{rfName}
Se

Indexed in

License and Use

Icono OpenAccess

Citations

44

Altmetrics

Analysis of institutional authors

Carramiñana DAuthorCampaña IAuthorBergesio LAuthorBernardos AmAuthorBesada JaCorresponding Author

Share

February 17, 2021
Publications
>
Article
Sí

Sensors and communication simulation for unmanned traffic management

Publicated to: SENSORS. 21 (3): 927-29 - 2021-02-01 21(3), DOI: 10.3390/s21030927

Authors:

Carramiñana, D; Campaña, I; Bergesio, L; Bernardos, AM; Besada, JA
[+]

Affiliations

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Author
‎ Univ Politecn Madrid, Informat Proc & Telecommun Ctr, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author

Abstract

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Unmanned traffic management (UTM) systems will become a key enabler to the future drone market ecosystem, enabling the safe concurrent operation of both manned and unmanned aircrafts. Currently, these systems are usually tested by performing real scenarios that are costly, limited, hardly scalable, and poorly repeatable. As a solution, in this paper we propose an agent-based simulation platform, implemented through a micro service architecture, which may simulate UTM information sources, such as flight plans, telemetry messages, or tracks from a surveillance network. The final objective of this simulator is to use these information streams to perform a system-level evaluation of UTM systems both in the pre-flight and in-flight stages. The proposed platform, with a focus on simulation of communications and sensors, allows to model UTM actors’ behaviors and their interactions. In addition, it also considers the manual definition of events to simulate unexpected behaviors/events (contingencies), such as communications failures or pilots’ actions. In order to validate our architecture, we implemented a simulator that considers the following actors: drones, pilots, ground control stations, surveillance networks, and communications networks. This platform enables the simulation of the drone trajectory and control, the C2 (command and control) link, drone detection by surveillance sensors, and the communication of all agents by means of a mobile communications network. Our results show that it is possible to truthfully recreate complex scenarios using this simulator, mitigating the disadvantages of real testbeds.
[+]

Keywords

Agent-based simulationC2DroneSurveillance networksU-spaceUavUtm

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal SENSORS due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Instrumentation.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-27:

  • Google Scholar: 18
  • WoS: 9
  • Scopus: 13
  • Europe PMC: 2
[+]

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-27:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 36.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 34 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/85542/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 162
  • Downloads: 149
[+]

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (CARRAMIÑANA JIMENEZ, DAVID) and Last Author (BESADA PORTAS, JUAN ALBERTO).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been BESADA PORTAS, JUAN ALBERTO.

[+]