Special Issues

Drones publishes Special Issues to create collections of papers on specific topics, with the aim of building a community of authors and readers to discuss the latest research and develop new ideas and research directions. Special Issues are led by Guest Editors, who are experts on the topic and all Special Issue submissions follow MDPI's standard editorial process. The journal’s Editor-in-Chief and/or designated Editorial Board Member will oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, checking their content for relevance and ensuring the suitability of the material for the journal. The papers published in a Special Issue will be collected and displayed on a dedicated page of the journal’s website. Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies and Guest Editor responsibilities can be found here. For any inquiries related to a Special Issue, please contact the Editorial Office.

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Detection, Identification and Tracking of UAVs and Drones
edited by Richard Han, V.P Nguyen, Karthik Dantu and
submission deadline 24 Apr 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 11950 | Submission Open
Keywords: detection; tracking; identification; sensor fusion; artificial intelligence; machine learning; localization
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Drone-Based Information Fusion to Improve Autonomous Navigation submission deadline 28 Apr 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 10108 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous navigation; localization; computer vision; information fusion; artificial intelligence
Mobile Fog and Edge Computing in Drone Swarms
edited by , Gokhan Secinti, and
submission deadline 29 Apr 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 22716 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV swarm; mobile fog and edge computing; energy-aware computing; wireless network
Navigation, Control and Mission Planning Advances for Safe, Efficient and Autonomous Drones submission deadline 30 Apr 2025 | 11 articles | Viewed by 28463 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone; path following; navigation; control; machine learning; autonomy; UAV; spacecraft
Path Planning, Trajectory Tracking and Guidance for UAVs: 2nd Edition submission deadline 30 Apr 2025 | 8 articles | Viewed by 7577 | Submission Open
Keywords: path planning; trajectory tracking; guidance; navigation; and control; autonomous control; trajectory optimization; formation and reconfiguration
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Advanced Intelligent Decision-Making and Flight Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 2nd Edition submission deadline 30 Apr 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 4818 | Submission Open
Keywords: intelligent decision-making; intelligent control; learning control; discrete control; fault-tolerant control; position/orientation control; disturbance observer; cooperative control; neural networks; adaptive control
Wearable Technologies for Driving Drones: Innovations and Applications
edited by , and Bojan Jerbić
submission deadline 30 Apr 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1923 | Submission Open
Keywords: wearable technology; drone control systems; human– drone interaction; bio-sensing; gesture recognition; haptic feedback; robotics; augmented reality (AR); virtual reality (VR); ergonomics in drone piloting
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
New Trends in Robust and Adaptive Control for Autonomous Systems submission deadline 30 Apr 2025 | Viewed by 632 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous systems modeling under disturbances; robust control; adaptative control; external disturbances; internal uncertainties; multi-agent coordination under disturbances
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
UAV-Assisted Mobile Wireless Networks and Applications submission deadline 9 May 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 14684 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV networks; mobility management; network control; routing; traffic management
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Advances in Detection and Tracking Applications for Drones and UAM Systems submission deadline 10 May 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 22122 | Submission Open
Keywords: unmanned aerial systems; urban air mobility; sense and avoid; artificial intelligence; sensor fusion; tracking
Emerging Technologies and Innovations in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Control Systems submission deadline 10 May 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 18874 | Submission Open
Keywords: guidance; navigation; and control; sensor design and state estimation; nano technologies; urban air mobility and delivery; space– air– ground integrated network; drone design and development; artificial intelligence; manned-to-unmanned transition; swarming and collaborative tasks; onboard computing
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Advanced Cross-Domain Unmanned Platform Command and Security Technology
edited by , Jialong Zhang and
submission deadline 10 May 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 4747 | Submission Open
Keywords: intelligent control; cross-domain; command; cooperation technologies; security; heterogeneous UAV swarms; unmanned platforms
Advances in UAV Networks Towards 6G
edited by Changchuan Yin, and Mingzhe Chen
submission deadline 15 May 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1770 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV swarm; integrated space– air– ground networks; positioning; trajectory design; data collection
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Autonomous Drone Navigation in GPS-Denied Environments
edited by and Yang Liu
