IoT Techniques and Elements for Drone Package Delivery Networks
2.3 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS / CARBON FOOTPRINT
Reduced carbon footprint for logistics and delivery is a key consideration . According to the US Environmental Protection Agency , in 2021 the light / medium / heavy duty truck segment emitted almost 1.1 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent [ 5 ]. The transportation sector is responsible for 29 % of US GHG emissions . The logistics / delivery industry is a key contributor to this total . The trucking industry is slowly moving toward electric truck fleets , but this will take decades .
2.4 LABOR CONTENT
Labor content is a key challenge for the delivery industry . Delivery truck drivers are difficult to recruit , and often have quality of life issues like long hours , injuries , and stress . There are numerous demonstrations of autonomous ground delivery vehicles , but their technology is not ready for the volume deployment needed to improve the labor situation .
Drone-based networks will be largely autonomous , delivering cargo automatically to a structured receiving location near the customer – eliminating the “ running to the front door ” delivery people in trucks must do .
2.5 CARGO SECURITY
There are challenges in the security of delivery networks . “ Porch pirates ” stole an estimated 260 million packages in 2022 , costing billions of dollars in losses [ 6 ]. Today ’ s delivery networks are not secure enough to carry high-value or controlled goods . Medical deliveries are a particular challenge , for example delivering schedule 1 / 2 drugs from pharmacies to remote clinics or returning biological samples from remote clinics to central labs . There are similar security challenges for drones carrying currency , jewelry , evidence or high value goods . The ideal solution would be so secure that the end-to-end delivery system was capable of maintaining chain-ofcustody tracking of sensitive deliveries and evidence that would be admissible in court .
2.6 SCALABILITY
Drone delivery networks must be scalable . Their initial deployment is typically a modest proof of concept / limited technical trial with a few drones and a few landing points over a small geographic area . As technical confidence , regulatory maturity and consumer trust builds , these networks will be expanded to cover larger geographic areas , longer flight durations , heavier and more critical cargo , more diverse weather conditions , and many more delivery missions per hour . Ultimately , a drone delivery network could scale to cover the entire metropolitan area of a large city , have tens of thousands of simultaneously active drones servicing tens or hundreds of thousands of loading / landing endpoints , and flying hundreds of thousands of largely autonomous delivery missions per day . This could provide an economic value of hundreds of millions of dollars per year for the delivery service operator ( s ).
Journal of Innovation 31