Within the past few years, civilian demand for unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly referred to as drones, has skyrocketed. Previously used only for military reconnaissance and later for strike programs, UAS has increasingly been considered for a variety of civilian tasks, including infrastructure monitoring, precision agriculture, package delivery services, search and rescue operations, and photography. Among many public and private sector agencies, transportation agencies are in a unique position to leverage the emerging technology, due to the nature of this profession, the vast demand, and the great benefit in terms of reducing accidents, mitigating congestion, and cost savings. According to a recent survey by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), 33 state departments of transportation (DOTs) have carried out or are exploring applications of UASs in various aspects of transportation, including inspecting bridges, collecting traffic data, and helping crash clear-up.

The purpose of this special issue is to publish high-quality research papers as well as review articles addressing recent advances on UAS and its applications in transportation. Original, high quality contributions that are not yet published or that are not currently under review by other journals are sought.

Articles submitted to this special issue must contain significant relevance to transportation and traffic engineering processes. Submitted articles should not be published or under review elsewhere.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Modeling and simulation
• Analytical and numerical methods
• Policy, standard operating procedure, and best practices
• Decision-making and public-private partnership
• Legislation, privacy, training, and regulation
• Air traffic control and management
• Applications in multimodal transportation
• Novel detection algorithms
• Advanced data collection and processing methods
• Transportation asset management and inspection
• Transportation construction monitoring
• Disaster response and management
• Transportation safety and incident management
• Traffic surveillance and operations
• Advanced logistics applications
• Environmental issues