Dear Colleagues,

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become indispensable for remote sensing applications. UAVs have created fascinating possibilities to gather data in ways that have not been possible before. In many scenarios, UAVs have become a viable alternative to traditional airborne sensors and, even more, they have expanded the use of aerial data in application scenarios where this has not been done before.

One specific field of application that has benefited from these developments is 3D reconstruction and mapping. Due to their small size and weight, UAVs can carry sensors (camera, laser scanner, etc.) very close to structures of interest and are able to produce high-resolution measurements. UAVs can move into positions that provide unobstructed views onto surveyed structures and easily can provide full coverage. 

These properties make UAVs very well suited to be used, e.g., in urban environments, as they allow for the generation of high-fidelity maps, orthoimages, or 3D digital reconstructions of as-built structures likes buildings or other man-made infrastructures. Other application domains where UAV’s are frequently used are environmental 3D mapping and monitoring, change detection analyses, the digitalization of natural heritage, precision farming, digital twinning, etc.

A big role for the success of UAV platforms and data is played by algorithms and techniques for proper sensors handling and data processing. Algorithms for 3D reconstruction and 3D mapping are crucial to generate high-quality 3D measurements, and despite many years of UAV investigations and applications, there are still various R&D open issues related to such platforms.

The Special Issue is proposed as a cross-discipline and sector Issue, with the aim of contributing to an increase in the level of knowledge in the context of UAV for 3D mapping. In particular, we solicit papers presenting investigations with UAV platforms and remote sensing data acquired with these platforms:

-Large-scale mapping and 3D reconstruction;

-Autonomous navigation;

-3D documentation of complex scenarios;

-Onboard SLAM;

-Online and real-time processing;

-Data fusion (integration of UAV data with other sources);

-Machine/deep learning for UAV perception (real-time object detection, semantic classification for navigation, etc.);

-Applications in non-topographic fields (agriculture, forestry, etc.).

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. Remote Sensing 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 2700 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.

• UAV
• Drone
• Photogrammetry
• 3D reconstruction
• 3D mapping
• Stereo matching
• Tie-point matching
• Semantic 3D
• Orthophoto generation
• DSM generation
• SLAM
• Data fusion.