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Article
Publication date: 26 December 2023

Sachin Kumar, Bhagwan Singh, Vinod Kumar, Ranjan Chaudhuri, Sheshadri Chatterjee and Demetris Vrontis

The present study intends to discover and analyze the determinants of users' intention to use (ITU) drone-based online food delivery (OFD) services. The study mainly focuses on…

Abstract

Purpose

The present study intends to discover and analyze the determinants of users' intention to use (ITU) drone-based online food delivery (OFD) services. The study mainly focuses on the drone-based food delivery system in India and its implications.

Design/methodology/approach

This study has used the purposive sampling method. With the support of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), a theoretical model was developed conceptually. Later, the model was validated using the partial least square-structure equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique with consideration of 324 responses mainly from university students in Delhi- National Capital Region (NCR).

Findings

The findings reveal that all the determinants are positively and significantly related to ITU, except for perceived behavioral control that does not influence the consumer’s ITU drone-based OFD services. The study also shows that how food delivery system through drone can revolutionize the entire food delivery system in India.

Research limitations/implications

The present study has developed a unique model that can be used by practitioners, future researchers in this field and policymakers in government departments. The present study is limited to Delhi-NCR in India, and thus, there is an issue of generalizability in the present study.

Practical implications

This study has examined the future of food delivery system through drone-based system. Thus, the leaders in the food industry will be better positioned to understand consumers' intentions to use OFD services using drones and be able to make more informed decisions about investment in drone technology in their respective organizations.

Originality/value

The present study has combined both the technology adoption model and the TPB and developed a theoretical model. The study enriches the literature on drone-based OFD services. Since users' acceptance of OFD services using drones is an under-researched area, the present study will make a meaningful contribution to bring the body of literature in this domain.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 126 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 May 2023

Claudia Sevilla-Sevilla, Adrián Mendieta-Aragón and Luis Manuel Ruiz-Gómez

Drones have become an important element within hospitality and tourism. The purpose of this study is to identify the corpus of knowledge and create a research agenda that…

Abstract

Purpose

Drones have become an important element within hospitality and tourism. The purpose of this study is to identify the corpus of knowledge and create a research agenda that establishes appropriate guidelines for future study of drone application in hospitality and tourism.

Design/methodology/approach

This work has been undertaken using a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative research and includes a review of the literature related to the study of drone use in hospitality and tourism.

Findings

The mixed-methods review identified gaps in the research, potential areas of study to enhance the scientific literature and potential uses of drones in tourism and hospitality for researchers, consumers and industry professionals.

Originality/value

This study makes an original contribution by establishing an integrated framework, which led to a synthesis of the research corpus and provided a holistic conceptualisation of the relationship between tourism and drones. In addition, the research agenda proposed will help boost and consolidate this emerging field of research.

目的

无人机已经成为接待和旅游中的一个重要元素。本研究的主要目的是确定知识库, 并建立一个研究议程, 为未来无人机在酒店和旅游业的应用研究建立适当的指导方针。

设计/方法论/方法

这项工作采用了混合方法, 将定量和定性研究结合起来, 包括对与酒店和旅游业中无人机使用研究有关的文献进行回顾。

结果

混合方法审查确定了研究中的差距、加强科学文献的潜在研究领域, 以及研究人员、消费者和行业专业人士在旅游和酒店业的无人机应用潜力。

原创性

这项研究通过建立一个综合框架做出了原创性的贡献, 它综合合成了研究语料库, 并对旅游和无人机之间的关系提供了一个整体的概念化。此外, 提出的研究议程将有助于促进和巩固这一新兴的研究领域。

Objetivo

Los drones se han convertido en un elemento importante dentro de la hostelería y el turismo. El objetivo principal de este estudio es identificar el corpus de conocimiento y crear una agenda de investigación que establezca las directrices adecuadas para el estudio futuro de la aplicación de los drones en la hostelería y el turismo.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Este trabajo se ha realizado utilizando un enfoque de métodos mixtos que combina la investigación cuantitativa y cualitativa e incluye una revisión de la literatura relacionada con el estudio del uso de drones en hostelería y turismo.

Resultados

La revisión de métodos mixtos identificó lagunas en la investigación, áreas potenciales de estudio para mejorar la literatura científica y potencial de las aplicaciones de los drones en el turismo y la hostelería para investigadores, consumidores y profesionales del sector.

