Drone-ology: A New Scientific Discipline for Autonomous Aviation

Abstract The rapid expansion of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly known as drones, has transformed modern aviation, data acquisition, and industrial operations. Despite the growing importance of drone technologies across sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure inspection, energy, logistics, and environmental monitoring, the academic world lacks a unified scientific discipline dedicated to the systematic study of drone aviation systems. This paper introduces Drone-ology, defined as the interdisciplinary science of unmanned aerial systems, integrating aviation science, artificial intelligence, robotics, geospatial analysis, and data analytics. The purpose of this conceptual study is to propose Drone-ology as a new academic and professional field that supports structured education, research, certification, and technological innovation in autonomous aviation. The study presents a framework for Drone-ology, including its definition, academic curriculum, research domains, and professional applications. Establishing Drone-ology as a scientific discipline will contribute to the development of global drone education standards and the safe integration of autonomous aerial systems into the future aviation ecosystem.