Delivery of Special Cargoes Using the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This chapter presents the role, functions, and prospects of civil unmanned aerial vehicles development, as well as technical and regulatory barriers to the introduction of unmanned aircraft into special cargo transportation technology. The authors' main idea is that the degree of UAV involvement in freight traffic will continue to grow rapidly as the range of UAV flight and carrying capacity increases, and the air law is liberalized. It is proposed to evaluate the economic efficiency of UAV application and their share in the market for the transportation of urgent and perishable goods using the methodology based on the principles of logistics and mathematical modelling. In the formulated model, the process of special cargoes delivery by unmanned aerial vehicles is integrated into the supply chain by all modes of transport along the set route network, taking into account the requirements formulated by the freight forwarder, carrier, and logistics company.