Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for Global Challenges: Current Technologies and Future Prospects

Dear Colleagues,

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are currently a hot topic of research and education, with research being stimulated by industry and commerce all over the world. Interestingly, UAS have diverse uses for public safety and for managing the current global challenges of urbanization, climate change, natural disasters, and many more. An added challenge is that no two incidents are ever the same, whether one is tracking a wildfire, conducting a search and rescue expedition, or surveying building damage.

Moreover, UAS can be used for flood mapping and risk estimation, wildfire or volcanic lava flow monitoring, damaged buildings assessment, debris volume calculation, slums and informal settlements or land use change mapping, etc.

Given these possibilities, research innovations, new tools, and best practices in UAS data collection, processing, and modeling are being shared and studied in a constantly evolving field to identify the most efficient and successful solutions to the global challenges we face. We believe that this communication will be useful for a variety of challenging applications, allowing for fresh research and analysis.

The Special Issue aims to collect and present modern and innovative research in UAS technologies, concepts, and methodologies for the acquisition and processing of collected data related to ongoing global challenges and societal problems.

It is our aim to encourage collaboration and the sharing of best practices related to UAS technologies across a range of disciplines. Researchers, developers, and scientists from different scientific disciplines of geomatics, geoinformatics, geology, remote sensing, robotics, mapping, cultural heritage, agriculture, and other related fields are, therefore, invited to present their latest scientific work.

We encourage original research contributions related, but not necessarily restricted to:

• Innovative techniques in using unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for data acquisition and processing.
• Autonomous UAS flight missions.
• UAS data acquisition and navigation in GNSS-denied conditions.
• Direct georeferencing potentials.
• Deep learning methods used to process UAS datasets (feature extraction, point cloud classification, etc).
• Cloud-based and big data solutions for UAS.
• On-board real-time UAS data processing and manipulation.
• Challenges and best practices in UAS-based multispectral and hyperspectral imaging.
• UAS hybrid sensor systems and data fusion.
• UAS-based solutions for digital twins and virtual and augmented reality.
• Standardization and quality control for UAS-based 3D mapping.
• UAS-based applications for monitoring, documenting, and mapping forestry, infrastructures, wildfire, flooding, landslide, damages, natural hazards, etc.
• Review articles extensively covering one or more of the above-mentioned topics.

Dr. Bashar Alsadik
Prof. Dr. Francesco Nex
Prof. Dr. Fabio Remondino
Dr. Jesús Balado Frías
Guest Editors

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