A Novel Mathematical Model for a Cloud-Based Drone Enabled Vehicle Routing Problem considering Multi-Echelon Supply Chain

Abstract In recent years, the product delivery system has faced a significant amount of changes with reducing cost and waiting time of last-mile delivery. Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, have the potential to deal with these issues effectively. This paper developed a novel mathematical formulation to investigate the optimum routing between various types of nodes in a multi-echelon supply chain, including third-party logistics companies (3PL), warehouses, and consumers. A conceptual model is represented in the paper to comprehend the readers better, and eventually, the novelty of the developed model is discussed further by explaining the concept of solving.