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Drones: the scope for integration into multi-modal urban logistics services

Drones: the scope for integration into multi-modal urban logistics services
Drones: the scope for integration into multi-modal urban logistics services
Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, or drones) are seen as a potential new logistics mode, both for urban areas and beyond, that could reduce service times, energy consumption, tailpipe atmospheric emissions, and numbers of van/truck-based trips, whilst also improving accessibility in hard-to-reach locations. Drones have been used successfully across many sectors from surveillance and security to photography and surveying, inspection of infrastructure and agriculture, aid provision, and environmental monitoring. Most of these activities involve flights within Visual-Line-of-Sight (VLOS), where the operator retains visual contact with the drone at all times. In contrast, large-scale commercial drone logistics services (i.e., payload delivery) require flights Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) that entail more risk and require specific permissions, particularly in densely populated urban areas, which are key reasons why such services are not prevalent except for some medical use cases in Africa.

With a particular focus on medical use cases, and using first-hand experience of operating BVLOS flights, this chapter will discuss the practical realities of integrating drones into existing urban logistics supply chain infrastructures, specifically:
i) Public acceptance of drones for urban logistics purposes.
ii) Payload capabilities of drones relative to the service demand.
iii) Adherence to client quality assurance requirements when transporting sensitive payloads.
iv) Implications of dangerous goods regulations for drone payloads.
v) Implications of air and ground risks on route planning and optimisation.
vi) Mechanisms for integrating drones alongside crewed aircraft in shared airspace.
vii) Overall service reliability given weather conditions and minimal risk routing.
viii) Cost implications of utilising drones as part of multi-modal urban logistics supply chains.
UAV; drone; commercial; urban logistics; BVLOS; quality assurance; dangerous goods; risk; shared airspace; reliability; cost.
72-90
Routledge
Grote, Matthew
f29566f9-42a7-498a-9671-8661a4287754
Oakey, Andy
dfd6e317-1e6d-429c-a3e0-bc80e92787d1
Pilko, Aliaksei
862c6e08-d848-49f9-ae61-d222751d6422
Smith, Angela
ad7d3dfe-2c8d-4778-b07d-cccc5885f00a
Cherrett, Thomas
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Monios, Jason
Budd, Lucy
Ison, Stephen
Grote, Matthew
f29566f9-42a7-498a-9671-8661a4287754
Oakey, Andy
dfd6e317-1e6d-429c-a3e0-bc80e92787d1
Pilko, Aliaksei
862c6e08-d848-49f9-ae61-d222751d6422
Smith, Angela
ad7d3dfe-2c8d-4778-b07d-cccc5885f00a
Cherrett, Thomas
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Monios, Jason
Budd, Lucy
Ison, Stephen

Grote, Matthew, Oakey, Andy, Pilko, Aliaksei, Smith, Angela and Cherrett, Thomas (2023) Drones: the scope for integration into multi-modal urban logistics services. In, Monios, Jason, Budd, Lucy and Ison, Stephen (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Urban Logistics. 1st ed. Routledge, pp. 72-90. (doi:10.4324/9781003241478-8).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, or drones) are seen as a potential new logistics mode, both for urban areas and beyond, that could reduce service times, energy consumption, tailpipe atmospheric emissions, and numbers of van/truck-based trips, whilst also improving accessibility in hard-to-reach locations. Drones have been used successfully across many sectors from surveillance and security to photography and surveying, inspection of infrastructure and agriculture, aid provision, and environmental monitoring. Most of these activities involve flights within Visual-Line-of-Sight (VLOS), where the operator retains visual contact with the drone at all times. In contrast, large-scale commercial drone logistics services (i.e., payload delivery) require flights Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) that entail more risk and require specific permissions, particularly in densely populated urban areas, which are key reasons why such services are not prevalent except for some medical use cases in Africa.

With a particular focus on medical use cases, and using first-hand experience of operating BVLOS flights, this chapter will discuss the practical realities of integrating drones into existing urban logistics supply chain infrastructures, specifically:
i) Public acceptance of drones for urban logistics purposes.
ii) Payload capabilities of drones relative to the service demand.
iii) Adherence to client quality assurance requirements when transporting sensitive payloads.
iv) Implications of dangerous goods regulations for drone payloads.
v) Implications of air and ground risks on route planning and optimisation.
vi) Mechanisms for integrating drones alongside crewed aircraft in shared airspace.
vii) Overall service reliability given weather conditions and minimal risk routing.
viii) Cost implications of utilising drones as part of multi-modal urban logistics supply chains.

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More information

Published date: 23 June 2023
Keywords: UAV; drone; commercial; urban logistics; BVLOS; quality assurance; dangerous goods; risk; shared airspace; reliability; cost.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 476499
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/476499
PURE UUID: 03918218-5fc9-4954-9bb0-d0a73f8abcac
ORCID for Matthew Grote: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5590-7150
ORCID for Andy Oakey: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1796-5485
ORCID for Aliaksei Pilko: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0023-0300
ORCID for Thomas Cherrett: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0394-5459

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Date deposited: 04 May 2023 16:54
Last modified: 23 Mar 2024 03:06

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Contributors

Author: Matthew Grote ORCID iD
Author: Andy Oakey ORCID iD
Author: Aliaksei Pilko ORCID iD
Author: Angela Smith
Author: Thomas Cherrett ORCID iD
Editor: Jason Monios
Editor: Lucy Budd
Editor: Stephen Ison

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