A DroneGo Disaster Relief Response System

Abstract

<p>To support the Puerto Rico hurricane disaster scenario, we develop a DroneGo disaster response system by establishing the following models. First, we establish a location analysis model for ISO containers based on the coverage of video reconnaissance and the priority comparison between the two required missions–medical supply delivery and video reconnaissance. According to the locations of 11 harbors in Puerto Rico, we select three suitable harbors to position three cargo containers called CON 1, 2 and 3 to conduct the missions. Second, we build two packing configuration models to design the packing configuration for containers. In one model, we recommend a drone fleet for CON 1 and 3 according to reconnaissance conditions, and then put drones into containers in order. In another model for CON 2, we determine the type of drones according to the medical supply demands of hospitals. For both models, the number of drones of each type is determined by the enumeration method and the packing placement is determined by the greedy algorithm. The algorithms are coded in Visual C++ and MATLAB. The computational results show that the space utilizations for the three containers are all above 80.8%. Third, we design a drone flight plan model based on graph theory. According to the time and space constraints of drones, we devise flight plans as well as delivery routes and schedule. The computational results show that the coverage of video reconnaissance is up to 70.1%. Finally, we carry out the error and sensitivity analysis, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our models, and design the future work. In addition, a two-page memo that summarizes our modeling results, conclusions, and recommendations is given at the end of the paper.</p>