Urban Traffic Monitoring and Analysis Using UAVs

Dear Colleagues,

Urban traffic management has become increasingly complex due to the rapid growth of urban populations and the corresponding rise in vehicular traffic. Traditional methods of traffic monitoring often fall short in providing real-time data and insights necessary for effective decision-making or law enforcement. The integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) into traffic monitoring systems offers innovative solutions to these challenges. UAVs can cover large areas quickly, provide high-resolution imagery, and utilize advanced data analytics to enhance traffic management and enforcement strategies.

This special issue aims to compile cutting-edge research on the application of UAVs in urban traffic monitoring and analysis. It seeks to explore innovative methodologies, applications, and technologies that leverage UAV capabilities to address urban traffic challenges (traffic flow, enhance safety, smarter urban planning and enforcement initiatives etc.).

We invite original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and insightful case studies on urban traffic monitoring topics including, but not limited to:

• Innovative UAV-based traffic (safety) data acquisition and processing techniques
• Real-time traffic monitoring and event detection using UAVs
• Integration of UAV data with traffic management systems
• AI and machine learning applications in UAV traffic analysis
• Multi-UAV coordination for comprehensive urban traffic surveillance
• Legal, ethical, policy and safety considerations in UAV deployment over urban areas
• Case studies of UAV implementation in urban traffic scenarios such as monitoring, enforcement, analysis etc.
• Environmental impacts of UAV-based traffic monitoring

Types of articles encouraged include original research papers, review articles, and case studies.

Dr. Wim Ectors
Prof. Dr. Ansar Yasar
Prof. Dr. Stéphane Galland
Guest Editors

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.

• 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