01763864

Component

https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981211036685

Drones are increasingly being utilized to deliver medical supplies, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend. Drones arrive quickly by taking more direct paths and avoiding ground-based obstructions. However, drones are not completely reliable and may also experience failures and delays. For consumer products, delivery delays are an inconvenience, but for some medical supplies, delays may be fatal. This research focused on the drone reliability of one particular type of supply and event: automatic defibrillators for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. A modeling framework was developed to analyze drone delivery reliability with stochastic demands and meteorological conditions. Using probability distributions based on real data from Portland, OR, this research quantified the failure rates as a function of drone range and meteorological conditions that included temperature, precipitation, and wind. Tradeoffs among drone reliability, fleet size, population size, and meteorological conditions were analyzed.

Travis B. Glick https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6936-9111 © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2021.

TRBAM-21-02798

English

0000-0001-6936-9111

0000-0003-2120-4929

0000-0001-6737-0485

pp 242-255

2022-1

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Digital/other

Figures; References (28)

Air drop; Delivery service; Demand; Drones; Medical equipment; Reliability; Stochastic processes; Weather conditions

Portland (Oregon)

Aviation; Freight Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 23 2020 11:13AM