Path Optimization of Joint Delivery Mode of Trucks and UAVs

With the development of e-commerce and information technology, new modes of distribution are emerging. A new type of distribution tool, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), has entered into the public’s field of vision. In the background of growing e-commerce, this paper proposes a new delivery mode of joint delivery of trucks and UAVs which particularly has been popular in recent years, with the advantages of prompt delivery, low cost, and independence from terrain restrictions, while traditional transportation tools such as trucks have more advantages in terms of flight distance and load capacity. Therefore, the joint delivery mode of trucks and UAVs proposed in this paper can well realize the complementary advantages of trucks and UAVs in the distribution process and consequently optimize the distribution process. Moreover, the growing e-commerce promotes customers’ higher needs for delivery efficiency and the integrity of the delivered goods which urges companies to pay more attention to customers’ satisfaction. This paper analyzes the joint delivery mode of trucks and UAVs, aims to minimize total delivery cost and maximize customer satisfaction, and builds a multiobjective optimization model for joint delivery. Furthermore, an improved ant colony algorithm is proposed in order to solve the mode in this paper. In order to effectively avoid prematurity of the ant colony algorithm, the limited pheromone concentration and the classification idea of the artificial bee colony algorithm are introduced to improve the ant colony algorithm. Finally, some experiments are simulated by MATLAB software, and the comparison shows that the joint delivery of trucks and UAVs has more advantages, and the improved ant colony algorithm is more efficient than the traditional ant colony.