Originalidad/interés

Este estudio aporta una contribución original al establecer un marco integrado, que conduce a una síntesis del corpus de investigación y proporciona una conceptualización holística de la relación entre el turismo y los drones. Además, la agenda de investigación propuesta contribuirá a impulsar y consolidar este campo de investigación emergente.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 July 2023

Harry Edelman, Joel Stenroos, Jorge Peña Queralta, David Hästbacka, Jani Oksanen, Tomi Westerlund and Juha Röning

Connecting autonomous drones to ground operations and services is a prerequisite for the adoption of scalable and sustainable drone services in the built environment. Despite the…

Abstract

Purpose

Connecting autonomous drones to ground operations and services is a prerequisite for the adoption of scalable and sustainable drone services in the built environment. Despite the rapid advance in the field of autonomous drones, the development of ground infrastructure has received less attention. Contemporary airport design offers potential solutions for the infrastructure serving autonomous drone services. To that end, this paper aims to construct a framework for connecting air and ground operations for autonomous drone services. Furthermore, the paper defines the minimum facilities needed to support unmanned aerial vehicles for autonomous logistics and the collection of aerial data.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews the state-of-the-art in airport design literature as the basis for analysing the guidelines of manned aviation applicable to the development of ground infrastructure for autonomous drone services. Socio-technical system analysis was used for identifying the service needs of drones.

Findings

The key findings are functional modularity based on the principles of airport design applies to micro-airports and modular service functions can be connected efficiently with an autonomous ground handling system in a sustainable manner addressing the concerns on maintenance, reliability and lifecycle.

Research limitations/implications

As the study was limited to the airport design literature findings, the evolution of solutions may provide features supporting deviating approaches. The role of autonomy and cloud-based service processes are quintessentially different from the conventional airport design and are likely to impact real-life solutions as the area of future research.

Practical implications

The findings of this study provided a framework for establishing the connection between the airside and the landside for the operations of autonomous aerial services. The lack of such framework and ground infrastructure has hindered the large-scale adoption and easy-to-use solutions for sustainable logistics and aerial data collection for decision-making in the built environment.

Social implications

The evolution of future autonomous aerial services should be accessible to all users, “democratising” the use of drones. The data collected by drones should comply with the privacy-preserving use of the data. The proposed ground infrastructure can contribute to offloading, storing and handling aerial data to support drone services’ acceptability.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper describes the first design framework for creating a design concept for a modular and autonomous micro-airport system for unmanned aviation based on the applied functions of full-size conventional airports.

Details

Facilities , vol. 41 no. 15/16
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-2772

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 September 2023

Tolga Özer and Ömer Türkmen

This paper aims to design an AI-based drone that can facilitate the complicated and time-intensive control process for detecting healthy and defective solar panels. Today, the use…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to design an AI-based drone that can facilitate the complicated and time-intensive control process for detecting healthy and defective solar panels. Today, the use of solar panels is becoming widespread, and control problems are increasing. Physical control of the solar panels is critical in obtaining electrical power. Controlling solar panel power plants and rooftop panel applications installed in large areas can be difficult and time-consuming. Therefore, this paper designs a system that aims to panel detection.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper designed a low-cost AI-based unmanned aerial vehicle to reduce the difficulty of the control process. Convolutional neural network based AI models were developed to classify solar panels as damaged, dusty and normal. Two approaches to the solar panel detection model were adopted: Approach 1 and Approach 2.

Findings

The training was conducted with YOLOv5, YOLOv6 and YOLOv8 models in Approach 1. The best F1 score was 81% at 150 epochs with YOLOv5m. In total, 87% and 89% of the best F1 score and mAP values were obtained with the YOLOv5s model at 100 epochs in Approach 2 as a proposed method. The best models at Approaches 1 and 2 were used with a developed AI-based drone in the real-time test application.

Originality/value

The AI-based low-cost solar panel detection drone was developed with an original data set of 1,100 images. A detailed comparative analysis of YOLOv5, YOLOv6 and YOLOv8 models regarding performance metrics was realized. Gaussian, salt-pepper noise addition and wavelet transform noise removal preprocessing techniques were applied to the created data set under the proposed method. The proposed method demonstrated expressive and remarkable performance in panel detection applications.

Details

Robotic Intelligence and Automation, vol. 43 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-6969

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 August 2023

D.S. Vohra, Pradeep Kumar Garg and Sanjay Ghosh

The purpose is to derive the most effective place in the air for an aerial robot, viz., drone to use as an alternative communication system during disasters.

