UAV Delivery Staging Using Optimal Intermediate Locations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drone delivery systems face inefficiencies due to dynamic recipient locations and time-sensitive deliveries, leading to wasted resources and increased wear and tear, as drones often need to return to the origin after a request is rescinded or the recipient's location changes.
Innovation Solution
Optimizing drone delivery by determining an optimal intermediate location based on historical delivery data, navigating to this location, and sending notifications to potential recipients within a threshold distance, allowing for efficient delivery of additional payloads based on probability and remaining storage capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a drone is dispatched to a delivery location based on initial recipient location data, then the delivery request can be fulfilled, but the drone may waste energy and time if the recipient's location has changed
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by determining an optimal intermediate location before the drone is dispatched, and by sending notifications to multiple potential recipients in advance. This allows the drone to be positioned optimally before the actual delivery request is confirmed, reducing the need to return to origin after location changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adapts to changing recipient locations by using real-time location data and determining optimal intermediate locations based on current recipient positions. The drone's navigation is updated dynamically to reflect the most efficient delivery path, accommodating location changes without wasting energy on fixed-route deliveries.
2Productivity
If a drone returns to origin after a delivery request is rescinded or location changes, then the drone can be reused for another delivery, but this increases delivery time and reduces productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple potential delivery locations into a single optimal intermediate location that minimizes total travel distance. By combining the navigation to intermediate location with the final delivery navigation, the system reduces total travel time and enables multiple deliveries per trip without returning to origin.
Solution Approach 2:
The drone maintains continuous useful action by navigating from origin to intermediate location, then to recipient location, and can proceed directly to the next delivery without returning to origin. This continuous operation maximizes productivity by keeping the drone in delivery mode throughout the entire operational cycle.
3Speed
If the drone navigates directly to the recipient location, then the delivery is prompt, but the drone cannot efficiently deliver additional payloads to other nearby recipients
Solution Approach 1:
The optimal intermediate location serves as an intermediary point that enables efficient multi-delivery operations. The drone first navigates to this intermediate location, then can deliver to multiple recipients in sequence without returning to origin, thus maintaining delivery speed while increasing overall productivity through batch deliveries.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for optimizing drone delivery efficiency. The method includes determining an optimal intermediate location for a UAV based on historical payload delivery data related to a payload carried by the UAV, wherein the distance between the optimal intermediate location and each of a group of potential recipient devices is less than a predetermined threshold; causing the UAV to navigate to the optimal intermediate location; sending, to each potential recipient device having a probability of requesting the payload carried by the UAV which exceeds a predetermined threshold, a notification indicating the payload carried by the unmanned aerial vehicle; receiving, from a first potential recipient device of the potential recipient devices, a request to deliver the payload; and causing the UAV to navigate from the optimal intermediate location to a location of the first potential recipient device when the request to deliver the payload is received.