Drones

Advances in Autonomy of Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)

edited by

, Shuangshuang Fan and

submission deadline 16 Mar 2026 | 7 articles | Viewed by 16193 | Submission Open

Keywords: autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs); underwater gliders; guidance; navigation; and control; informative planning; AI and machine learning; online decision-making; adaptive sampling; sensor fusion; underwater communication; multi-vehicle coordination; mission-oriented autonomy

Next-Gen Drone Safety: Intelligent Systems, LLM Analytics and Operational Risk

edited by

Boyang Li

,

Gabriel Lodewijks

and

Kang Liu

submission deadline 18 Mar 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2711 | Submission Open

Keywords: artificial intelligence in aviation; aviation accident investigation; aviation safety; intelligent systems; large language models (LLMs); UAS accidents; unmanned aircraft systems

AI-Assisted Control Strategies and Their Applications to the Stabilization, Guidance and Navigation of Drones

edited by

Agostino De Marco

submission deadline 20 Mar 2026 | 13 articles | Viewed by 40571 | 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)

Recent Development in Drones Icing

edited by

Eric Villeneuve

and

Richard Hann

submission deadline 20 Mar 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 14906 | 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)

Electric-Powered and Hybrid-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology and Applications of Low Altitude Aviation

edited by Wenbiao Gan, Zhou Zhou,

Saddam Aziz

and

Ilias Panagiotopoulos

submission deadline 26 Mar 2026 | 10 articles | Viewed by 28907 | Submission Open

Keywords: electric-powered aircraft; distributed power; UAV; optimization design; aerodynamics; artificial intelligence; green aviation; urban air mobility and delivery; low altitude economy

(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Applications in Critical Industrial Sectors

edited by

Dayi Zhang

, Gordon Dobie and

Jesus Enrique Sierra-Garcia

submission deadline 26 Mar 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 7234 | 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

Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities

edited by

Sarah Hubbard

,

Damon Lercel

and

Cheng Wang

submission deadline 31 Mar 2026 | 11 articles | Viewed by 19273 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAM; UAV; smart cities; infrastructure; safety; funding; public policy; urban planning; emergency response; workforce

(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)

Swarm Intelligence-Inspired Planning and Control for Drones

edited by

Kaiyu Qin

, Haitao Nie, Jinliang Shao,

,

,

and

submission deadline 31 Mar 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 7650 | 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)

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 31 Mar 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 3052 | 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)

Optimizing MIMO Systems for UAV Communication Networks

edited by Zheng Chu, De Mi and Berna Bulut Cebecioglu

submission deadline 31 Mar 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 602 | Submission Open

Keywords: MIMO systems; UAV communications networks; low-altitude economy; air-ground integrated communications; optimization; B5G/6G integration

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Advances in UAV Guidance, Navigation, and Control Through Acoustic Technologies

edited by

Evan Kawamura

and Dilmurat M. Azimov

submission deadline 1 Apr 2026 | Viewed by 317 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV acoustics; drone noise; acoustic sensing; sound propagation; noise mitigation; acoustic navigation passive localization; beamforming; environmental noise impact; multimodal state estimation

Advances in UAV-Based Remote Sensing for Climate-Smart Agriculture

edited by Hongquan Wang,

Taifeng Dong

and

Liming He

submission deadline 14 Apr 2026 | Viewed by 456 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles; remote sensing; climate-smart agriculture; crop phenotyping; precision agriculture

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)

From Nature to Flight: Bio-Inspired UAV Design and Intelligence

edited by Chahat Deep Singh, J. Sean Humbert and Kaushik Jayaram

submission deadline 15 Apr 2026 | Viewed by 250 | Submission Open

Keywords: bio-inspired UAVs; aerial robotics; drone autonomy; energy-efficient UAVs; swarm intelligence; neuromorphic perception and control

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Recent Developments in Artificial Intelligence and Interdisciplinary Research for UAV Application

edited by Haokui Zhang, Liang Wang, Jingtao Sun and Xizhe Xue

submission deadline 16 Apr 2026 | 14 articles | Viewed by 27654 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV platform; image processing; large language model; visual language model; UAV communication; UAVs in socio-economic development

Mission Planning, Perception and Control for Drones in Wide-Area Operations

edited by

Weiran Yao

, Xiangyu Shao, Yuehua Liu, Liming Xin and Jiatao Ding

submission deadline 17 Apr 2026 | 6 articles | Viewed by 19541 | 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)

