Publication Date
Manuscript Submission Deadline
Call for Papers
With the rapid growth of applications, such as drone logistics and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, low-altitude airspace —defined as the region below 3,000 meters —has become the primary operational domain for small and medium-sized uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs). These emerging services demand reliable communication and sensing support, which cannot be met by existing terrestrial wireless networks originally designed for ground-based handheld devices. To address this gap, wireless coverage must evolve from two-dimensional ground-based systems to a three-dimensional infrastructure that integrates sensing and communication, enabling full digitalization of the low-altitude airspace. This emerging paradigm is referred to as Low-Altitude Wireless Network (LAWN), and it is increasingly recognized as a key direction for future wireless network evolution.
The LAWN aims to establish a digital airspace by reusing communication infrastructure as air traffic control system, which is empowered by the integrating communication and sensing (ISAC) technologies, striving for extremely low-latency communication and high-precision perception. In the LAWN, the base stations are no longer limited to data transmission but also serve as distributed sensors capable of performing real-time situational awareness, which enables critical functions, such as non-line-of-sight (NLOS) target detection, environmental monitoring, and airspace perception. Meanwhile, advancements in 3D massive MIMO, millimeter-wave and terahertz communications, and edge intelligence provide the necessary capacity, coverage, and responsiveness for real-time air-ground coordination.
Despite its potential, the deployment of LAWN still faces significant technical challenges. In densely built-up urban areas, wireless signals suffer from severe shadow fading, multipath propagation, and electromagnetic interference, which are especially problematic for millimeter-wave and massive MIMO systems operating at high frequencies. Moreover, the integration of navigation and surveillance systems, such as ADS-B and secondary radar, into the communication infrastructure complicates network layer design and coordination. At the aerial user level, the demand for mutual communication, self-positioning, and cooperative sensing among multiple UAVs imposes stringent requirements on latency, reliability, and spatial resolution. These challenges highlight the necessity for continued research of LAWN.
Despite growing interest from both academia and industry, there has been no recent IEEE Network Special Issue (SI) dedicated specifically to LAWN, which require joint advances in communication, sensing, computing, and control. Given the increasing importance of LAWN in enabling future aerial services and its interdisciplinary nature, this SI aims to provide a focused platform for researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers to share their latest findings, technical innovations, and visionary perspectives.
This SI welcomes contributions in areas including, but not limited to:
- Fundamental limits for edge sensing intelligence in LAWN.
- LAWN architectures/transmission protocols/frame designs.
- Artificial Intelligence and big data-driven Designs for LAWN.
- Cloud/edge computing and task/data/computation offloading for LAWN.
- Waveform/receiver design in LAWN.
- Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) design in LAWN.
- Mobility management and handover strategies in LAWN.
- Beam tracking and predictive beamforming in LAWN.
- Advanced coding and modulation schemes in LAWN.
- Joint channel estimation and environment sensing in LAWN.
- Security and privacy issues for LAWN.
- Massive MIMO/intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)/Holographic MIMO surface for edge sensing intelligence for LAWN.
- Regulatory frameworks and spectrum policies for low-altitude operations.
- Experimental validations and field trials of LAWN technologies.
Submission Guidelines
Manuscripts should conform to the standard format as indicated in the “Information for Authors” section of the Paper Submission Guidelines.
All manuscripts to be considered for publication must be submitted by the deadline through the magazine’s IEEE Author Portal submission site. Select the appropriate issue date and topic from the “Please Select an Article Type” drop-down menu.
Important Dates
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 28 February 2026
Initial Decision: 15 May 2026
Revised Manuscript Due: 30 June 2026
Final Decision: 30 July 2026
Final Manuscript Due: 15 August 2026
Publication Date: November 2026
Guest Editors
Yuanhao Cui
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China
Maria Sabrina Greco
University of Pisa, Italy
Marco De Renzo
Paris-Saclay University, France
Dusit Niyato
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore