Cargo Handling, Transport and Logistics Processes in the Context of Drone Operation

The steadily growing share of air freight transport in the entire logistics industry is mainly due to the three major advantages of speed, safety and reliability. In order to meet increasing demands, more and more automated transport and delivery processes are used. As part of the DLR (German Aerospace Center) research project Automated Low Altitude Delivery (ALAADy), a fully automated Unmanned Cargo Aircraft (UCA) with a payload of one ton is being developed in cooperation with eight DLR institutes. As a general area of application, the UCA is responsible for the so-called “penultimate mile” in the air freight logistics chain. In order to achieve an optimal integration of a UCA into the freight supply chain, this research focuses on ground handling and in particular on the loading and unloading processes. The theoretical and practical concepts of the integration of UCA were examined within this research under the premise that no infrastructure exists at the destination in order to obtain the most automated process possible for future logistics. The research shows that the interaction between a UCA and an automated robot container system can solve both problems of the “last mile” and the “penultimate mile” within the logistics chain.