1480

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose is to derive the most effective place in the air for an aerial robot, viz., drone to use as an alternative communication system during disasters.

Design/methodology/approach

In this technology-driven era, various concepts are becoming the area of interest for multiple researchers. Drone technology is also one of them. The researchers, with interest in drones, are therefore trying to understand the various uses of employing drones in diverse applications which are mind-boggling, starting from civil applications (viz., an inspection of power lines, counting wildlife, delivering medical supplies to inaccessible regions, forest fire detection, and landslide measurement) to military applications (viz., real-time monitoring, surveillance, patrolling, and demining). However, one area where its usage is still to be exploited in many countries is using drones as a relay when communication lines are disrupted due to natural calamities. This will be particularly helpful in rescuing the affected people as the aerial node will enable them to communicate to the rescue team using mobiles/ordinary landline telephones even when regular communication towers are destroyed due to disastrous natural calamities, for example, tsunamis, earthquakes, and floods. Various algorithms, namely, water filling algorithm, advanced water filling algorithm, equal power distribution algorithm, and particle swarm optimization, were therefore studied and analyzed using simulation in addition to various path loss models to realize the desired place for an aerial robot, viz., drone in the air, which will eventually be used as an alternative communication system for badly hit ground users due to any disaster.

Findings

It was found that the effective combination of the water filling algorithm and particle swarm optimization algorithm may be done to place the drone in the air to increase the overall throughput of the affected ground users.

Originality/value

The research is original. None of the parts of this research paper has been published anywhere.

Details

International Journal of Intelligent Unmanned Systems, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-6427

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2022

Seow Eng Ong, Woei Chyuan Wong, Davin Wang and Choon Peng Lai

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of visual technology on the price discovery process in listings of residential properties in Singapore from 2015 to 2018.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of visual technology on the price discovery process in listings of residential properties in Singapore from 2015 to 2018.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors empirically model the effects of 360 virtual tours and drone video on four dimensions in price discovery – buyers’ arrival rate, sale probability, transaction prices and time-on-market – using a comprehensive data set for the residential properties in Singapore.

Findings

The analysis shows that the availability of virtual tours or drone video in a listing increases the arrival rate from potential buyers, the probability of a successful sale and the selling price. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that technologically enhanced tools improve the quality of information and the marketability of property. However, listings with virtual tours tend to be associated with longer marketing time, which is consistent with the prediction of the information overload hypothesis.

Research limitations/implications

This paper extends the housing and price discovery literature by examining how technologically enabled new information affects property transactions.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to consider the impact of drone video on property market outcome.

Details

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2023

Sadia Samar Ali, Shahbaz Khan, Nosheen Fatma, Cenap Ozel and Aftab Hussain

Organisations and industries are often looking for technologies that can accomplish multiple tasks, providing economic benefits and an edge over their competitors. In this…

Abstract

Purpose

Organisations and industries are often looking for technologies that can accomplish multiple tasks, providing economic benefits and an edge over their competitors. In this context, drones have the potential to change many industries by making operations more efficient, safer and more economic. Therefore, this study investigates the use of drones as the next step in smart/digital warehouse management to determine their socio-economic benefits.

Design/methodology/approach

The study identifies various enablers impacting drone applications to improve inventory management, intra-logistics, inspections and surveillance in smart warehouses through a literature review, a test of concordance and the fuzzy Delphi method. Further, the graph theory matrix approach (GTMA) method was applied to ranking the enablers of drone application in smart/digital warehouses. In the subsequent phase, researchers investigated the relation between the drone application's performance and the enablers of drone adoption using logistic regression analysis under the TOE framework.

Findings

This study identifies inventory man agement, intra-logistics, inspections and surveillance are three major applications of drones in the smart warehousing. Further, nine enablers are identified for the adoption of drone in warehouse management. The findings suggest that operational effectiveness, compatibility of drone integration and quality/value offered are the most impactful enablers of drone adoption in warehouses. The logistic regression findings are useful for warehouse managers who are planning to adopt drones in a warehouse for efficient operations.

Research limitations/implications

This study identifies the enablers of drone adoption in the smart and digital warehouse through the literature review and fuzzy Delphi. Therefore, some enablers may be overlooked during the identification process. In addition to this, the analysis is based on the opinion of the expert which might be influenced by their field of expertise.

Practical implications

By considering technology-organisation-environment (TOE) framework warehousing companies identify the opportunities and challenges associated with using drones in a smart warehouse and develop strategies to integrate drones into their operations effectively.

