Collaborative Last-Mile Delivery with Drones in Rural America

Details

• Creators:
  Enayati, Shakiba ; Bahmani, Pardis
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Nebraska. Mid-America Transportation Center ; University of Missouri--St. Louis.
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program ; United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Delivery service
  • Drones
  • Health care
  • Medicine
  • Network analysis (Planning)
  • Optimization
  • Rural areas
• Publication/ Report Number:
  25-1121-3002-104
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  June 2023- December 2024
• Corporate Publisher:
  University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Mid-America Transportation Center
• Abstract:
  This report presents an optimization framework to improve rural healthcare logistics by integrating multi-modal transportation networks, including drones and ground vehicles. The framework addresses challenges such as high costs, excessive travel distances, and inefficiencies in uncoordinated systems. A novel weather-aware optimization model, incorporating a predictive function for energy consumption based on weather and time of arrival, ensures safer and more reliable drone operations. By leveraging advanced optimization techniques, the framework achieves cost reductions of up to 99% and reduces travel distances by over 88%. A case study validating the model focuses on centralized delivery of test kits, demonstrating significant improvements in cost and distance compared to a decentralized baseline. The research explores scenarios involving single and multi-vehicle configurations, drone integration, and weather-aware systems. These findings highlight the value of centralized planning, predictive modeling, and drone integration, providing actionable insights for healthcare logistics and other sectors like disaster response and agriculture.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  69A3552348307
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/85153/dot_85153_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.92 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:aa0e5d3a6d05b1c0401163955e46ad8cc65a3385ea5c73d3ca356ea7b914d434b977b0b28d1f15faa1294d81b8530927b650542d5981e3e9ccdfa25558db8c97