Van and Unmanned-Aerial-Vehicle Cooperative Routing Problem with Time Windows

Because of the significant real-world benefits of using cargo vans with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for deliveries, we define the van and unmanned-aerial-vehicle cooperative routing problem with time windows (VURP-TW). The VURP-TW is characterized by synchronization in route, classified customers, direct delivery, time windows, multiple vans, and multiple UAVs carried by each van. Customers along van routes, which are named satellites in this paper, are selected for vans dispatching or retrieving the carried UAVs. A satellite means a UAV launch/retrieval location. The synchronization in route enables UAVs launching from vans to return to paired vans at satellites instead of the depot. We develop mixed integer linear programming formulations to obtain optimal solutions for small- and medium-scale instances. We propose an adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) heuristic. The results of the computational experiments prove the effectiveness of the model and the heuristic.