Advances in Cartography, Mission Planning, Path Search, and Path Following for Drones: 2nd Edition

edited by

Adrian Marius Deaconu

,

Razvan Udroiu

and Delia Elena Spridon

submission deadline 20 Apr 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1282 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone; UAV; cartography; path following; mission planning; machine learning; sensor fusion; data acquisition

Drone-Based Wildlife Protection, Monitoring, and Conservation Management：2nd Edition

edited by

Humberto Perotto-Baldivieso

and

Aaron M. Foley

submission deadline 26 Apr 2026 | 7 articles | Viewed by 29541 | 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)

Artificial Intelligence-Driven Drones Systems for Marine Engineering Applications

edited by

Bo Li

, Jia Ren,

Kaifang Wan

and Yani Cui

submission deadline 30 Apr 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1818 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone applications; deep learning and reinforcement learning; marine engineering; vision-based perception; multimodal perception; environmental monitoring; autonomous navigation; air– sea coordination

Drone Communication, Networking, and Trajectory Control in Urban Environments

edited by

Endrowednes Kuantama

, Yu Zhang, Ningning Hou and Yimeng Feng

submission deadline 15 May 2026 | 10 articles | Viewed by 25178 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone communication and networking; multi-drone coordination; real-time data transmission; urban air traffic management; drone navigation; trajectory planning; sustainable urban transport; on-board AI processing; millimeter wave radar enabled drone navigation; drone remote sensing using millimeter wave radar; LoRa-assisted drone communication and networking; LoRa for long range drone applications; novel drone applications; drone assisted wireless communications for 5G and beyond; drone security; integrated sensing and communication drone networks; remote object detection from drone; urban computing

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Advancing UAV-Based Remote Sensing: Innovations, Techniques and Applications

edited by

Rui Li

, Yinxia Cao, Haoyang Yang and Dongyu Li

submission deadline 15 May 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1676 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV remote sensing; drone path planning; image enhancement; multispectral and hyperspectral imaging; thermal remote sensing; precision mapping; data fusion techniques; environmental monitoring; disaster response applications; machine learning in UAV data analysis

IoT-Enabled UAV Networks for Secure Communication

edited by Bing Chen,

Changyan Yi

,

Kun Zhu

, Yutao Jiao and Zhiyi Tian

submission deadline 21 May 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 8327 | Submission Open

Keywords: Internet of Things (IoT); unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); flying ad hoc networks (FANET); drones; ground control station (GCS)

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Advances in Autonomous Underwater Drones: 2nd Edition

edited by Daxiong Ji,

Asiya Khan

, Dena Bazazian and Mohd Hisham Bin Nordin

submission deadline 28 May 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 5020 | Submission Open

Keywords: autonomous underwater drones; AUV; control algorithms; navigation algorithms; driving mechanisms; design of drones

Innovative Approaches to Biodiversity and Ecology Monitoring: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Drone Technology

edited by

Eben N. Broadbent

submission deadline 28 May 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 4144 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone imagery; artificial intelligence; biodiversity monitoring; ecological assessment; remote sensing; machine learning; habitat mapping; species distribution; conservation technology; environmental change

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Drone-Centric Optical Wireless Networks: Innovations in 6G, AI, and Hybrid Communication Systems

edited by

Muhammad Saadi

, Demostenes Zegarra Rodriguez, Shahid Mumtaz and

Sushank Chaudhary

submission deadline 30 May 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1547 | 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)

Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) Communication Strategies for UAV Networks

edited by Khadija Slimani, Adarsh Kumar and

Hamed Taherdoost

submission deadline 30 May 2026 | Viewed by 331 | Submission Open

Keywords: Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) communication; AI-enhanced UAV networks; secure and resilient communication; multi-UAV collaboration; blockchain-based trust management; autonomous decision-making; channel prediction and routing; cybersecurity in UAV Networks; digital twin modeling; next-generation wireless systems

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Advanced Flight Dynamics and Decision-Making for UAV Operations

edited by

Paraskevi Zacharia

,

Antreas Kantaros

, Elias K. Xidias and

Antoni Grau

submission deadline 31 May 2026 | 6 articles | Viewed by 7701 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV flight dynamics; autonomous control; decision-making; machine learning; reinforcement learning; neural networks; UAV simulation; swarm UAVs; 3D Printing; UAV design; additive manufacturing

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Rapid Disaster Assessment and Post-Disaster Recovery Using UAV Remote Sensing

edited by

Alessio Calantropio

,

Vincenzo Di Pietra

and

Miguel Angel Maté-González

submission deadline 31 May 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 2925 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV photogrammetry; rapid mapping; disaster response; post-disaster recovery; change detection; AI and remote sensing; multi-sensor platforms; emergency mapping; UAV-GIS integration; damage assessment

