Drones for disaster response and relief operations: A continuous approximation model

Sudipta Chowdhury, Adindu Emelogu, Mohammad Marufuzzaman, Sarah G. Nurre and Linkan Bian

International Journal of Production Economics, 2017, vol. 188, issue C, 167-184

Abstract: This paper proposes a Continuous Approximation (CA) model that designs the potentiality of drones as a mode of transportation to supply emergency commodities in a disaster-affected region. The model determines the optimal distribution center locations and their corresponding service regions and ordering quantities to minimize the overall distribution cost for the disaster-relief operation. We propose a two-phase CA approach that solves the model efficiently. We conduct extensive sensitivity analysis to reveal insights into how system design varies with key drone design parameters. We use three disaster-prone coastal counties of Mississippi as a testbed to visualize and validate the modeling results.

Keywords: Drone routing; Humanitarian logistics; Continuous approximation; Facility location; Inventory management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:proeco:v:188:y:2017:i:c:p:167-184

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2017.03.024

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