Smart Logistics - Drones: Deciphering Drone Logistics in One Article

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Today's society is moving from the post-industrial era to the intelligent era, with the rapid development of science and technology, and the development of information technology, artificial intelligence, drones and the logistics industry are intertwined and promoted. Automation and intelligence are gradually infiltrating people's work and life, such as fully automatic assembly lines in factories, automatic sorting and handling systems in warehouses, intelligent search, intelligent voice processing and response platforms, and so on.

UAV logistics is one of the typical representatives of the logistics industry's development towards automation and intelligence. This article will briefly explain what is drone logistics, why drone logistics should be developed, and how to develop drone logistics.

1. The concept, category and advantages of drone logistics

UAV logistics refers to the process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of physical goods from the supply point to the receiving point, mainly using the technical solution of the drone. In layman's terms, it is to use drones as the main tool to carry out logistics activities, or to use drones to achieve key tasks in logistics activities.

The essence of UAV logistics is to use advanced production tools to develop productivity, which is the result of the mechanization, automation and intelligent development of the logistics industry, and can also be regarded as an important branch of the smart logistics system.

UAV logistics can be subdivided into: branch UAV transportation, UAV express delivery (end delivery), UAV rescue (emergency logistics), and UAV warehouse management (inventory, inspection, etc.), among which The main forms are branch drone transportation and drone terminal delivery.

UAV transportation (generally refers to freight) is an important part of UAV logistics. It is the process of manipulating UAV to deliver goods through its own program control device or radio remote control equipment. According to the transportation distance, carrying weight and battery life The time zone is divided into branch drone transportation, terminal drone delivery and other types. The following are introduced respectively:

First, large-load, medium-to-long-distance branch drone transportation. The straight-line distance of delivery is generally about 100km-1000km, with a ton-level load and a battery life of several hours. Applications in this area mainly include: cross-regional freight (fixed routes, fixed shifts, standardized operation management), border post, island and other material transportation, and freight distribution between logistics centers, etc.

Second, the delivery of drones at the end. The straight-line distance in the air is generally within 10km (the corresponding ground distance may reach about 20-30km, which is affected by the specific terrain), the load is about 5kg-20kg, and the one-way flight time is about 15-20 minutes (affected by weather and other factors). Applications in this area include the delivery of first aid supplies and medical supplies, and the delivery of agricultural and local specialties such as fruits and vegetables.

Third, UAV warehouse management. For example, the inspection and inventory of large-scale high-bay warehouses and high-bay storage areas; and the material inventory or inspection inspection of container yards and bulk cargo yards (such as coal yards, ore yards, and garbage yards).

In addition, in terms of emergency rescue and transportation of emergency supplies, UAVs can take advantage of the incomparable advantages of conventional means of transportation, and can transmit on-site information to the command center as soon as possible. No matter which type it is, its successful application must be based on accurate market positioning, grasp user needs on this basis, scientifically design suitable products in the technical dimension, and in terms of practicability, economy and reliability, etc. Strive to be the best, and use fine and standardized management as a supporting package, and finally achieve the effect of customer satisfaction. The huge advantages and value of UAV logistics are mainly reflected in the following six aspects:

1. Convenient and efficient, save resources.

Compared with ground transportation, it has the advantages of being convenient and efficient, saving land resources and infrastructure. In some traffic paralyzed roads, congested areas of the city, and some remote areas, the delivery of items or packages takes longer or costs more than normal due to the lack of ground transportation. By rationally utilizing idle low-altitude resources, the burden on ground transportation can be effectively reduced, and resources and construction costs can also be saved. What needs to be explained is that an economical and reasonable logistics method needs to take into account the actual situation and give full play to the advantages of various tools to achieve high-quality development.

2. Low cost and flexible scheduling.

Compared with general air transportation and helicopter transportation, UAV transportation has the advantages of low cost and flexible scheduling, and can make up for the gap in traditional air transportation capacity. As the demand for air cargo increases year by year, the number of certified pilots and supporting resources, as well as the labor costs of pilots and crew members have become constraints to development. The cost of UAV freight is relatively low, and the unmanned characteristics can enable the intensive development of all elements in the construction and operation management of the airport.

3. Human-machine collaboration: solve the problem of population aging.

The problem of population aging is affecting almost the whole world. During holidays and peak logistics periods, the problems of labor shortage and lower service level are often exposed. UAVs are known as "flying robots". If they can be rationally developed and utilized in inventory, transportation and distribution, and supplemented by careful deployment and scientific management, they can be well connected with other operating methods and save labor. The best benefits can be produced by assisting manpower to exert the "man-machine synergy" effect.

