Drone Swarm Intelligence: AI-Driven Autonomous Coordination for Aerial Applications

Autonomous coordination, adaptiveness, and efficiency in dynamic environments—all made possible by artificial intelligence (AI)—are transforming aerial applications through the use of drone swarm intelligence. Swarm intelligence enables decentralized control, allowing drones to work as a cohesive unit, enhancing search and rescue, environmental monitoring, military operations, and logistics applications through real-time data analysis, inter-drone communication, and distributed processing. Drone swarms can be used across different fields such as, disaster response, environmental monitoring, precision agriculture, military reconnaissance and urban logistics. We also identify challenges including communication latency, energy limitations, and security vulnerabilities as well as discuss how robust AI models and edge computing can increase swarm autonomy. What the Next Generation of AI-Powered Drone Swarms Means for Airmen.