【Call for Papers】Special Issue of Aerospace Systems: Low Altitude Economy

On April 8, 2026, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) will celebrate its 130th anniversary. In honor of this momentous occasion, the international academic journal Aerospace Systems is pleased to launch a special issue titled "Low Altitude Economy: Celebrating 130 Years of Shanghai Jiao Tong University."

This special issue focuses on the low-altitude economy (aka advanced aerial mobility) as a strategic emerging industry, calling for original research and reviews in areas such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and aspects related to their operation in urban and regional environments like advanced air traffic management, and supporting intelligent technologies like automation, autonomy or AI.

It aims to showcase cutting-edge achievements and core contributions from universities and research institutions in promoting innovation and technological breakthroughs in low-altitude economy systems, providing academic support for the integrated development and industrial upgrading of aerospace technology.

We sincerely invite faculty, students, and alumni of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, as well as research colleagues worldwide, to contribute your manuscripts. Let us collectively celebrate this 130-year milestone with academic excellence!

1. Journal Profile

Aerospace Systems is an international academic journal sponsored by the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, focusing on system-level research and development in aerospace. The journal is chaired by Editor-in-Chief Jing Zhongliang, Distinguished Scholar Professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In partnership with the globally renowned publisher Springer Nature, the journal is published and distributed worldwide. It is now indexed in EI and Scopus, enjoying high international influence and author satisfaction. This special issue is co-guest-edited by renowned scholars from the Technical University of Munich, the University of Toronto, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ensuring academic rigor and authoritative peer review.

2. Suggested Topics

We welcome original contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:

1. Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) Aircraft

2. Technology for Safe Automation and Autonomy

3. Advanced (automated) Air Traffic Management for the (very) low level airspaces

4. Low-Altitude Intelligent Sensing and Navigation, including terminal area operations

5. Airspace Management, Route Planning and Operational Support

6. Technologies and Methods for ensuring safety and security of low altitude operations

7. Potentials of the application of safe AI and related development and V&V efforts

8. Infrastructure specific to low altitude and urban operations: vertiports, navigation, traffic awareness, weather information, …

3. Guest Editor

• Lead guest editor：Florian Holzapfel（Technical University of Munich）
  Research interests：flight control, trajectory optimization, sensor technology, data fusion and navigation, modeling, simulation and parameter estimation, avionics and safety critical systems.

• Co-Guest Editors：Shiqiang Hu（Shanghai Jiao Tong University）
  Research interests：Image understanding and analysis for video scene surveillance and context-based interpretation; Autonomous technologies for unmanned systems, including visual navigation, positioning, autonomous flight, and active obstacle avoidance; and Nonlinear filtering and state estimation for method development, target tracking, and recognition.

• Co-Guest Editors：Hugh Liu（University of Toronto）
  Research interests：traffic data analysis, target detection and tracking, as well as networked UAS and integration with transportation data centre.

• Co-Guest Editors：Haichao Hong（Shanghai Jiao Tong University）
  Research interests：Flight Mechanics and Flight Performance, Flight Testing; Traditional/Computational Guidance Methods, Trajectory Optimization with Multiple Constraints; Electric and Green Aviation, Low-Altitude Economy, eVTOL; Bio-inspired Flight Technology and Autonomous Control.

• Co-Guest Editors：Andreas Hermanutz（Technical University of Munich）
  Research interests：Aircraft Loads and Aeroelasticity; Highly Flexible and High Aspect Ratio Wings; Computation methods; Aircraft Structural Design; Airframe Technologies; Aircraft Load Alleviation.

4. Publication Schedule

• Submission Deadline: March 15, 2026
• Expected Publication: Articles will be published online on a rolling basis starting from April 2026.
• Manuscript Requirements: Submissions must be original, unpublished, and free of any confidentiality restrictions.
• Formatting Guidelines: Please prepare your manuscript according to the journal's official template: https://link.springer.com/journal/42401/submission-guidelines
• Peer-Review Process: The special issue "Low Altitude Economy: Celebrating 130 Years of Shanghai Jiao Tong University" will feature high-quality review and research articles. All submissions will undergo a rigorous review process, including initial screening, peer review, evaluation by the editorial committee, and final decision.
• Please indicate “Special Issue for SJTU's 130th Anniversary” in the Comment during submission.

5. Submission Instructions

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via the journal's official submission portal. Please select the special issue "Special Issue for SJTU's 130th Anniversary" during the submission process.

Submission Link: https://link.springer.com/collections/ddfabigfab

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For collaborations and inquiries, please contact: icasse@sjtu.edu.cn