The impact of civil airspace policies on the viability of adopting autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles in last-mile applications

Mo ElSayed, Ahmed Foda and Moataz Mohamed

Transport Policy, 2024, vol. 145, issue C, 37-54

Abstract: This study evaluates how various UAV flight policies affect energy consumption and the required charging infrastructure in last-mile parcel delivery applications. International UAV policies are reviewed and subcategorized into nine categories based on their stringency. Assuming autonomous operations of small-size quadrotor UAVs (13 min flight range), an experimentally verified energy model and demand data are used to simulate 3D trajectories of UAV missions in a digital-twin model, simulating last-mile parcel deliveries in Toronto. A novel optimization model is developed to minimize the allocated charging stations. The results show that the maximum and minimum altitude limitations increase the required charging stations by up to 52%. Minimum horizontal clearing distance increases the required charging stations by up to 75%. The results highlight increased cost per parcel delivery associated with policy strictness ranging from $0.078 (lean policies) to $0.086 (strict policies). Overall, the results highlight the need for contextual-based policy solutions.

Keywords: Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); UAV airspace policy; Charging infrastructure; Autonomous drones; Last-mile delivery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2023.10.002

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