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Advanced Optimization Strategies for UAV Mission Planning and Operation

edited by

Emanuele Luigi de Angelis

,

Fabrizio Giulietti

and Giulio Avanzini

submission deadline 31 May 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 2006 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); autonomous aerial systems; mission planning and scheduling; trajectory optimization; payload allocation and optimization; multi-UAV coordination; optimization algorithms; heuristic and metaheuristic methods; energy-efficient UAV operations; autonomous decision-making

(This special issue belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID))

Next-Generation UAV Base Stations: Enabling Integrated Sensing, Communications, and the Low-Altitude Economy

edited by

Attai Ibrahim Abubakar

,

Metin Öztürk

,

Oluwakayode Onireti

and

Animesh Yadav

submission deadline 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 507 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV base stations; AI-driven drones; swarm intelligence; UAV-based integrated sensing and communications (ISAC); trajectory optimization; digital twinning; aerial edge computing; energy-efficient UAV communications; space– air– ground integrated network (SAGIN); 6G

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Distributed Control, Optimization, and Game of UAV Swarm Systems (2nd Edition)

edited by Zhi Feng, Rui Yan,

Yishi Liu

, Xiaoduo Li and Qing Wang

submission deadline 12 Jun 2026 | 8 articles | Viewed by 25025 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV swarm systems; distributed control; formation control; distributed optimization; intelligent motion planning; swarm game; distributed Nash equilibrium seeking

Cooperative Perception, Planning, and Control of Heterogeneous UAVs

edited by Yuan Yuan, Qian Zhang and

Huanhuan Yuan

submission deadline 15 Jun 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 793 | Submission Open

Keywords: model-heterogeneous UAVs; function-heterogeneous UAVs; cooperative control; cooperative planning; cooperative perception; multi-source data Fusion; distributed control system; formation control; synergy robustness; motion constraint matching

(This special issue belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID))

Path Planning, Trajectory Tracking and Guidance for UAVs: 3rd Edition

edited by

,

,

and

submission deadline 16 Jun 2026 | 8 articles | Viewed by 10030 | Submission Open

Keywords: path planning; trajectory tracking; guidance; navigation; and control; autonomous control; trajectory optimization; formation and reconfiguration

Drone-Enabled Smart Sensing: Challenges and Opportunities

edited by

Derek Hollenbeck

, Calvin Coopmans and

Shicheng Yan

submission deadline 18 Jun 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2675 | 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

Dynamics Modeling and Conceptual Design of UAVs—2nd Edition

edited by Ni Li, Ban Wang, Shuhui Bu and

Mostafa Hassanalian

submission deadline 18 Jun 2026 | Viewed by 248 | Submission Open

Keywords: dynamics modeling; conceptual design; UAV control; strategies; system identification

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Drones for Wildfire and Prescribed Fire Science: 2nd Edition

edited by Brian Gullett, Pantelis Velanas and Katerina Margariti

submission deadline 24 Jun 2026 | Viewed by 162 | 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; post-fire ecological restoration

Advances in Intelligent Coordination Control for Autonomous UUVs

edited by Haitao Zhang, Bin-Bin Hu,

Zhenghong Jin

, Mingkang Long and Henglai Wei

submission deadline 25 Jun 2026 | 5 articles | Viewed by 8959 | Submission Open

Keywords: cooperative control; autonomous underwater unmanned vehicles; decision making; game theory; machine learning; control theory; distributed optimization; intelligent connected vehicles; vehicle dynamics control

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Digital Twins and Extended Reality: Opportunities and Challenges of Integrated Applications (2nd Edition)

edited by Daniela Oreni,

Fabrizio Banfi

and

Davide Mezzino

submission deadline 26 Jun 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 9228 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAVs digital twin XR-MR-AR-VR scan-to-BIM— BIM projects; HBIM projects; BIM-to-FEA; CoSim; BEM; InfraBIM conservation; management and dissemination of cultural built heritage fault diagnosis energy; structural analysis; and costs evaluation virtual museum; virtual– visual storytelling drone-based and drone-supported solutions

The Conceptual Design Methodology for UAV: New Research and New Development (2nd Edition)

edited by

Jie Li

, Jinli Suo, Meng Guo, Min Chang, Zhaowei Ma and

Changyun Wei

submission deadline 26 Jun 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 527 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); hybrid aquatic aerial vehicle (HAAV); smart materials and aircraft structures design for drones; new energy and power systems for drones; GPS-denied autonomous localization of UAVs; robust and fast maneuver control for drones; emergent behaviors in swarm; large language model for swarm interaction

