# Large Language Model-Assisted UAV Operations and Communications: A Multifaceted Survey and Tutorial

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.19534 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.19534/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 66 of its 133 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Feb 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 66)

- [BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04805/) (2018)
- [The Llama 3 Herd of Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21783/) (2024)
- [Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11903/) (2022)
- [BART: Denoising Sequence-to-Sequence Pre-training for Natural Language Generation, Translation, and Comprehension](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.13461/) (2019)
- [OPT: Open Pre-trained Transformer Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.01068/) (2022)
- [Self-Refine: Iterative Refinement with Self-Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.17651/) (2023)
- [Ragas: Automated Evaluation of Retrieval Augmented Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15217/) (2023)
- [Graph Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08921/) (2024)
- [A Survey on Multimodal Large Language Models for Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.12320/) (2023)
- [Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning Methods for Pretrained Language Models: A Critical Review and Assessment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.12148/) (2023)
- [Compressing Context to Enhance Inference Efficiency of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.06201/) (2023)
- [Multimodal Chain-of-Thought Reasoning: A Comprehensive Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.12605/) (2025)
- [AerialVLN: Vision-and-Language Navigation for UAVs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.06735/) (2023)
- [HybridRAG: Integrating Knowledge Graphs and Vector Retrieval Augmented Generation for Efficient Information Extraction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.04948/) (2024)
- [Pushing Large Language Models to the 6G Edge: Vision, Challenges, and Opportunities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16739/) (2023)
- [The Ultimate Guide to Fine-Tuning LLMs from Basics to Breakthroughs: An Exhaustive Review of Technologies, Research, Best Practices, Applied Research Challenges and Opportunities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.13296/) (2024)
- [RAGChecker: A Fine-grained Framework for Diagnosing Retrieval-Augmented Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08067/) (2024)
- [Multimodal Fusion and Vision-Language Models: A Survey for Robot Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.02477/) (2025)
- [Large Language Models for UAVs: Current State and Pathways to the Future](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.01745/) (2024)
- [Machine Learning-Aided Operations and Communications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Contemporary Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.04324/) (2022)
- [UAV-VLA: Vision-Language-Action System for Large Scale Aerial Mission Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.05014/) (2025)
- [TypeFly: Flying Drones with Large Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.14950/) (2023)
- [How Powerful are Decoder-Only Transformer Neural Models?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.17026/) (2023)
- [AirCopBench: A Benchmark for Multi-drone Collaborative Embodied Perception and Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.11025/) (2025)
- [Grounded Vision-Language Navigation for UAVs with Open-Vocabulary Goal Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.10756/) (2025)
- [SkyVLN: Vision-and-Language Navigation and NMPC Control for UAVs in Urban Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.06564/) (2025)
- [Large Language Model Based Multi-Objective Optimization for Integrated Sensing and Communications in UAV Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.05062/) (2024)
- [AeroDuo: Aerial Duo for UAV-based Vision and Language Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.15232/) (2025)
- [UAVBench: An Open Benchmark Dataset for Autonomous and Agentic AI UAV Systems via LLM-Generated Flight Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.11252/) (2025)
- [FlockGPT: Guiding UAV Flocking with Linguistic Orchestration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.05872/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Self in Space: Benchmarking Self-Awareness and Spatial Cognition in UAV Embodied Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.12477/) (2026)
- [Hierarchical LLM-Driven Control for HAPS-Assisted UAV Networks: Joint Optimization of Flight and Connectivity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.11509/) (2026)
- [RT-SHCUA: Real-Time Self-Hosted Computer-Use Agent for UAV Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.17951/) (2026)
- [LAPF: LLM-Agent-Based Path Finder Using the UAVScenes Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.15175/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are widely deployed across diverse applications due to their mobility and agility. Recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) offer a transformative opportunity to enhance UAV intelligence beyond conventional optimization-based and learning-based approaches. By integrating LLMs into UAV systems, advanced environmental understanding, swarm coordination, mobility optimization, and high-level task reasoning can be achieved, thereby allowing more adaptive and context-aware aerial operations. This survey systematically explores the intersection of LLMs and UAV technologies and proposes a unified framework that consolidates existing architectures, methodologies, and applications for UAVs. We first present a structured taxonomy of LLM adaptation techniques for UAVs, including pretraining, fine-tuning, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and prompt engineering, along with key reasoning capabilities such as Chain-of-Thought (CoT) and In-Context Learning (ICL). We then examine LLM-assisted UAV communications and operations, covering navigation, mission planning, swarm control, safety, autonomy, and network management. After that, the survey further discusses Multimodal LLMs (MLLMs) for human-swarm interaction, perception-driven navigation, and collaborative control. Finally, we address ethical considerations, including bias, transparency, accountability, and Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) strategies, and outline future research directions. Overall, this work positions LLM-assisted UAVs as a foundation for intelligent and adaptive aerial systems.