We are witnessing a new era where problem-solving and cognitive tasks are being increasingly delegated to Large Language Models (LLMs) across diverse domains, ranging from code generation to holiday planning. This trend also creates a demand for the ubiquitous execution of LLM-powered applications in a wide variety of environments in which traditional terrestrial 2D networking infrastructures may prove insufficient. A promising solution in this context is to extend edge computing into a 3D setting to include aerial platforms organized in multiple layers, a paradigm we refer to as air computing, to augment local devices for running LLM and Generative AI (GenAI) applications. This approach alleviates the strain on existing infrastructure while enhancing service efficiency by offloading computational tasks to the corresponding air units such as UAVs. Furthermore, the coordinated deployment of various air units can significantly improve the Quality of Experience (QoE) by ensuring seamless, adaptive, and resilient task execution. In this study, we investigate the synergy between LLM-based applications and air computing, exploring their potential across various use cases. Additionally, we present a disaster response case study demonstrating how the collaborative utilization of LLMs and air computing can significantly improve outcomes in critical situations.

Utilizing wind hovering techniques of soaring birds can save energy expenditure and improve the flight endurance of micro air vehicles (MAVs). Here, we present a novel method for fully autonomous orographic soaring without a priori knowledge of the wind field. Specifically, we devise an Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI) controller with control allocation, adapting it for autonomous soaring. This allows for both soaring and the use of the throttle if necessary, without changing any gain or parameter during the flight. Furthermore, we propose a simulated-annealing-based optimization method to search for soaring positions. This enables for the first time an MAV to autonomously find a feasible soaring position while minimizing throttle usage and other control efforts. Autonomous orographic soaring was performed in the wind tunnel. The wind speed and incline of a ramp were changed during the soaring flight. The MAV was able to perform autonomous orographic soaring for flight times of up to 30 minutes. The mean throttle usage was only 0.25% for the entire soaring flight, whereas normal powered flight requires 38%. Also, it was shown that the MAV can find a new soaring spot when the wind field changes during the flight.

Abstract-- Flying animals, such as bats, fly through their fluidic environment as they create air jets and form wake structures downstream of their flight path. Bats, in particular, dynamically morph their highly flexible and dexterous armwing to manipulate their fluidic environment which is key to their agility and flight efficiency. This paper presents the theoretical and numerical analysis of the wake-structure-based gait design inspired by bat flight for flapping robots using the notion of reduced-order models and unsteady aerodynamic model incorporating Wagner function. The objective of this paper is to introduce the notion of gait design for flapping robots by systematically searching the design space in the context of optimization. The solution found using our gait design framework was used to design and test a flapping robot.

Understandably, society views Urban Air Mobility (UAM) in this way, however, the rapid increase in use-cases, investments, and infrastructure being introduced around the globe may prove that this assumption may be wrong. In February, the first airport designated to'flying taxis' started being built in Coventry, UK, as a carbon-neutral, zero-emissions hotspot for travel. The vision is that air-taxis or electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles will provide a platform to transport both people and goods in urban airspace, easing the congestion that we're so used to seeing on the ground. Moreover, the UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) is investing £125 million into its'Future flight challenge' scheme to develop more sustainable methods of flying. São Paulo, Brazil, a city with a heavily-congested road network and host to the highest concentration of helicopters in the world, is working with the Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) to drive forward the type certificate validation process for eVTOL, and Volocopter, the German aircraft manufacturer, is to provide eVTOL's to France and Singapore in the next three years.

Scientists have built a shape-shifting robotic drone that transforms from a ground vehicle to a quadcopter, an advance that may lead to novel machines that can perform diverse functions under different conditions and self-heal after being damaged. The researchers from Virginia Tech in the US first developed a multifunctional material that could change shape, hold the shape, and return to the original configuration, and to do this over many cycles. "One of the challenges was to create a material that was soft enough to dramatically change shape, yet rigid enough to create adaptable machines that can perform different functions," Michael Bartlett, assistant professor in mechanical engineering, said in a statement. The scientists then turned to the Japanese art of kirigami, which involves making shapes out of paper by cutting, to create a structure that could be morphed. Then they developed an endoskeleton made of a low melting point alloy (LMPA) embedded inside a rubber skin.

