Web Science and Digital Libraries Research Group

Evolution of Language-Guided Control in UAV Systems From Search and Rescue (SAR) to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), the use of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) in scientific and military applications has become increasingly more prominent. One of the most important aspects of the use of these devices is how they are directed. This blog takes a look at the evolution of control for these systems from 2017 to 2026, by examining the approach used in the paper, “ 'Fly Like This': Natural Language Interface for UAV Mission Planning ” [1], to the use of the Large Language Models (LLMs) being examined in “ A Universal Large Language Model-Drone Command and Control Interface ” [2]. These papers explore how natural language interfaces (NLI), or more generally, each of these multiple human-system interfaces can be used to dictate the actions of these platforms. Taken together, these publications reflect the technological capabilities present at the time of their r...