DroneSys: First Workshop on Autonomous Drone Computing Systems and Applications

In conjunction with the Tenth ACM/IEEE Symposium on Edge Computing (SEC), DC


Call for Papers

DroneSys is a workshop that invites high-quality submissions on the future of drone systems empowered by innovations in mobile and edge computing. As drones increasingly integrate AI, augmented reality, rich software ecosystems, and on-device intelligence, they face unique challenges and opportunities—ranging from ultra‑low‑latency coordination to swarm autonomy, resource constraints, regulation, and societal expectations.


We seek original submissions that explore:

  • Emerging architectures combining edge, mobile, and embedded computing for drone autonomy
  • On-device AI and federated learning for perception, navigation, and decision-making
  • Swarm coordination, distributed multi-drone collaboration, and cross-layer optimization
  • Privacy-preserving and secure drone systems in constrained and sensitive environments
  • Real-world applications of drone systems in domains such as public safety, smart cities, environmental monitoring, AR/VR‑enhanced operations, or disaster response
  • Regulatory, ethical, and societal integration: how to align technical advances with constraints and user needs

Join us in shaping a unified, computationally grounded research agenda for the next era of drone systems.


Topics of Interest (including but not limited to)

  • Edge-augmented drone autonomy and distributed intelligence
  • Real-time sensor fusion and perception on resource-constrained platforms
  • Swarm algorithms, coordination, and drone-to-drone networking
  • AI offloading, task migration, and energy-efficient onboard AI
  • Secure control, privacy, and trust in drone operations
  • Cross-disciplinary integration of regulation, policy, and human factors
  • Benchmarking platforms and testbeds for drone‑edge systems

Submission Guidelines

  • Format: PDF submissions in English, viewable without errors.
  • Length: Up to 6 single‑spaced pages, including figures and tables, excluding references, in two‑column format, Times or similar font. Templates for LaTeX and Word can be found at the IEEE template site: https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html
  • Anonymity: Submissions should omit identifying information to support blind review.
  • Submission system: https://dronesys25.hotcrp.com
  • Registration: At least one author of each accepted paper must register and attend the workshop.
  • Please note that camera-ready papers must conform to the most recent ACM template, including the bibliographic and copyright strip. For more details, please refer to the camera-ready instructions page

Important Dates

Submission Deadline: October 4, 2025

Acceptance Notification: October 25, 2025

Camera-ready Deadline: November 1, 2025

Workshops Date: December 6, 2025



Workshop Co-Chair(s)

Liangkai Liu, University of Michigan

Weisong Shi, University of Delaware

Shareef Ahmed, University of South Florida


Program Committee

Antonio Loquercio, University of Pennsylvania

Guoquan (Paul) Huang, University of Delaware

Jingao Xu, Carnegie Mellon University

Liangkai Liu, University of Michigan, USA

Mengyu Liu, Washington State University

Qingzhao Zhang, University of Arizona

Shareef Ahmed, University of South Florida

Ting Zhu, The Ohio State University

Weisong Shi, University of Delaware

Yiwen Hu, University of Maryland, Baltimore County



Program

10:20 Opening
Welcome & Opening Remarks

10:20–10:50 Invited Talk
Christopher Stewart (Ohio State University)

Title: Computing on the Fly: Navigating a Vision for the Future of Drone Computing

Bio: Dr. Stewart is a Full Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at The Ohio State University. His current research interests include edge, sustainable, and autonomous computing systems. His work has had translational impact in multiple disciplines from computing and data centers to digital agriculture to K-12 education to animal ecology. Dr. Stewart has been recognized as an Eminent Engineer in the Tau Beta Pi Honor Society and is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award.

10:50–11:10 Session 1 – Platforms & Frameworks
DroEdgeEM: A Drone-Edge Collaborative Emulation Platform for Emerging Situation-aware Applications
Summit Shrestha (Georgia Institute of Technology), Rit Muliashia (Georgia Institute of Technology), Rohit Rao (Georgia Institute of Technology), Anirudh Sarma (Georgia Tech), Myungjin Lee (Cisco Research), Alan Nussbaum (Georgia Tech Research Institute), and Umakishore Ramachandran (Georgia Tech)

11:10–11:30
E2AR: An Energy-Efficient Augmented Reality Framework for Collaborative Multi-Drone Systems
Mozhgan Navardi, Edward Humes, and Tinoosh Mohsenin (Johns Hopkins University)

11:30–11:50 Session 2 – Applications & Autonomy
Edge-Native, Behavior-Adaptive Drone System for Wildlife Monitoring
Jenna Kline, Rugved Katole, Tanya Berger-Wolf, Christopher Stewart (The Ohio State University)

11:50–12:10
eFlight: RL Scheme for Autonomous Drones to Efficiently Fly through Obstacles
Yihan Xu (New York Institute of Technology), Chuanbi Lin (Chaoyang University of Technology), Cong Wang (New Jersey Institute of Technology), Wen Zhang (New Jersey Institute of Technology), Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong (New York Institute of Technology), and Roberto Rojas-Cessa (New Jersey Institute of Technology)

12:10–12:30
Drone-Based Standardized Environmental and Usage Assessment of Parks and Trails
Arpan Bhattacharjee, Matthew Saponaro, and Weisong Shi (University of Delaware)

12:30 Closing
Closing Remarks