Beyond Algorithms: Hardware-Enabled Innovations in Remote Sensing Payloads, CubeSat Missions and Low-Altitude Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Remote sensing is undergoing a rapid transformation towards miniaturised payloads, agile platforms, and intelligent on-board processing. Advances in sensor design, in-orbit calibration, and multi-platform coordination have created unprecedented opportunities for geosciences, environmental monitoring, urban management, public health, and the emerging low-altitude economy. The continuous evolution of CubeSat technologies, together with innovative airborne and spaceborne payloads, is not only enabling low-cost, high-frequency Earth observation but also fostering novel applications in areas such as precision agriculture, infrastructure monitoring, disaster response, and health geography.

In this Topic, we seek to convene contributions at the frontier of this field that advance the architecture, methodology, and application of next-generation remote and intelligent sensing systems across multiple spatial and technological scales. It spans a continuum from the conception, design, and calibration of innovative sensors and payloads, through satellite and CubeSat missions, to airborne, unmanned aerial, and terrestrial observation networks that together underpin the emerging low-altitude economy. Particular emphasis is placed on the integration of unmanned aerial systems to create agile, reconfigurable, and intelligent platforms that bridge the observational gap between orbital and ground-based sensing, enabling near-real-time data acquisition, edge computing, and multi-scale environmental monitoring. By highlighting the intrinsic synergy among hardware innovation, embedded intelligence, and data-driven analytics, this Topic aims to combine aerospace engineering, electronics, and geomatics into a coherent framework of integrated sensing, fostering new paradigms for urban observability, resilient infrastructure, and sustainable spatial governance while redefining the interface between aerospace capabilities and the complex socio-economic systems of the contemporary world.

We invite the submission of regular articles presenting original research, technical developments, and applied studies. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Design, development, calibration, and in-orbit validation of novel airborne and spaceborne payloads (multi-/hyperspectral, thermal, LiDAR, radar);
• CubeSat technologies and mission concepts, including payload miniaturisation, intelligent on-board processing, and multi-satellite collaboration;
• Data fusion, physical modelling, and AI-based methods tailored to hardware-enabled, near-real-time, and low-altitude applications;
• Hardware-enabled remote sensing applications: Urban airspace management, smart agriculture, infrastructure monitoring, disaster response, epidemiology, and health geography, all supported by advances in novel payloads, sensors, and edge computing hardware rather than by purely algorithmic innovation;
• Economic and societal applications leveraging novel hardware: Urbanisation monitoring, industrial distribution, and disaster-related economic loss assessment, underpinned by breakthroughs in sensor design, CubeSat platforms, and integrated processing hardware.

Prof. Dr. Shaoju Wang
Prof. Dr. Xiang Zhang
Dr. Mahlatse Kganyago
Dr. Aminjon A. Gulakhmadov
Prof. Dr. Zongxuan Li
Topic Editors