Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have seen unprecedented levels of growth during the last decade
in both military and civilian domains. It is anticipated that civilian applications will be
dominant in the future although there are still barriers to be overcome and technical
challenges to be met. Integrating UAS into for example civilian space navigation autonomy
see-detect-and-avoid systems smart designs system integration vision-based navigation and
training to name but a few areas will be of prime importance in the near future. This special
volume is the outcome of research presented at the International Symposium on Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles held in Orlando Florida USA from June 23-25 2008 and presents state-of-the-art
findings on topics such as: UAS operations and integration into the national airspace system
UAS navigation and control micro- mini- small UAVs UAS simulation testbeds and frameworks
UAS research platforms and applications UAS applications. This book aims at serving as a guide
tool on UAS for engineers and practitioners academics government agencies and industry.
Previously published in the Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems 54 (1-3 2009).
