Assessment of Parcel Delivery Systems Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Phase III)

The project will evaluate alternative parcel delivery methods that use UAVs. The different methods to be evaluated include UAVs operating independent from ground vehicle delivery, mobile depots where ground vehicles are equipped with UAVs that aid in the delivery process, and data driven approaches where the UAV provides information on the traffic state to improve vehicle route choice and UAV deployment decisions. The delivery systems will be evaluated under different levels of demand and considering different UAV capabilities in terms of range and allowable parcel size. The current objectives of the project include assessment of different parcel delivery systems that exploit drone traffic monitoring and delivery capabilities. Specifically, the research team is developing open loop control algorithms for adaptive drone deployment and truck routing. The resulting strategies are compared against exiting delivery mechanisms that do not incorporate traffic congestion. As an extension for this project, the team will evaluate novel probabilistic modeling procedures as well as techniques for estimating the probability of non-recurrent congestion at incident prone locations.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $97500
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747133

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Center for Advanced Multimodal Mobility Solutions and Education

  University of North Carolina, Charlotte
  Charlotte, NC  United States  28223

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  University of North Carolina - Charlotte

  9201 University City Blvd
  Charlotte, North Carolina  United States  28223-0001
• Project Managers:

  Fan, Wei

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Texas at Austin

  Austin, TX  United States  78712
• Principal Investigators:

  Boyles, Stephen

• Start Date: 20191001
• Expected Completion Date: 20210630
• Actual Completion Date: 20210630

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Algorithms; Alternatives analysis; Data collection; Delivery service; Drones; Evaluation and assessment; Image processing; Optimization; Routing; Traffic data; Traffic models; Trucks
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Data and Information Technology; Freight Transportation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01724147
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Advanced Multimodal Mobility Solutions and Education
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747133
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Dec 1 2019 10:36PM