Dear Dr. Yan,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Zhihong (Arry) Yao, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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3. Thank you for stating in your Funding Statement:

 [This work was supported by the Open Project Program of Provincial and Ministerial-Level Key Laboratories through the research grant "3D Information Fusion Technology for Complex High-voltage Line Environments" (Grant No. ZZKT-202301). Additional support was provided by the Shijiazhuang Key Laboratory of Intelligent Vertical Take-off and Landing Fixed-wing UAV Research through the project "Collaborative Planning and Control Method for Multiple Vertical Take-off Fixed-wing UAVs" (Grant No. KF2024-1).].

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4. In the online submission form, you indicated that [The attachments include colored point clouds, source code, and partial datasets. However, due to file size constraints, the models and datasets are not fully displayed. Please contact the corresponding author if you need them.].

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Additional Editor Comments (if provided):

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->?>

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available??>

The PLOS Data policy

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??>

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Dear authors,

The paper is interesting because you have applied modern methods for detecting intrusions on the railway. You integrated multiple systems, which enhanced the quality of the results.

To further improve the paper, it is necessary to develop a more comprehensive state of the art section to provide a broader picture of the problem you addressed. You relied exclusively on Chinese sources, which are valuable, but there have also been relevant HORIZON projects in Europe, with numerous publications on this topic. In addition, some private companies have developed similar systems.

Another important aspect is that while the hardware used has been well described, it would be beneficial to provide more details about the software part. This is essential for the reproducibility of the results; if someone wanted to replicate your experiment, they should be able to do so based on your paper.

In Table 3, you present the training times for the neural network. Please add information on dataset size and other relevant details.

The conclusion is rather brief. I found more information in the abstract than in the conclusion. Strengthen the conclusion so that a reader who only reviews the abstract and conclusion can still find all the relevant insights.

Reviewer #2: This study proposes a multi-source detection system. The system is a ground-air collaborative system that combines 3D light detection and ranging (LiDAR) based point cloud imaging and deep learning-based intrusion detection.

The system is synchronized with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) carrying industrial grade LiDAR. It also uses a light railway inspection vehicle equipped with dual LiDAR and an Astro camera.

The study is very weak due to the reasons listed below.

There are very few literature summaries of studies related to the study topic or similar topics. The comparison of the findings of the study with the findings of studies in the literature is almost nonexistent. Providing more detailed information about the study method would facilitate the comprehensibility of the study.

The mentioned issues should be carefully evaluated and the article should be given a more scientific appearance.

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what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org . Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Air-Ground Collaborative Multi-Source Orbital Integrated Detection System: Combining 3D Imaging and Intrusion Recognition

PONE-D-25-14222R1

Dear Dr. Yan,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Zhihong (Arry) Yao, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions??>

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->?>

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available??>

The PLOS Data policy

Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??>

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

Reviewer #1: Dear Authors, topic of the paper is modern, and we increased quality during review. Thank you for your answers.

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what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy

Reviewer #1: No

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