Mind the Gap: A Holistic View and Characterization of Contemporary UAV Swarm Technology

Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarms offer a significant paradigm for scalable and resilient mission execution, yet the integrated literature examining the intersection of individual dynamics and collective intelligence remains limited. This study conducts a structured mapping of 116 articles published between January 2021 and August 2025, providing a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art concerning the components of a UAV swarm, progressing from individual vehicle dynamics to coordinated collectives. Quantitative results reveal a dominant shift towards decentralized architectures, with connectivity maintenance and collision avoidance identified as primary functional domains. Methodologically, while control theory and optimization models form the field’s “deterministic spine”, data-driven approaches and artificial intelligence are emerging as significant research trends. Despite the widespread application of UAV swarms in simulation, the analysis highlights a disparity in experimental implementation, with only 23.3% of the reviewed research indicating hardware implementation beyond numerical simulations, predominantly restricted to controlled indoor environments, underlining critical research gaps in Sim-to-Real transfer and environmental robustness. Based on a multi-perspective analysis, the authors propose a multidimensional taxonomy categorized through three lenses—coordination mechanisms, algorithmic nature, and collective behaviours—aiming to provide a structured overview of the swarming paradigms identified in the recent literature.