Multi-Objective Design of UAS Air Route Network Based on a Hierarchical Location–Allocation Model

Zhaoxuan Liu, Lei Nie, Guoqiang Xu (), Yanhua Li and Xiangmin Guan
Additional contact information
Zhaoxuan Liu: School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Lei Nie: School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Guoqiang Xu: School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Yanhua Li: School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Xiangmin Guan: Department of General Aviation, Civil Aviation Management Institute of China, Chaoyang, Beijing 100102, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 23, 1-23

Abstract: This research concentrates on the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) demand sites’ hierarchical location–allocation problem in air route network design. With demand sites (locations where UAS operations are requested) organized and allocated according to the spatial hierarchy of UAS traffic flows, the hierarchical structure guarantees resource conservation and economies of scale through traffic consolidation. Therefore, in this paper, the UAS route network with a three-level hierarchy is developed under a multi-objective decision-making framework, where concerns about UAS transportation efficiency from the user side and construction efficiency from the supplier side are both simultaneously considered. Specifically, a bi-level Hybrid Simulated Annealing Genetic Algorithm (HSAGA) with global and local search combined is proposed to determine the optimal number, location, and allocation of hierarchical sites. Moreover, using the information of site closeness and UAS demand distribution, two problem-specific local search operators are designed to explore elite neighborhood regions instead of all the search space. A case study based on the simulated UAS travel demand data of the Beijing area in China was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, and the impact of critical parameter settings on the network layout was explored as well. Findings from this study will offer new insights for UAS traffic management in the future.

Keywords: Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS); UAS route network design; UAS traffic management; multi-objective optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16521/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16521/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:23:p:16521-:d:1293302

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().