submission deadline 15 May 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1458 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous drone navigation; GPS-denied environment; visual– inertial navigation; visual– inertial odometry; simultaneous localization and mapping; resource-constrained autonomous navigation; robust dynamic sensor calibration
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Recent Advances in Crop Protection Using UAV and UGV submission deadline 16 May 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 31686 | Submission Open
Keywords: crop protection; chemical application; remote sensing; intelligent agriculture; forest protection; precision agriculture; agriculture aerial application
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)
Drones and Machine Learning as a Complementary Tools in Wildlife Biology Studies
edited by and
submission deadline 16 May 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 513 | Submission Open
Keywords: drones; machine learning; Yolo; DeepLabCut; IR Camera; artificial intelligence; behavioural studies
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
Drone-Enabled Smart Sensing: Challenges and Opportunities
edited by , Calvin Coopmans and
submission deadline 16 May 2025 | Viewed by 391 | Submission Open
Keywords: digital twins; smart cities; machine learning; optimal sensor placement; modeling and control; environmental monitoring; precision agriculture; swarm coordination and control; real-time optimization; edge computing; internet of things
Advanced Autonomous Mobility Toward Low-Altitude Economy and Three-Dimensional Transportation Systems
edited by Xiangkun He, Hailong Huang, Caizheng Wang and Henglai Wei
submission deadline 23 May 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 10670 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous aerial vehicles for urban air mobility; autonomous ground vehicles for smart cities; end-to-end autonomous ground and aerial vehicle technologies; AI and machine learning applications in 3D traffic management; cybersecurity and privacy concerns in connected aerial and ground mobility  ; autonomous multimodal mobility technologies; 3D transportation infrastructure planning and design; sensor technologies and perception systems for 3D transportation navigation; energy-efficient propulsion systems for aerial vehicles  ; human factors for aerial autonomous mobility
(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)
Reliable and Green Long-Endurance Drones
edited by
submission deadline 26 May 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 3479 | Submission Open
Keywords: full-electric/hybrid propulsion; power management optimization; innovative aerodynamics; digital twin; fault-tolerant systems; diagnostics and prognostics; reliability/safety analysis
Autonomous Flight of Drone: Control, Trajectory Optimization and Mission Planning: 2nd Edition
edited by and
submission deadline 31 May 2025 | 11 articles | Viewed by 12580 | Submission Open
Keywords: pilot control; intelligent control; UAV formation control; trajectory optimization; mission planning; autonomous system
Unconventional Drone-Based Surveying 2nd Edition submission deadline 31 May 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 7704 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV/USV/UUV; structure-from-motion; LiDAR; thermal imaging; multispectral/hyperspectral imaging; acoustic sensors and sonars; autonomous drones for surveying; swarms of drones; operation in hard environments
Advances in Perception and Artificial Intelligence for Autonomous Vehicles
edited by Rohan Chandra and
submission deadline 31 May 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2712 | Submission Open
Keywords: generative AI; perception; large language models; foundation models; deep learning; sensor fusion; autonomous vehicles; semantic communication
(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)
Biological UAV Swarm Control
edited by and
submission deadline 31 May 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1168 | Submission Open
Keywords: biological swarm intelligence; swarm autonomous control; pigeon-inspired optimization
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
UAV Piloting, Training, Cooperation, and Interaction
edited by David Nembhard and Runwen Qin
submission deadline 5 Jun 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1256 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV piloting; HRI; UAV cooperation; pilot training; pilot biometrics; human performance in complex systems
Drones for Mapping and Monitoring Wetland Ecosystems submission deadline 16 Jun 2025 | Viewed by 582 | Submission Open
Keywords: wetlands; long-term monitoring; mapping with drones; survey; sampling; conservation; harmful blooms
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
Advances in Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
edited by Yueneng Yang
submission deadline 20 Jun 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 23972 | Submission Open
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series: On Selected Areas of Quantum Engineering, Internet, Privacy, and Security in Drones
edited by
submission deadline 20 Jun 2025 | Viewed by 316 | Submission Open
Keywords: quantum internet; quantum communication theory; quantum computing; quantum sensing; quantum codesign over drones; quantum communication protocols; quantum aerial networks; quantum experimental results; quantum prototypes; quantum demonstrations; quantum testbeds; quantum aerial vehicles; quantum theory; quantum aerial communication; quantum navigation; quantum system architectures; quantum drones; quantum repeaters; quantum routing; quantum aerial applications; quantum design principles; quantum-enhanced aerial networks; intelligent quantum methods for drones; quantum entanglement; quantum error techniques; quantum privacy; quantum security; advanced quantum transduction; quantum classification network; federated quantum learning; quantum network; quantum information; quantum computing; quantum technologies; federated quantum learning framework; quantum information-theoretic security; quantum machine learning models; quantum performance metrics; quantum learnable parameters; quantum state; quantum global parameters; quantum entangled state; quantum local training; quantum scheduling algorithm; quantum joint learning; quantum quantization noise; quantum circuit; quantum key distribution; quantum error correction; quantum memory; quantum operations; quantum gates; quantum cryptography; quantum channel; quantum resources; quantum client data; quantum transfer parameters; quantum decoherence; quantum machine learning integration; quantum machine learning algorithms
