Call for Articles

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also termed drones, are extensively being adopted for a wide variety of applications such as traffic surveillance, disaster management, rescue operations, and environment monitoring. With the adoption of IoT, UAV networks are quickly transforming into the Internet of Drones (IoD) paradigm. This has opened up opportunities for the exploration of more sophisticated UAV applications.

UAV as a powerful tool has found its applicability in providing advanced communication and computing resources in 5G and 6G networks. However, due to the limited resources on the UAVs, Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) as a powerful offloading technology can be integrated with IoD networks for offloading tasks at the network edge. Further, for securing IoD networks, blockchain technology could be leveraged. With the growing amount of data being captured by the drones, there is a requirement for real time and quick processing of this data. Thus, artificial intelligence services can be deployed on the drones using advanced machine learning and deep learning algorithms.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to attract high quality work done in the area of novel applications of IoD networks. Hence in this Special Issue we invite academic and industrial researchers to submit their original work in this promising domain by leveraging state-of-the-art technologies such as blockchain, machine learning, deep learning, 5G/6G communication networks, and MEC computing.

The manuscripts should: a) describe in depth and/or breadth real-world multi-disciplinary IoD deployments that align with this special issue; b) present actual experiences in resolving contextual IoD-related challenges; c) develop and share best practices, vision realizations and lessons learned in this integrated environment; and d) establish guiding principles for technical, operational and business successes. Articles should be general, independent of technical or business specialty, and intended for an audience consisting of all members of the IoT community working in this field.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Fast and reliable edge computing resources using IoD
• Integration of IoD and 5G/6G cellular networks
• IoD and intelligent delivery systems
• Integration of IoD and MEC platforms
• Blockchain for enhancing IoD network functionality
• AI for data analytics in IoD networks
• IoD based surveillance and data acquisition for analytics purposes
• Securing IoD networks against cyber physical attacks
• AI and blockchain solutions for securing IoD networks
• Energy-aware solutions for IoD networks
• Applying AI techniques for the operation of IoD networks

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts should conform to the standard format as indicated in the Information for Authors section of the: Article Submission Guidelines.  All manuscripts to be considered for publication must be submitted by the deadline through Manuscript Central. Select “December 2021/Internet-of-Drones: Novel Applications, Recent Deployments and Integration” from the drop-down menu of Topic/Series titles.

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Due: 31 July 2021 15 August 2021 (Extended Deadline)
Revision Notification Due: 31 August 2021
Revision Submission Due: 30 September 2021
Acceptance/Rejection Notification Due: 15 October 2021
Final Manuscript Due: 1 November 2021
Expected Publication of the Special Issue: December 2021

Guest Editors

Vinay Chamola (Lead Guest Editor)
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India

F. Richard Yu
Carleton University, Canada

Biplab Sikdar
National University of Singapore, Singapore

Salil Kanhere
UNSW Sydney, Australia

Mohsen Guizani
Qatar University, Doha, Qatar