About the Problem of Drone Routing

Abstract

Introduction. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are attracting considerable interest in a variety of areas, such as logistics, defence, search and rescue, agriculture, manufacturing and environmental monitoring. The effective use of these flexible resources requires the development of models and methods that ensure the creation of safe and efficient flight routes for UAVs. The purpose of the paper is to study the current state of UAV routing problems, including an analysis of existing research in this field and systematization of scientific approaches and algorithms as well as the formalization of some practically important problems. Results. A classification of UAV routing problems has been proposed based on various criteria, including the number of UAVs, the number of base locations, UAV recharging constraints, additional conditions, evaluation criteria, and the constancy of conditions. An analysis and classification of UAV routing problems are presented, highlighting the significance of these problems in various fields such as logistics, defense, agriculture, and others. Meaningful formulations of several interrelated practical UAV routing problems have been proposed, and their formalization has been carried out in the form of specific mathematical models. Conclusions. The development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a dynamic and relevant area with a wide range of applications. The paper systemises scientific approaches and algorithms for optimising UAV routes, analyses and classifies routing problems according to various criteria. The proposed classification allows for a better understanding of the structure of the problems and the selection of appropriate methods for solving them. The main result is the formalisation of a number of practical UAV routing problems in the form of mathematical models, which allows developing effective algorithms for solving these problems, increasing the efficiency of UAVs in various fields, such as logistics, defence and agriculture. Keywords: route optimization, unmanned aerial vehicle, drone, mathematical model, flight resource, combinatorial optimization, monitoring, logistics.