Unmanned Systems

Aims & Scope

An unmanned system is a machine or device that is equipped with necessary data processing units, sensors, automatic control, and communications systems and is capable of performing missions autonomously without human intervention.

Unmanned systems include unmanned aircraft, ground robots, underwater explorers, satellites, and other unconventional structures.

Unmanned Systems (US) aims to cover all subjects related to the development of automatic machine systems, which include advanced technologies in unmanned hardware platforms (aerial, ground, underwater and unconventional platforms), unmanned software systems, energy systems, modeling and control, communications systems, computer vision systems, sensing and information processing, navigation and path planning, computing, information fusion, multi-agent systems, mission management, machine intelligence, artificial intelligence, and innovative application case studies.

US welcomes original manuscripts in the following categories: research papers, which disseminate scientific findings contributing to solving technical issues underlying the development of unmanned systems; review articles and state-of-the-art surveys, which describe the latest in basic theories, principles, and innovative applications; short articles, which discuss the latest significant achievements and the future trends; and book reviews.

Special issues related to the topics of US are welcome.

A short proposal should be sent to the Editors-in-Chief.

It should include a tentative title; the information of the Guest Editor(s); purpose and scope; possible contributors; and a tentative timetable.

If the proposal is accepted, the Guest Editor(s) will be responsible for the special issue and should follow the normal US review process.

Copies of the reviewed papers and the reviewers' comments should be given to the Editors-in-Chief for recording purposes.

View Aims & Scope

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Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	2.4
2024	3.00

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	0.731

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q1

h-index

Year	Value
2024	32

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	7670

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	362

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Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Web of Science

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Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Engineering and Mathematics, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

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Most Cited Articles

The Most Cited Articles section features the journal's most impactful research, based on citation counts. These articles have been referenced frequently by other researchers, indicating their significant contribution to their respective fields.

• A Survey of Small-Scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Recent Advances and Future Development Trends

  Citation: 291

  Authors: Guowei, Jorge, Lakmal

• Multiple UAV Systems: A Survey

  Citation: 218

  Authors: Georgy, Cristina, Esther

• Overview of Path-Planning and Obstacle Avoidance Algorithms for UAVs: A Comparative Study

  Citation: 169

  Authors: Mohammadreza, Manish, Paul H., Mohammad

• Ultra-Wideband-Based Localization for Quadcopter Navigation

  Citation: 117

  Authors: Kexin, Zhirong, Cunxiao, Abdul Hanif, Chun-Lin, Wei, Lihua

• A Review of Recent Advances in Coordination Between Unmanned Aerial and Ground Vehicles

  Citation: 106

  Authors: Yulong, Bin, Jie

• A Survey of Single and Multi-UAV Aerial Manipulation

  Citation: 88

  Authors: Abdullah, Taha, Yahya, Dongming

• Cooperative Search and Exploration in Robotic Networks

  Citation: 77

  Authors: Jinwen, Jun, Lihua

• Survey on Localization Systems and Algorithms for Unmanned Systems

  Citation: 72

  Authors: Shenghai, Han, Lihua

• Multi-Sensor Fusion for Navigation and Mapping in Autonomous Vehicles: Accurate Localization in Urban Environments

  Citation: 71

  Authors: Qingqing, Jorge Peña, Tuan Nguyen, Zhuo, Tomi

• Multi-Agent Optimization Design for Autonomous Lagrangian Systems

  Citation: 65

  Authors: Zhenhua, Yiguang

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