LAEI: Layered Autonomous Edge Intelligence Framework for Robust UAV Swarm Operations
2026-06-08 • Robotics
Robotics
AI summaryⓘ
The authors developed a system called Layered Autonomous Edge Intelligence (LAEI) for groups of drones to work together better. Each drone makes its own decisions for things like avoiding obstacles, while a higher-level supervisor helps by setting goals and handling problems without controlling every move. This setup helps the drone group keep working well even if some communication fails or parts break. Their tests showed that LAEI helps drones finish missions faster and safer compared to other methods.
UAV swarmautonomous dronesdecentralized controlmission-level supervisionobstacle avoidancefault recoveryadaptive goal reassignmentdistributed decision-makingcommunication bottleneckedge intelligence
Authors
Changmin Park, Wooyong Jung, Hwangnam Kim
Abstract
Autonomous UAV swarms require scalable coordination mechanisms that maintain mission performance under limited communication, environmental uncertainty, and component failures. Centralized approaches provide global coordination but suffer from communication bottlenecks and single-node vulnerabilities, whereas fully decentralized methods often lack mission-level consistency. This paper presents Layered Autonomous Edge Intelligence (LAEI), a UAV-swarm framework that combines onboard learned policies with lightweight mission-level supervision. Each UAV performs local perception, obstacle avoidance, and action selection onboard, while the supervisory layer provides adaptive goal reassignment, fault-aware recovery, and context-dependent policy guidance without directly controlling low-level actions. LAEI further incorporates recovery strategies, including dynamic reassociation, backup supervisory support, and fallback local autonomy, to maintain mission continuity under representative failure scenarios. We evaluate LAEI in simulated UAV-swarm scenarios using mission completion time, collision rate, and coverage efficiency. The results show that LAEI reduces mission completion time and improves operational efficiency while maintaining collision-aware distributed UAV-level decision-making.