Despite advancements, real-time trajectory pl...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimal Design, Dynamics, and Navigation of Drones)
  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
6,325 Views
24 Pages

Towards Fully Autonomous Drone Tracking by a Reinforcement Learning Agent Controlling a Pan–Tilt–Zoom Camera

  • Mariusz Wisniewski,
  • Zeeshan A. Rana,
  • Ivan Petrunin,
  • Alan Holt and
  • Stephen Harman

30 May 2024

Pan–tilt–zoom cameras are commonly used for surveillance applications. Their automation could reduce the workload of human operators and increase the safety of airports by tracking anomalous objects such as drones. Reinforcement learning...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue UAV Detection, Classification, and Tracking)
  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
3,482 Views
27 Pages

30 April 2025

Multi-object tracking (MOT) is a key intermediate task in many practical applications and theoretical fields, facing significant challenges due to complex scenarios, particularly in the context of drone-based air-to-ground military operations. During...

  • Article
  • Open Access
18 Citations
10,843 Views
42 Pages

Quantitative Assessment of Drone Pilot Performance

  • Daniela Doroftei,
  • Geert De Cubber,
  • Salvatore Lo Bue and
  • Hans De Smet

13 September 2024

This paper introduces a quantitative methodology for assessing drone pilot performance, aiming to reduce drone-related incidents by understanding the human factors influencing performance. The challenge lies in balancing evaluations in operationally...

(This article belongs to the Collection Drones for Security and Defense Applications)
  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
51 Citations
7,010 Views
21 Pages

1 October 2024

In recent years, navigating rotor drones in complex and dynamic environments has been a significant challenge. This paper proposes an improved path planning method by integrating the enhanced Informed-RRT* algorithm with the Dynamic Window Approach (...

  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
2,299 Views
22 Pages

23 October 2025

Constrained by fixed frame dimensions, conventional drones usually demonstrate insufficient capabilities to accommodate complex environments. However, the reconfigurable drone can address this limitation through its deformable frame equipped with act...

(This article belongs to the Topic Innovation and Inventions in Aerospace and UAV Applications)
  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
2,828 Views
23 Pages

24 May 2023

It is still a challenge to detect small-size vehicles from a drone perspective, particularly under low-brightness conditions. In this context, a YOLOX-IM-DeepSort model was proposed, which improved the object detection performance in low-brightness c...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Sustainable Development of Transportation)
  • Article
  • Open Access
38 Citations
10,967 Views
17 Pages

Non-Linear Model Predictive Control Using CasADi Package for Trajectory Tracking of Quadrotor

  • Mohamed Elhesasy,
  • Tarek N. Dief,
  • Mohammed Atallah,
  • Mohamed Okasha and ,
  • Mohamed M. Kamra,
  • Shigeo Yoshida and
  • Mostafa A. Rushdi
  • + 2 authors+ 0 author

22 February 2023

In this paper, we present the development of a non-linear model predictive controller for the trajectory tracking of a quadrotor using the CasADi optimization framework. The non-linear dynamic model of the quadrotor was derived using Newton–Eul...

(This article belongs to the Topic Advanced Electric Vehicle Technology)
  • Article
  • Open Access
11 Citations
4,131 Views
22 Pages

10 July 2025

The integration of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) with non-terrestrial networks (NTNs), particularly those enabled by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drone-based platforms, has emerged as a transformative approach to enhance 6G connect...

(This article belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

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