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Autonomous Drone Navigation in GPS-Denied Environments

edited by

Hector Gutierrez

and Yang Liu

submission deadline 30 Jun 2026 | 9 articles | Viewed by 21357 | 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)

Advancing Space-Air-Ground-Sea Integrated Networks in Drones: Techniques, Applications, and Future Directions

edited by

Dawei Wang

,

Hongbo Zhao

and Li Li

submission deadline 30 Jun 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 3015 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone-enabled SAGSINs; 6G networks; integrated space-air-ground-sea communications; cooperative transmission; cross-domain resource scheduling; mobility management; edge computing in drone networks; security and privacy in drone-enabled networks

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Advances in Drone Applications for Last-Mile Delivery Operations

edited by

,

,

and

submission deadline 30 Jun 2026 | Viewed by 298 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone delivery; last-mile logistics; (AI-based) planning & scheduling ; AS/RS integration; Packaging ; payload management ; energy efficiency ; insurance; sustainability

(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)

UAVs for Nature Conservation Tasks in Complex Environments

edited by Tom Richardson, Ulrik Pagh Schultz and

Fabio Remondino

submission deadline 1 Jul 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 3404 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV/MAV; perception; collaborative; wildlife; complex environments; navigation; mapping; real-time

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Technologies and Applications of UAV Channel Models in Communications and Spectrum Awareness: 2nd Edition

edited by

Qiuming Zhu

,

César Briso-Rodríguez

,

Mou Chen

,

Zhenyu Na

and Kai Mao

submission deadline 10 Jul 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 3297 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV channel model; UAV channel sounding; UAV ISAC; UAV communication; UAV spectrum sensing; UAV trajectory planning

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

UAV and USV Technologies for Inspection and Monitoring in Coastal Engineering

edited by

Marcos Arza-García

,

Ana Margarida Bento

and

José Alberto Gonçalves

submission deadline 10 Jul 2026 | Viewed by 248 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV photogrammetry; USV bathymetry; topo-bathymetric integration; coastal and civil infrastructure monitoring; 3D change detection; structural resilience; autonomous surveying; AI-based damage assessment; multi-temporal analysis; reproducible monitoring workflows

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

GeoAI for UAVs and Earth Observation: Methods, Applications and Possible Integration

edited by

Tommaso Orusa

,

Annalisa Viani

and

Filippo Sarvia

submission deadline 16 Jul 2026 | Viewed by 154 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAVs; earth observation; algorithms; applications in sciences; GeoAI; hyperspectral/multispectral; SAR; LiDAR

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Advances in the Use of UAVs for Monitoring and Analysis of Forage and Agricultural Crops: Technologies, Methods and Applications

edited by

Alexandre Maniçoba da Rosa Ferraz Jardim

and Luciana Sandra Bastos De Souza

submission deadline 19 Jul 2026 | 6 articles | Viewed by 33272 | Submission Open

Keywords: precision agriculture; forage crops; agricultural monitoring; image analysis; yield estimation; thermal imaging; machine learning; 3D modeling; data modeling

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)

When Deep Learning Meets Geometry for Air-to-Ground Perception on Drones: 2nd Edition

edited by

Dongdong Li

, Yangliu Kuai, Hongqi Fan and Gongjian Wen

submission deadline 29 Jul 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 3023 | Submission Open

Keywords: object detection ; object tracking ; object localization ; object segmentation ; vision foundation models ; multimodal data processing

Wearable Technologies for Driving Drones: Innovations and Applications

edited by

Cristian Randieri

,

Andrea Tortorelli

and Bojan Jerbić

submission deadline 31 Jul 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 5255 | 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)

UAVs and UGVs Robotics for Emergency Response in a Changing Climate

edited by

Abraham Mejia-Aguilar

, Santos Miguel Orozco Soto and Christian Wankmüller

submission deadline 31 Jul 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1092 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs); robotics for hazardous environments; disaster robotics; human-robot teaming; search and rescue (SAR); emergency response automation; autonomous navigation; real-time situational awareness

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Design and Development of UAV Systems for Logistics Networks and Operations

edited by

Andreas Schwung

,

Stefan Lier

,

João Paulo Javidi da Costa

and

Edison Pignaton De Freitas

submission deadline 31 Jul 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 644 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV; advanced communication systems; cybersecurity; intelligent transportation; smart logistics; autonomous distribution; machine learning; integration with augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR); swarm systems; sensor intelligence

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Special Issues

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI