# A Multimodal Large Language Model-Driven Framework for Context-Aware UAV Emergency Landing Site Selection

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.01163 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.01163/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Embodied and 3D vision-language models, one of 16 directions in Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models.
- Builds on 8 of its 24 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Feb 2026.

## Placed in

- Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models / [Embodied and 3D vision-language models](https://mlsanity.com/mllm/embodied-and-3d-vision-language-models/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Encoder-Decoder with Atrous Separable Convolution for Semantic Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.02611/) (2018)
- [GeoChat: Grounded Large Vision-Language Model for Remote Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.15826/) (2023)
- [RSGPT: A Remote Sensing Vision Language Model and Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.15266/) (2023)
- [EarthGPT: A Universal Multi-modal Large Language Model for Multi-sensor Image Comprehension in Remote Sensing Domain](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.16822/) (2024)
- [UAVs Meet LLMs: Overviews and Perspectives Toward Agentic Low-Altitude Mobility](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.02341/) (2025)
- [FlightGPT: Towards Generalizable and Interpretable UAV Vision-and-Language Navigation with Vision-Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.12835/) (2025)
- [LLM-Land: Large Language Models for Context-Aware Drone Landing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.06399/) (2025)
- [Optimizing Terrain Mapping and Landing Site Detection for Autonomous UAVs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.03522/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Safe UAV emergency landing requires more than just identifying flat terrain; it demands understanding complex semantic risks (e.g., crowds, temporary structures) invisible to traditional geometric sensors. In this paper, we propose a novel framework leveraging Remote Sensing (RS) imagery and Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) for global context-aware landing site assessment. Unlike local geometric methods, our approach employs a coarse-to-fine pipeline: first, a lightweight semantic segmentation module efficiently pre-screens candidate areas; second, a vision-language reasoning agent fuses visual features with Point-of-Interest (POI) data to detect subtle hazards. To validate this approach, we construct and release the Emergency Landing Site Selection (ELSS) benchmark at https://github.com/chunlianghua/ELSS-dataset. ELSS includes a remote-sensing subset for simulation validation and a UAV aerial-video subset for real-world testing. Experiments demonstrate that our framework significantly outperforms geometric baselines in risk identification accuracy. Furthermore, qualitative results confirm its ability to generate human-like, interpretable justifications, enhancing trust in automated decision-making.