A continuous approximation approach to integrated truck and drone delivery systems

IF 6.7 2区管理学 Q1 MANAGEMENT Omega-international Journal of Management Science Pub Date : 2024-03-02 DOI:10.1016/j.omega.2024.103067

Juan Zhang , James F. Campbell , Donald C. Sweeney II

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Abstract

Home package delivery by drones as an alternative or complement to traditional delivery by trucks is attracting considerable attention from the commercial sector as well as academia. While drone delivery may offer considerable benefits, the fundamental issues of how best to deploy drones for small package delivery are still not well understood. Unlike most studies in the literature that consider either truck-drone tandems or drone standalone delivery operations, our research provides a strategic analysis for the optimal design of an integrated drone delivery system in which customers in a service region can be served by a combination of truck-drone (TD) delivery, drone-only (DO) delivery, and truck-only (TO) delivery. We formulate and optimize continuous approximation models to identify the optimal delivery service combination that minimizes the total delivery costs including truck and drone operating and stop costs. We evaluate the impact of a wide range of operating characteristics and delivery environments on the optimal delivery system and the benefits of using drones. Our results suggest that an optimal delivery system design often uses a mix of DO and TD, but TD is the dominant delivery service in most scenarios. The magnitude of the cost savings afforded by the use of drones, relative to truck-only delivery, can be large but strongly depends on the values of key parameters.

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卡车和无人机综合配送系统的连续近似方法

用无人机运送家庭包裹作为传统卡车运送的替代或补充，正吸引着商业部门和学术界的极大关注。虽然无人机送货可能会带来相当大的好处，但人们对如何最好地部署无人机进行小包裹送货的基本问题仍不甚了解。与文献中考虑卡车-无人机串联或无人机独立送货业务的大多数研究不同，我们的研究为综合无人机送货系统的优化设计提供了战略分析，在该系统中，一个服务区域内的客户可以通过卡车-无人机（TD）送货、仅无人机（DO）送货和仅卡车（TO）送货的组合方式获得服务。我们制定并优化了连续近似模型，以确定最优配送服务组合，使包括卡车和无人机运营及停靠成本在内的总配送成本最小化。我们评估了各种运营特征和配送环境对最佳配送系统的影响以及使用无人机的益处。我们的结果表明，最佳配送系统设计通常会混合使用 DO 和 TD，但在大多数情况下，TD 是最主要的配送服务。相对于纯卡车配送，使用无人机可以节省大量成本，但这在很大程度上取决于关键参数的取值。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Omega-international Journal of Management Science 管理科学-运筹学与管理科学

CiteScore

13.80

自引率

11.60%

发文量

130

审稿时长

56 days

期刊介绍： Omega reports on developments in management, including the latest research results and applications. Original contributions and review articles describe the state of the art in specific fields or functions of management, while there are shorter critical assessments of particular management techniques. Other features of the journal are the "Memoranda" section for short communications and "Feedback", a correspondence column. Omega is both stimulating reading and an important source for practising managers, specialists in management services, operational research workers and management scientists, management consultants, academics, students and research personnel throughout the world. The material published is of high quality and relevance, written in a manner which makes it accessible to all of this wide-ranging readership. Preference will be given to papers with implications to the practice of management. Submissions of purely theoretical papers are discouraged. The review of material for publication in the journal reflects this aim.