Advances in Detection, Security, and Communication for UAV: 2nd Edition
edited by and
submission deadline 25 Jun 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1905 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV communication; UAV network and 6G; UAV system architecture; interference management; artificial intelligence; detection and data collection; image processing; UAV network security
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
AI-Assisted Control Strategies and Their Applications to the Stabilization, Guidance and Navigation of Drones
edited by
submission deadline 27 Jun 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 13136 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone technology; optimal design; drone dynamics; drone navigation; machine learning; design optimization; dynamic modeling; navigation systems; autonomous drones; object detection; collision avoidance; tracking systems
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Intelligent Autonomous Control and Swarm Cooperative Control of Unmanned Systems
edited by and
submission deadline 30 Jun 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 13099 | Submission Open
Keywords: unmanned system  ; unmanned aerial vehicle  ; UAV swarm  ; cooperative control  ; swarm intelligence  ; autonomous control  ; guidance; navigation and control
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Drone-Centric Optical Wireless Networks: Innovations in 6G, AI, and Hybrid Communication Systems
edited by , Demostenes Zegarra Rodriguez, Shahid Mumtaz and
submission deadline 30 Jun 2025 | Viewed by 415 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone optical wireless communication; aerial free space optics; 6G networks; drone-based access points; AI-driven optimization; hybrid optical and RF systems; latency-sensitive applications; intelligent transportation systems; security in optical wireless networks; drone communication systems
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Urban Traffic Monitoring and Analysis Using UAVs
edited by , Ansar Yasar and
submission deadline 15 Jul 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1163 | Submission Open
Keywords: urban traffic monitoring; unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); data analytics; smart cities; traffic flow optimization; traffic safety; real-time; intelligent transportation systems; multi-UAV systems; traffic enforcement
(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)
Drones for Green Areas, Green Infrastructure and Landscape Monitoring
edited by
submission deadline 18 Jul 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2416 | Submission Open
Keywords: precision urban agriculture; remote sensing; unmanned aerial vehicles; green areas; image processing; object detection; green infrastructure
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
Space–Air–Ground Integrated Networks for 6G
edited by , , , Ray E. Sheriff and Zhiyong Feng
submission deadline 25 Jul 2025 | 12 articles | Viewed by 15388 | Submission Open
Keywords: satellite- and UAV-assisted 6G communications; space– air– ground integrated network; integrated sensing and communications; trajectory optimization and resource allocation; physical layer security and radio monitoring; artificial intelligence in SAGINs for 6G communications; unmanned aerial vehicles; drone communications; UAV ad hoc networks; unmanned aerial systems
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Drone-Based Wildlife Protection, Monitoring, and Conservation Management:2nd Edition submission deadline 31 Jul 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 2831 | Submission Open
Keywords: habitat monitoring; LiDAR; population estimation; thermal; wildlife conservation; wildlife management; wildlife monitoring; wildlife species detection
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
Intelligent Control and Optimization of Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
edited by Zongyang Lv, Qing Zhao and Hao Wei
submission deadline 1 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 258 | Submission Open
Keywords: eVTOL; UAV; optimal control; intelligent control; nonlinear control; fault-tolerant control
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Design and Flight Control of Low-Speed Near-Space Unmanned Systems
edited by Ming Zhu, Xixiang Yang and Tian Chen
submission deadline 4 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 253 | Submission Open
Keywords: near space; high altitude platform station; solar powered unmanned systems; high altitude balloon; overall design of aircraft; flight control; solar energy cycle system; ultra-light construction; near-space low-speed unmanned aircraft
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Advances in GPTs for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
edited by , and
submission deadline 15 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 330 | Submission Open
Keywords: GPTs; UAV network; navigation; sensor fusion; UAV swarm; cooperative sensing
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Dynamics Modeling and Conceptual Design of UAVs
edited by Ni Li, Ban Wang, Shuhui Bu and
submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 11877 | Submission Open
