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Article

LLM-Assisted Mission Planning, Predictive Coordination, and Adaptive Topology Management for Resilient USV Swarm Control Under Communication Denial

Naval University of Engineering, Wuhan 430030, China
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Drones 2026, 10(8), 594; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10080594 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 16 June 2026 / Revised: 27 July 2026 / Accepted: 28 July 2026 / Published: 2 August 2026
(This article belongs to the Section Unmanned Surface and Underwater Drones)

Abstract

Unmanned surface vehicle (USV) swarms operating in communication-denied maritime environments face degraded formation control when inter-agent state exchange is disrupted. This paper presents a three-layer control architecture integrating (1) LLM-assisted strategic mission planning with formal safety verification, (2) predictive tactical coordination combining physics-based motion extrapolation with online-learned neighbor behavior models, and (3) DMPC + ADMM execution for constrained formation control. The predictive coordination module in simulation-based evaluation across five representative scenarios reduces formation error by 76.0% (under simulation conditions) during 60 s communication outages compared to zero-hold prediction (Cohen d=0.88, p<0.001, DMPC + ADMM validated). The adaptive topology manager dynamically selects among star, mesh, and tree configurations via a utility function balancing communication quality, threat exposure, and overhead, reducing communication overhead by 71.7% (for the particular cases investigated) under the evaluated conditions while maintaining formation accuracy. Stability analysis using multiple Lyapunov functions and average dwell time theory guarantees global uniform exponential stability under topology switching, with explicit error bounds under communication denial derived via Gronwall-type arguments. The framework is validated through 1250 simulation trials across five scenarios with rigorous statistical analysis. The three-layer temporal decoupling architecture provides a practical template for safely integrating LLM-assisted planning with real-time multi-agent control in contested environments.
Keywords: unmanned surface vehicles; multi-agent formation control; LLM-assisted planning; large language models; predictive coordination; distributed model predictive control; ADMM optimization; adaptive topology management; communication denial resilience unmanned surface vehicles; multi-agent formation control; LLM-assisted planning; large language models; predictive coordination; distributed model predictive control; ADMM optimization; adaptive topology management; communication denial resilience

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MDPI and ACS Style

Li, X.; Zhang, J.; Liu, Y.; Zhang, P.; Tan, L. LLM-Assisted Mission Planning, Predictive Coordination, and Adaptive Topology Management for Resilient USV Swarm Control Under Communication Denial. Drones 2026, 10, 594. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10080594

AMA Style

Li X, Zhang J, Liu Y, Zhang P, Tan L. LLM-Assisted Mission Planning, Predictive Coordination, and Adaptive Topology Management for Resilient USV Swarm Control Under Communication Denial. Drones. 2026; 10(8):594. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10080594

Chicago/Turabian Style

Li, Xingda, Jianqiang Zhang, Yiping Liu, Pengfei Zhang, and Ling Tan. 2026. "LLM-Assisted Mission Planning, Predictive Coordination, and Adaptive Topology Management for Resilient USV Swarm Control Under Communication Denial" Drones 10, no. 8: 594. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10080594

APA Style

Li, X., Zhang, J., Liu, Y., Zhang, P., & Tan, L. (2026). LLM-Assisted Mission Planning, Predictive Coordination, and Adaptive Topology Management for Resilient USV Swarm Control Under Communication Denial. Drones, 10(8), 594. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10080594

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