Logistic deliveries with drones: State of the art of practice and research

New technologies are transforming facilities and vehicles into intelligent systems that will significantly modify logistics deliveries. With the appearance of automated vehicles, multiple new technological possibilities appear to perform deliveries. One example is the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or Drones, that might trigger different delivery networks or might boost new delivery services. This work will focus on the use of UAVs for logistic deliveries, including both a research state of the art and state of practice. Multiple researchers have already investigated several optimization problems that can appear when performing deliveries assisted with drones. For instance, the flying sidekick traveling salesman problem, where a drone is used in combination with vans to improve the service. Another example is the study of the optimal drone placement to provide cost-efficient coverage. However, multiple factors affect the market adoption of drones in logistic, like technical features, airspace regulation, or users’ preferences, amongst others. That is why the work will also include a review on the latest industry trends and tests, to be able to identify potential optimization research gaps