Before continuing to describe what NASA accomplished with its witty IFCS, I will provide you a brief introduction to some important concepts and the benefits of the "fly-by-wire" systems. In a "fly-by-wire" system, the movements of the pilot's flight controls, also known as inceptors, are converted into electronic signals that are transmitted by wires -- thus the name "fly-by-wire ". Using these electrical signals, the Flight Control Computers (FCC) determine how the actuator of each of the control surfaces should move to meet the required aircraft handling qualities criteria. Over time, the traditional mechanical linkages between the pilot's controls and the aerodynamic control surfaces like those of the Flyer have been substitued by the electronic interfaces and computers of the modern "fly-by-wire" systems, although still nowadays traditional mechanical flight control systems can be found in conventional light aircraft. Thanks to the digital "fly-by-wire" systems, the pilot's workload in modern aircraft has decreased considerably, as many critical tasks have been delegated to the computer, like the automatic stabilization of the aircraft.

The aviation industry is the front-runner of autonomous vehicles. It has long beat the automotive sector in the race of autonomy. People feel comfortable with the implication of self-driving vehicles when they grow fond of the concept of autonomy. The self-flying planes are already on use with the help of flight plan created by pilots. For example, if a pilot takes off the seat-belt sign, there are chances that the flight is being self-driven.

Pentagon and industry developers are now testing a new series of hypersonic weapons prototypes as part of a large-scale effort to fast-track the weapons to service. The U.S. acceleration of the weapons, which includes air flights, ground-firing, wind-tunnels, simulation and various kinds of prototyping, is widely discussed as much needed response to Russian and Chinese progress in the area of hypersonics. Flight tests, demonstrations, ground testing and advanced air-vehicle configuration prototyping are all providing data for an Air Force, DARPA and Raytheon hypersonic weapons program called Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapons Concept, or HAWC. DARPA statements on the program, citing program manager Andrew Knoedler, identify key areas of developmental emphasis to include "hydrocarbon scramjet-powered propulsion to enable sustained hypersonic cruise." DARPA information, mirrored by Raytheon weapons developers, explains that "sustaining" speeds at 5-times the speed of sound is a technical characteristic to hypersonic weapons...and the HAWC in particular.

This papers aims to examine the potential of using the emerging deep reinforcement learning techniques in flight control. Instead of learning from scratch, the autopilot structure is fixed as typical three-loop autopilot and deep reinforcement learning is utilised to learn the autopilot gains. This domain-knowledge-aided approach is proved to significantly improve the learning efficiency. To solve the flight control problem, we then formulate a Markovian decision process with a proper reward function that enable the application of reinforcement learning theory. The state-of-the-art deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm is utilised to learn an action policy that maps the observed states to the autopilot gains. Extensive empirical numerical simulations are performed to validate the proposed computational control algorithm.

Science fiction movies (think, for instance, "Blade Runner") often depict cities of the future where the sky is a maze of invisible roads, chock-a-bloc with aerial vehicles that sometimes drive themselves. But unless you have been living like a hermit, cut off from the world, you would know that sort of a scenario is not entirely in the realm of fiction any more. While companies like Tesla, Uber and Waymo (among many others) have already been testing cars that drive themselves, there are others, including Airbus, Boeing and Toyota, who are working on flying cars. Even NASA is onboard with this vision for the future, and has an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) research team working toward this goal, which the agency calls "a safe and efficient air transportation system where everything from small package delivery drones to passenger-carrying air taxis operate over populated areas, from small towns to the largest cities." While a lot more research needs to be done to create the necessary technology that is both safe and efficient, not to mention the framing of rules and regulations to govern its use, it is certainly not just a pipedream.