Keywords: dynamics modeling; conceptual design; UAV; control strategies; system identification
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Applications in Critical Industrial Sectors
edited by , Gordon Dobie and
submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2118 | Submission Open
Keywords: advanced unmanned aerial vehicles; unmanned aerial vehicles in industrial sectors; autonomous UAV systems; UAV-based critical infrastructure monitoring; hazardous environment inspection using UAVs; UAV technology advancements; infrastructure maintenance using UAVs; UAV environmental impact assessment
Cooperative Perception for Modern Transportation
edited by , , Sheng Bao and Hailong Shi
submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 896 | Submission Open
Keywords: Fusion perception of visual; infrared; laser; and other sensors.; Intelligent video surveillance in modern transportation systems.; Remote sensing and data analysis for modern transportation.; Localization and high-definition map for transportation.; Deep-reinforcement learning for multi-unmanned traffic systems; Application of artificial intelligence for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and self-driving vehicles (SDVs); ; Modeling; simulation; and dynamic analysis of the collaboration system for UAVs and SDVs; ; UAV and SDV decision making in a complex urban traffic environment; ; Parameter identification and state estimation of UAVs and SDVs; ; Trajectory prediction and its application to intelligent transportation systems; ; Design of new sensors and novel estimation and data fusion algorithms for UAVs and SDVs.; Dynamic vision sensor and its application in intelligent transportation.; Spiking Neural Network and neuromorphic computing.
(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)
Drones in Hydrological Research and Management submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 543 | Submission Open
Keywords: hydrological research; disaster management; image analysis; machine learning; sustainable development; water quality
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
Innovative Applications of UAVs in Search and Rescue: Improving Safety and Effectiveness
edited by Kristian Amadori and Christopher Jouannet
submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 373 | Submission Open
Keywords: search and rescue (SAR); unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); drone technology; system of systems (SoS); sensor integration; real-time data processing; multi-UAV Coordination; autonomy and AI; situational awareness; flight safety and regulation
Mission Planning, Perception and Control for Drones in Wide-Area Operations
edited by , Xiangyu Shao, Yuehua Liu, Liming Xin and Jiatao Ding
submission deadline 22 Aug 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 5519 | Submission Open
Keywords: motion control and path planning for wide-area operating drones; mission planning for wide-area operating drones; task decomposition and allocation for wide-area operating drones; simultaneous localization and mapping in a complex environment; vision recognition and detection; intelligent perception techniques; model-based predictive control for intelligent systems; robust control; sliding mode control; and adaptive control; deep learning and reinforcement learning; architecture for learning and control integration; advanced decision and control methods for unmanned systems; intelligent swarm and formation
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Drones for Wildfire and Prescribed Fire Science
edited by Brian K. Gullett, Johanna Aurell, Pantelis Velanas, and Katerina Margariti
submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 23821 | Submission Open
Keywords: unmanned aircraft systems; drones; wildland fire; fire dynamics; sensors; firefighter safety; plume dispersion; meteorological measurements; fire emissions; exposure risk; fire prevention; fire response; fire restoration
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in UAV Technology
edited by , Peng Wei, William J. Beksi and Dongfang Liu
submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 20193 | Submission Open
Keywords: artificial intelligence; machine learning; UAV; object detection and tracking; localization and navigation; decision making; planning and control; swarm coordination; geospatial mapping; precision agriculture; environmental monitoring
Advances in Cartography, Mission Planning, Path Search, and Path Following for Drones
edited by , and Delia Elena Spridon
submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 8 articles | Viewed by 12006 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone; UAV; cartography; path following; mission planning; machine learning; sensor fusion; data acquisition
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Advances in Deep Learning for Drones and Its Applications: 2nd Edition
edited by , and Ho Seok Ahn
submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 5 articles | Viewed by 5332 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAVs; aerial robots; drones; remote sensing; deep learning; deep neural networks; computer vision; robotic perception
Swarm Intelligence-Inspired Planning and Control for Drones
edited by , Haitao Nie, Jinliang Shao, , , and
submission deadline 28 Aug 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 2498 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone task and path planning; cooperative control; collision avoidance; swarm intelligence-based optimization; communication and coordination
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Recent Development in Drones Icing submission deadline 12 Sep 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 3493 | Submission Open
Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); aircraft icing; aviation safety; ice detection; de-icing technologies weather resilience
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
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