Intelligent Image Processing and Sensing for Drones 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are widely applied in a variety of fields, with the ability to hover and maneuver by the operator or as programmed making them valuable tools. By capturing images from various angles and heights, drones can obtain cost-effective aerial views covering arbitrary areas. Applications for drones include agricultural and environmental monitoring, industrial and infrastructure inspection, security and surveillance, etc.

A wide range of imaging sensors can be mounted on a drone; in addition to visible cameras, these include infrared thermal and multispectral imaging. LiDAR and SAR are active sensors that can also be mounted on drones. These mobile aerial sensors provide a new perspective on research and development across various domains. However, challenges are often posed because of drones’ unique sensing environments and limited resources. The information acquired by them is certainly of tremendous value, yet intelligent analysis is necessary to make the best use of it. 

This Special Issue focuses on a wide range of intelligent processing of images, signals, and sensor data acquired by drones. The objectives of intelligent processing range from the refinement of raw data to the extraction and processing of featured attributes and the symbolic representation or visualization of the real world. These can be achieved through image/signal processing and deep/machine learning techniques. The latest technological developments will be disseminated in this Special Issue; researchers and investigators are invited to contribute original research or review articles.

Prof. Dr. Seokwon Yeom
Guest Editor

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. Drones is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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.

• visible/infrared thermal/multispectral image analysis
• LiDAR/SAR with a drone
• security and surveillance
• monitoring and inspection
• object detection, classification, and tracking
• segmentation and feature extraction
• image registration and visualization

• Intelligent Image Processing and Sensing for Drones in Drones (11 articles)