Enhancing resilience in UAV swarms: A literature review

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used in both civilian and military applications, operating individually or collaboratively in swarms to enhance coverage, adaptability, and fault tolerance. However, UAV swarms are increasingly exposed to internal, external, or combined disruptions, highlighting the need for robust resilience strategies to ensure mission success. This study presents a literature review on UAV swarm resilience, focusing on swarm control mechanisms, disruption sources, recovery strategies, and evaluation methods. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to reveal academic trends and define the current research scope. Most recent studies approach resilience from the perspective of the swarm itself, often overlooking its broader role in system-level resilience. The reviewed literature also reveals a growing diversity of enhancement approaches and increasing complexity in resilience assessment. These findings underscore the need for continued investigation and standardization, particularly in aligning recovery strategies with disruption types and advancing evaluation frameworks for UAV swarm resilience.