4. Production capacity coordination and capacity optimization.

On the basis of scientific planning, the comprehensive use of technologies and methods such as Internet + drones and robots can realize production capacity coordination and capacity optimization. In order to handle some orders for fast delivery and continuous replenishment, companies such as Amazon and Wal-Mart have planned intelligent and efficient UAV urban distribution centers on the basis of building advanced information systems, intelligent warehousing systems, and optimizing business processes. (such as Amazon's drone tower), and "drone carriers" (air delivery bases), etc.

As the application of new technologies, drone delivery is a useful supplement to traditional methods, such as traditional "railroad plane", pipeline transportation, water transportation and multimodal transportation, plus the terminal distribution and branch transportation of drones, combined with the actual situation , "Heaven and Earth United", will surely bring the service capability of modern logistics to a new level, and its overall efficiency, cost and transportation capacity will also be optimized and reconstructed.

5. Transcending time and space: serving the ends of the earth.

Under certain circumstances and conditions, only drone transportation can achieve "reachability", which cannot be replaced by other methods. Its inherent advantages can extend the tentacles of commercial activities, help new retail take off, and have unlimited imagination in realizing the experience of "transcending time and space".

6. Ultimate experience and innovative value-added services.

UAV delivery, known as "air express", is based on technological change and innovative services. Its innate advantages of not relying on ground transportation and not being restricted by terrain and terrain will have the opportunity to create a difference for users of high value-added commodities. The precise and high-standard delivery experience allows users to experience an unprecedented qualitative leap in logistics service capabilities.

2. The background and underlying reasons for the development of UAV logistics

Let's first briefly review several technological changes since human society entered the industrial age:

1. The age of steam (around 1760-1840):

In 1814, the "steam locomotive" was born, and in 1825, the train was successfully tested.

This era started the great process of human industrialization and urbanization, and it is the foundation and starting point of modern civilization. Without this foundation, there would be nothing today. However, don’t forget how much those inventions and improvements were criticized and hindered when they first started~~ When the train first appeared, it was ridiculed by the "carriage drivers"...

2. The Electrical Age (approximately from the second half of the 19th century to the 1950s):

In 1874, Woodward and Evans in Canada invented the light bulb, which was ridiculed by the public: "Who would need such a bright gadget!" Later, Edison in the United States bought the patent and improved it, and the electric light was gradually promoted...

3. The information age (from the 1940s to the present):

In 1946, the first electronic computer was born in the United States;

In 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin of the United States landed on the moon in a spacecraft. The former said it was one small step for me, but one giant leap for mankind ("That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind")

4. The era of intelligence or industry 4.0 (beginning in recent years, represented by AI technology):

In 2013, Germany took the lead in launching the "Industry 4.0" plan to implement intelligent production and intelligent logistics. With the advent of each new era, the most essential thing is to make a revolutionary breakthrough in the field of technology or energy, greatly improve productivity, and expand the space for activities. At present, the industrial supporting facilities required for the development of new technologies are more complete, and the energy of previous technological revolutions has been accumulated. The Chinese nation once missed the age of steam and electricity, which led to passiveness and beatings for more than 100 years. Fortunately, in the 40 years after the reform and opening up, we have caught up and made up for the "homework" that was left behind.

On the whole, the intelligent era is a major background for the development of UAV logistics. Another major background is that my country's economic development has entered a new normal of seeking high quality, and innovation and development and comprehensive benefits are more important. Combined with economic and social reality, the reasons for the development of UAV logistics can be summarized as follows:

1. The development of e-commerce, especially the rural e-commerce market has huge potential.

During the "618 Promotion" period in 2017, the cumulative order value of JD.com reached 119.9 billion yuan according to the industry standard; in 2017, the transaction volume of Tmall's "Double 11" was 168.2 billion yuan; in 2016, the annual online shopping transaction volume in my country's rural areas reached 8945.4 100 million yuan, an increase of 150% over the previous year, and the growth rate was significantly higher than that of the urban market in the same period. It is expected that in the next few years, the transaction volume of rural online shopping will continue to grow rapidly.

The rapid development of the mobile Internet has prompted tremendous changes in people's lifestyles and consumption habits. Online shopping is more convenient and more frequent, and the categories and scope continue to expand, even creating a similar "lazy economy"... The interaction between the supply side and the demand side has entered a virtuous circle. These changes come quietly, but the impact is profound and far-reaching , turned upside down.

At the same time, the development of the mobile Internet has narrowed the gap in network facilities between rural and urban areas, and has also driven the rapid development of rural e-commerce. The implementation of consumer demand and transaction behavior ultimately depends on the high efficiency, low cost and extension of logistics tentacles. UAV logistics has inherent technical advantages and development space in these aspects.

