Synchronized Truck and Drone Routing in Package Delivery Logistics

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in delivery logistics has become an efficient solution with the advancement of autonomous robotics. This paper proposes a novel mechanism that synchronizes drones and delivery trucks; particularly the case where trucks can work as mobile launching and retrieval sites. The problem is a Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Synchronized Drones. A multi-objective optimization model is developed with two conflicting objectives, minimizing the travel costs and maximizing the customer service level in terms of timely deliveries. A novel Collaborative Pareto Ant Colony Optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the model and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) is used to compare and validate the proposed algorithm. The experimental results indicate that the proposed mechanism is an efficient solution to parcel delivery logistics.