Excellence in Research: Building an Equitable and Sustainable Logistics System in Rural Areas with Drones

这项卓越研究（EiR）奖支持提高农村地区智能物流系统公平性的研究，并设计下一代智能技术，以改善微型绿色作物从农场到餐桌的食品管理。无人机技术为向农村社区运送所需货物提供了希望，但由于人口密度低，商业运营的采用速度很慢。采用系统方法，该项目旨在设计将无人机技术整合到农村物流系统中的激励机制，明确考虑到公平。该项目将开发一套工具，旨在量化、分析，从而提高农村地区智能物流系统的公平性。此外，该项目将在摩根州立大学（一所历史悠久的黑人大学）建立研究能力，并让研究生参与跨学科研究，以提高他们的学术和职业机会。教育方面的努力将扩大代表性不足的群体在信息科学和工程领域的参与，与国家培养具有stem能力的劳动力的努力保持一致。该项目将为可持续的经济激励机制提供设计基础，以促进创新交通方式、优化资源配置和智能多层次决策模型整合中的公平性。该项目将开发数学模型，以最大限度地提高无人机物流系统的公平性。通过对具有代表性的农村地区进行全面的需求研究，构建广泛的无人机配送成本结构分析。本研究也将整合创新的演算法技术，以提高智慧型解决方法的解决效率和稳健性。研究成果将形成跨学科的研究基础，并提供多样化的研究机会，并将整合到课程材料和课堂项目中。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Excellence in Research (EiR) award supports research to enhance the equity of smart logistics systems in rural areas and to engineer next-generation smart technology to improve farm-to-table food management of microgreen crops. Drone technology offers promise for delivery of needed goods to rural communities, but adoption by commercial operations has been slow due to low population density. Using a systems approach, this project aims to design incentive mechanisms for the integration of drone technology into rural logistics systems that explicitly take equity into consideration. The project will develop a set of tools aimed to quantify, analyze, and thereby enhance the equity of intelligent logistics systems in rural areas. In addition, the project will build research capacity at Morgan State University, a historically black university, and engage graduate students in interdisciplinary research to enhance their academic and professional opportunities. The educational efforts will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in information science and engineering in alignment with the nation’s efforts to foster a STEM-capable workforce. This project will provide the design foundation for sustainable economic incentive mechanisms to promote equity in the integration of innovative transportation modes, optimal resource allocation, and intelligent multi-level decision-making models. The project will develop mathematical models for maximizing the equity in drone-based logistics systems. An extensive drone delivery cost structure analysis will be constructed with a comprehensive demand study in a representative rural area. This research will also integrate innovative algorithmic techniques to enhance solution efficiency and robustness in intelligent solution approaches. Research findings will form cross-disciplinary research foundations and raise diverse research opportunities, which will also be integrated into course materials and class projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.