SAFETY ANALYSIS OF GOODS TRANSPORTATION BY UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

Abstract

Modern transport companies around the world actively study the possibility of intra-urban transportation of goods using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).The objective of the study is to reveal the existing problems preventing full-scale introducing of UAVs into the operations of logistics centers that accomplish cargo delivery in modern megacities as well as to propose a possible option for their solution.The study conducted applying the methods of comparative analysis and generalization showed that the main obstacle to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for cargo delivery is currently unsettled problem of safety when UAVs operate in the urban environment.The study has analyzed the worldwide UAV traffic safety management programs. Among the programs reviewed were U-Space (the program is implemented by the European Commission and other participants); NASA Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (the program is implemented by NASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration); European Aviation Safety Agency drone categories (the program is implemented by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)); Urban Traffic Management of Unmanned Aircraft System (the program is implemented by Air Traffic Management Research Institute (ATMRI) and other participants). The analysis showed that these programs paid a lot of attention to preventing the UAVs collisions with other air vehicles. But almost no attention was paid to the fact that the flight routes of unmanned aerial vehicles would intersect with the ground highways.The analysis carried out in the article allows us to conclude that one of the solutions to the problem of UAV implementation in the field of cargo delivery is the development of a new concept of UAV traffic safety in the urban conditions, which will take into account the threat of collision of cargo UAV not only with air vehicles but also with ground ones. The concept should determine the requirements for thetechnology for safe traffic of drones over the main surface transport routes including highways,  highspeed railways, etc. The development of such a concept will be a turning point for starting the fullscale use of UAVs as a new and effective means of cargo delivery in the city, which, in its turn, willcreate the next-generation transport infrastructure in the cities.