Flying Robots for Safe and Efficient Parcel Delivery Within the COVID-19 Pandemic

The integration of small-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) into Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs) will empower novel smart-city applications and services. After the unforeseen outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the public demand for delivery services has increased. Mobile robotic systems inherently offer the potential for minimizing the amount of direct human-to-human interactions within the parcel delivery process. In this paper, we apply a system-level perspective for identifying key challenges and promising solution approaches for modeling, analysis, and optimization of UAV-aided parcel delivery. We present a system-of-systems model for UAV-enhanced parcel delivery to cope with higher capacity requirements induced by the COVID-19. The proposed system-of-systems consists of various complex aspects such as assigning and distributing delivery jobs, establishing and maintaining reliable communication links between the vehicles, as well as path planning and mobility control. In a proof of concept evaluation, we simulate the logistics performance and network communications of a hybrid delivery fleet composed of ground and aerial vehicles operating under pandemic induced constraints, such as the prioritization of time-critical deliveries like medical goods. Results indicate that network requirements for reliable communications within the delivery fleet can be met by existing network communications approaches. Furthermore, gains in delivery capacity induced by drone usage and a trade-off caused by prioritizing time-critical goods, therefore, resulting in a penalty for regular deliveries, are observed.