A Review of Heterogeneous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarm Collaboration Technology

Heterogeneous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms, as a typical application of unmanned combat systems, are emerging as a prominent focus in real-world combat scenarios. Current research primarily focuses on formation control in complex environments, dynamic task allocation, communication technology, and path planning. Among these areas, methods such as multi-objective optimization and reinforcement learning have shown great potential in enhancing the efficiency and adaptability of swarm task execution. However, existing studies still face numerous challenges, including decision-making capabilities in incomplete information environments, computational efficiency for large-scale swarms, and limitations of communication bandwidth. By systematically analyzing the technologies closely related to the cooperative operations of heterogeneous UAV swarms, this paper reviews the characteristics of UAVs for different purposes and heterogeneous UAV swarms. Through an in-depth analysis of the research achievements in heterogeneous UAV swarms over the past few years, this paper reveals the core breakthroughs and future development trends in this field. It is necessary to continuously enhance capabilities in autonomous collaborative intelligence, cross-domain cooperative operations, 6G communication integration, and anti-interference capabilities to cope with increasingly complex practical application scenarios. Furthermore, the establishment of relevant ethical and legal frameworks will also become a crucial factor in promoting the sustainable development of this field. This paper provides a comprehensive and in-depth perspective for the industry, with significant theoretical value and practical significance.