2. The arrival of the era of "100 million pieces per day" express delivery.

E-commerce, mobile Internet, new means of payment, strengthening of trade between regions, economic and social development, upgrading of demand, and changes in people's concepts. The mixed resonance of these factors has caused a surge in the number of express packages around the world. In 2017, my country's express delivery volume was 40.06 billion pieces, with an average of about 110 million pieces per day. The huge number of couriers and intensive delivery tasks will inevitably require the traditional "ground transportation + manual delivery" model to be upgraded and accelerated. This requires efficient technical means and advanced management concepts to support and drive. It is foreseeable that application technologies such as drone logistics, unmanned driving, robot sorting and handling, and AI will shine.

3. A revolution in the means of payment.

Driven by Internet technology, Alipay on the PC side firstly provided buyers and sellers with a third-party guarantee to eliminate worries, which is a prerequisite for the popularity of e-commerce; after the development of the mobile Internet, WeChat and Alipay apps passed Scanning code payment can basically cover all offline consumption, further broadening the consumption scene. Mobile payment and mobile Internet have created a huge consumer market together, with the addition of existing categories and new categories. This huge market is obviously stretched to rely solely on traditional logistics tools and models.

4. The challenge of population aging.

When the elderly population over 60 years old accounts for 10% of the total population in a country or region, or the elderly population over 65 years old accounts for 7% of the total population, it means that the country or region is in an aging society. my country has entered an aging society at the beginning of the 21st century. The express delivery industry bears the brunt of problems such as labor shortage of the right age and high labor costs. Usually, the suitable age for the first-line express delivery personnel is about 18-35 years old. Delivering a large number of packages every day requires strong physical strength and vigorous energy. "Replacing human labor with machines", or using new tools to assist human labor - "man-machine collaboration" has become an inevitable choice. Only by improving the level of mechanization and automation of production can the pressure of "no work available" be alleviated, and front-line employees can be prevented from being overworked.

5. Cross-border e-commerce is booming.

In recent years, my country's economy has become more and more open, and cross-border e-commerce and the "Belt and Road" initiative have far-reaching impacts. In 2015, the total scale of China's cross-border e-commerce transactions was 5.4 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.6%. It is estimated that by 2018, the overall transaction scale of China's cross-border e-commerce will reach 8.8 trillion. In addition, the influence of shopping festivals like "Double 11" has reached more than 200 countries and regions around the world. Platforms represented by Ali and JD.com will connect production and consumption worldwide, providing consumers with convenience and benefits. Providing opportunities for producers and merchants will greatly promote international trade and exchange activities. In the long run, the sustainable and healthy development of cross-border e-commerce must be inseparable from honest management, high-quality services, and efficient and convenient logistics supporting capabilities.

6. Unbounded retail and environmental changes.

The tide of the mobile Internet and the revolution in payment methods have given birth to many new business models such as new retail and unbounded retail, which also put forward further requirements for logistics capabilities. The new business model is not simply catering to consumers and users, but the flow of content, data and objects is reshaping the circulation chain, value chain and experience chain. The total population of the world is increasing, people have higher demands for survival and life, climate change is also increasing, the time of extreme high temperature and low temperature is increasing, correspondingly, "high temperature consumption" and "low temperature consumption" are generated, and the quality of air and water is changing. The gap also creates new consumer demand. Convenient information exchange, trade relations, means of transportation and open population management policies, etc., as well as people's vision, habits and lifestyle tend to be more open and active, and the new human beings represented by the post-90s and post-00s will also have higher pursuit. And all of this has a foundation and a key point, which is whether the level of logistics services can keep up. There is no doubt that drone logistics cannot be absent.

7. Overcoming logistics bottlenecks.

The market size of my country's logistics industry is very large. It is predicted that the market size of my country's logistics industry may reach 360 trillion yuan by 2020, but there is still room for improvement in many aspects of the logistics industry. Compared with the rapid development speed of information flow, capital flow and business flow, logistics has an obvious short board effect. Although this is mainly determined by its own "physical circulation" characteristics, but at the same time its own overall cost, service There are also certain deficiencies in terms of quality and network layout (especially in rural and remote areas).

The superposition of the above multiple factors, coupled with the advancement of related software and hardware technologies, has enabled drones to meet the basic requirements of practicality, which together contributed to a "changing situation" in logistics innovation - drone logistics. But its ultimate effectiveness depends on whether its own value and advantages can be fully exerted and manifested, as well as self-improvement in technology and management during the development process. It is gratifying that domestic and foreign advanced companies such as Amazon, DHL, JD.com, and SF Express have been working in the field of drone logistics for many years and have accumulated rich experience, which is worth learning and learning from.

