A novel truck-drone collaborative service network for wide-range drone delivery using a modified variable neighborhood search algorithm

With the wide recognition of the potential commercial value of drone technology, the delivery method of trucks with drones has gradually been applied to the logistics field. This paper proposed a novel truck-drone collaborative service network for the special case of poor ground transportation. The proposed model uses the truck as an auxiliary tool at fixed non-customer locations to support drone deliveries, and develops the potential of drones to carry multiple commodities and undertake wide-range delivery missions in each flight. A modified variable neighborhood search algorithm with a new three-dimensional coding scheme and five new neighborhood operators is presented to represent the routes of multiple drones in collaborative service networks and solve the proposed model. The experiment was conducted under three types of customer distribution scenarios and experimental results illustrate that the presented algorithm effectively solves the proposed model compared with other hybrid heuristic algorithms.