Model for Optimization of Heterogeneous Cargo Transportation Using UAVs, Taking into Account the Priority of Delivery Tasks

Aleksandr Podvesovskii; Alena Zakharova

Aleksandr Podvesovskii Bryansk State Technical University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1118-3266
Alena Zakharova V.A. Trapeznikov Institute of Control Sciences of Russian Academy of Sciences https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4221-7710

Keywords: Unmanned aerial vehicle, Cargo transportation, Transportation plan optimization, Multiproduct network transportation problem, Priorities, Visualization

Abstract

One of the promising applications of unmanned aerial vehicles in the agricultural industry is the delivery of essential supplies to remote areas cut off from land transportation routes. The urgent task here is creation of mobile solutions that enable to quickly organize transportation of cargo, including heterogeneous ones, under conditions of shortage of certain types of cargo and the need to prioritize requests for delivery. The paper proposes a model for creating an optimal transportation plan of heterogeneous cargo between sources and destinations for the route network of arbitrary structure. The model contains mechanisms for formalizing and taking into account the priority of cargo delivery tasks for the different types of priority, as well as a mechanism for balancing the priority of delivery tasks and the transportation cost. The results of testing the proposed optimization model for planning the process of cargo delivery to remote areas, with visualization of the transportation plan based on a digital terrain model are presented. The directions for further development and improvement of the proposed approach are discussed.