3. Unfavorable factors and countermeasures for the development of UAV logistics

As mentioned above, drone logistics has many advantages, but why has it not been promoted after a few years? New technologies have two sides. Especially in the early stages of application, due to their own imperfection, lack of experience, and the influence of the thinking habits of the public, development often suffers from delays and repetitions. Objectively speaking, the current development of UAV logistics has the following disadvantages:

1. Some bottlenecks in technology and operation management of UAV logistics have yet to be overcome. Technically, such as intelligent obstacle avoidance and protection, control distance, endurance time, range and load, etc. The problems in management mainly include: scheduling and landing contact, reasonable process connection, and lack of experience.

2. Sudden bad weather conditions, unexpected signal interference and bird strikes and other issues. On the way to perform missions, unexpected storms, sandstorms, smog, electromagnetic interference or other signal interference may cause the UAV to lose control, cause the UAV to return to the original route, get lost or crash, or unfortunately be hit by a bird during the flight It could also lead to a crash.

3. Policy supervision and legal issues. Legal issues that may be faced, such as situations where the drone’s own camera involves people’s privacy or related confidentiality when flying over residential areas or sensitive areas, these issues require reasonable prevention and management to be resolved. At the same time, enterprises also need to apply for airworthiness and airspace in advance, and there is no unified department and process for policy supervision.

4. Noise issues, moral issues and conceptual issues. A large number of low-altitude flights may produce certain environmental noise and other effects. In the process of delivery, human interception, theft, and people's habitual and fearful resistance to new things are encountered.

Numerous facts show that the development of every new thing will not be smooth sailing. Here are some suggestions for UAV logistics:

1. Technology and Operation

The primary problem in the application of UAV logistics is to choose a good application scenario, which requires precise market positioning and matching corresponding technology and management. Afterwards, the key is the meticulous polishing of products and technologies. It is required to do a good job in the early planning of the delivery drone's load, battery life, service radius, and environmental adaptability, and to strictly control product development and production testing. In terms of project operation, the operation process needs to be carefully managed and foolproof.

2. Policy and supervision

In the face of new things, policy formulation needs to do a good job in two considerations: support for new technologies and the development of new things and the concerns of the public; take into account short-term interests and long-term interests, and treat the application of new technologies dialectically. There is no ready-made experience to follow in the management of new things, which will objectively bring a lot of pressure to the supervision work, but the relevant departments cannot shirk each other because of this, and the departments that intervene first will accumulate more professional experience, capabilities and resources drainage.

On the issue of supervising the flight of drones, in addition to the military's supervision in accordance with national regulations, local governments must "combine management and release" to keep the bottom line of safety and guide the healthy and orderly development of the industry. When encountering new needs such as enterprise or public drone airspace applications, relevant departments need to respond quickly after recording, researching and evaluating, and need to provide support for matters that can promote development and improve people's livelihood, and speed up the approval process. For applications that exceed the authority of the department, and matters that require cross-departmental and joint office work, the contacting department also needs to quickly coordinate resources and give reasonable and legal feedback as soon as possible. In addition, we can learn from the good experience of foreign countries, set up a joint office led by a certain department, develop a public supervision platform, improve the efficiency and convenience of supervision technically, and establish pilots for integrated airspace management.

3. Society and the public

In the future, UAV logistics will create great value for the economy, society and people's livelihood, but it is inevitable that there will be flaws in the initial stage of application. The public needs to be more tolerant and actively understand, monitor and give feedback. There is also a process for the public to understand and adapt to new things. The government and practitioners also need to plan and patiently popularize science and publicity to the public.

5G is beckoning to us, AI is becoming extremely powerful, connections and exchanges around the world, and the real feeling of "global village" are being strengthened, human tentacles are extending to almost every corner of the earth, and there will be more needs to be met In the end, it is necessary to overcome the "short board" of logistics... UAV logistics is currently in the process of technological change and improvement, as well as scientific planning and management. With its own "accessibility", high efficiency, and "low cost ", "low manpower" and high coverage are favored and valued by governments of all countries. Recently, the governments of various countries are gradually relaxing policies to encourage and guide the development of the industry.

In this context, enterprises need to take a long-term view and consider future development trends, rather than being limited by immediate interests, and should not be held back by some current imperfect mechanisms.

Logistics is a complex systematic project. How to deeply integrate drones and how to configure drones can have the highest efficiency and the greatest value... All of these require in-depth research and rigorous planning and deployment. Based on market demand and combined with regional reality, it is the mission and responsibility of innovators to enable advanced technology to enable production and better serve human life!