A mathematical model for the delivery routing problem via drones

• Main Authors: Ayşe Tülin Aktin, Özgür Polat, Barış Alioğlu, Begüm Özer, Sinem Han
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pamukkale University 2019-02-01
• Series: Pamukkale University Journal of Engineering Sciences
• Subjects: drone; vehicle routing problem; mathematical modelling; araç rotalama; matematiksel modelleme
• Online Access: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/pajes/issue/43460/532193

Logistics sector aims to distribute merchandise to designated places on time, while focusing on the entire process that starts from storing the goods at warehouses. Transportation by land is the most common and preferred way in logistics in terms of cost and service. Studies have been going on for drone transportation with the purpose of reducing the service time and making the process automated. Advancement of this technology has led to an increase in transportation with drones. Traffic is a huge problem in land transportation causing delays in delivery time. Furthermore, nature and economy are affected because of the CO2 emission, which is a consequence of intense traffic. In this study, utilizing drones for delivery is proposed with the aim of increasing customer satisfaction and minimizing transportation cost per delivery in a green way. İstanbul’s Bakırköy district is selected as the implementation region, and daily drug delivery to pharmacies with drones is examined. In the first stage, a mathematical model that uses pharmacy coordinates as an input is developed for clustering analysis. In the second stage, one of these clusters is selected, and the location of the drone center that will serve pharmacies in the cluster is obtained by center of gravity method. Then, a vehicle routing model is proposed for finding the drone routes and calculating the total distance travelled within this cluster. Mathematical models are solved with GAMS/CPLEX solver. It is believed that this study will trigger new studies in “green delivery” literature in near future.