Dear Colleagues,

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become increasingly popular and important in various applications, such as search, rescue, and delivery services. As technology advances, UAVs are expected to have even more versatile applications. However, the development of UAVs heavily relies on their dynamics modeling and conceptual design, which are critical for ensuring their performance, reliability, and safety.

Dynamics modeling of UAVs involves mathematical and computational models that capture the physical behaviors and interactions of UAVs with their environments. It helps researchers and engineers better understand the dynamics of UAVs and design control systems that can stabilize and control the UAVs in different mission scenarios. Meanwhile, conceptual design is the early stage of UAV design, where the UAVs' overall configuration, shape, and size are determined based on mission requirements and technical constraints. It directly affects the performance and capabilities of UAVs.

Given the crucial importance of dynamics modeling and conceptual design for UAVs, this Special Issue explores recent advances and challenges in this research area. The aim is to provide a platform for researchers and experts to share their latest findings, exchange ideas and insights, and enhance collaborations.

This Special Issue aims to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to give insights into new developments in dynamic modeling and conceptual design of advanced UAVs. Potential topics include but are not limited to aerodynamic modeling of UAVs, system identification and parameter estimation of UAVs, development of control strategies for UAV stabilization and control, multi-disciplinary design optimization of UAVs, and design and analysis of novel UAV concepts and configurations.

The contributions to this Special Issue cover a wide range of topics related to UAV dynamics modeling and conceptual design, including but not limited to:

• Aerodynamic modeling of UAVs;
• System identification and parameter estimation of UAVs;
• Development of control strategies for UAV stabilization and control;
• Multi-disciplinary design optimization of UAVs;
• Design and analysis of novel UAV concepts and configurations.

We believe this Special Issue will serve as a valuable reference and source of inspiration for researchers and practitioners involved in UAV dynamics modeling and conceptual design. We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Ni Li
Dr. Ban Wang
Prof. Dr. Shuhui Bu
Dr. Mostafa Hassanalian
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.

• dynamics modeling
• conceptual design
• UAV
• control strategies
• system identification