LLM-DaaS: LLM-driven Drone-as-a-Service Operations from Text User Requests

TL;DR

This paper introduces LLM-DaaS, a framework that uses large language models to interpret natural language requests and automate drone service operations, enhancing efficiency and safety in uncertain conditions.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel LLM-based system that converts free-text user requests into structured drone operations, integrating real-time data for optimized routing and scheduling.

Findings

Improved task accuracy in drone operations

Enhanced operational efficiency through LLM interpretation

Robustness in uncertain environments

Abstract

We propose LLM-DaaS, a novel Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) framework that leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) to transform free-text user requests into structured, actionable DaaS operation tasks. Our approach addresses the key challenge of interpreting and structuring natural language input to automate drone service operations under uncertain conditions. The system is composed of three main components: free-text request processing, structured request generation, and dynamic DaaS selection and composition. First, we fine-tune different LLM models such as Phi-3.5, LLaMA-3.2 7b and Gemma 2b on a dataset of text user requests mapped to structured DaaS requests. Users interact with our model in a free conversational style, discussing package delivery requests, while the fine-tuned LLM extracts DaaS metadata such as delivery time, source and destination locations, and package weight. The DaaS service selection model is designed to select the best available drone capable of delivering the requested package from the delivery point to the nearest optimal destination. Additionally, the DaaS composition model composes a service from a set of the best available drones to deliver the package from the source to the final destination. Second, the system integrates real-time weather data to optimize drone route planning and scheduling, ensuring safe and efficient operations. Simulations demonstrate the system's ability to significantly improve task accuracy, operational efficiency, and establish LLM-DaaS as a robust solution for DaaS operations in uncertain environments.