Originality/value

This study proposes a TOE-based framework for the adoption of drones in warehouse management to improve the three prominent warehouse functions inventory management, intra-logistics, inspections and surveillance using the mixed-method.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 March 2024

Cemalettin Akdoğan, Tolga Özer and Yüksel Oğuz

Nowadays, food problems are likely to arise because of the increasing global population and decreasing arable land. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the yield of…

Abstract

Purpose

Nowadays, food problems are likely to arise because of the increasing global population and decreasing arable land. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the yield of agricultural products. Pesticides can be used to improve agricultural land products. This study aims to make the spraying of cherry trees more effective and efficient with the designed artificial intelligence (AI)-based agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Design/methodology/approach

Two approaches have been adopted for the AI-based detection of cherry trees: In approach 1, YOLOv5, YOLOv7 and YOLOv8 models are trained with 70, 100 and 150 epochs. In Approach 2, a new method is proposed to improve the performance metrics obtained in Approach 1. Gaussian, wavelet transform (WT) and Histogram Equalization (HE) preprocessing techniques were applied to the generated data set in Approach 2. The best-performing models in Approach 1 and Approach 2 were used in the real-time test application with the developed agricultural UAV.

Findings

In Approach 1, the best F1 score was 98% in 100 epochs with the YOLOv5s model. In Approach 2, the best F1 score and mAP values were obtained as 98.6% and 98.9% in 150 epochs, with the YOLOv5m model with an improvement of 0.6% in the F1 score. In real-time tests, the AI-based spraying drone system detected and sprayed cherry trees with an accuracy of 66% in Approach 1 and 77% in Approach 2. It was revealed that the use of pesticides could be reduced by 53% and the energy consumption of the spraying system by 47%.

Originality/value

An original data set was created by designing an agricultural drone to detect and spray cherry trees using AI. YOLOv5, YOLOv7 and YOLOv8 models were used to detect and classify cherry trees. The results of the performance metrics of the models are compared. In Approach 2, a method including HE, Gaussian and WT is proposed, and the performance metrics are improved. The effect of the proposed method in a real-time experimental application is thoroughly analyzed.

Details

Robotic Intelligence and Automation, vol. 44 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-6969

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 August 2023

Aniello Menichino, Vittorio Di Vito, Gennaro Ariante and Giuseppe Del Core

Theadvanced air mobility (AAM) is defined by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as safe, accessible, automated and affordable air transportation system for…

Abstract

Purpose

Theadvanced air mobility (AAM) is defined by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as safe, accessible, automated and affordable air transportation system for passengers and cargo, capable of serving previously hard-to-reach urban and rural sites. The purpose of this paper is to focus on explaining potential solutions, under study by the authors, which could support beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations for goods delivery in a safe way.

Design/methodology/approach

According to recent NASA-commissioned market studies, by 2030, there will be as many as 500 million flights a year for package delivery services and 750 million flights a year for passengers’ transportation (AAM). A significant number of these aircrafts will be unmanned aerial vehicles, meaning that they are self-flying or autonomous, of which the smallest ones are quadcopters: they are relatively inexpensive and are capable to perform various tasks, such as aerial observation, crop monitoring and treatment, search and rescue, power line monitoring and goods delivery. On the other hand, there are still many difficulties in introducing them into medium- and low-risk BVLOS routine operations for goods delivery: unfortunately, there are no regulations and technologies yet that enable these operations.

Findings

This conceptual paper outlines the studies about possible solutions, identified by authors, which could support BVLOS operations in a medium- and low-risk environment; in particular, the following aspects have been analysed: regulations, integrating control systems for drones, sensors (on board obstacle detection and avoidance), emergency management (emergency on ground system to identify safe landing areas), concepts of droneway (or flight corridors) and drones recovery hub.

Originality/value

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual description of the possible solutions, under study by the authors, which could contribute enabling the BVLOS operations in a medium- and low-risk environment. The paper aims describing the state of the art, terms of regulations, classifications and limitations and describing possible conceptual solutions that could guarantee safety in introducing unmanned aircraft system operations inside urban areas.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 95 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 April 2021

Faruk Bulut, Melike Bektaş and Abdullah Yavuz

In this study, supervision and control of the possible problems among people over a large area with a limited number of drone cameras and security staff is established.

Abstract

Purpose

In this study, supervision and control of the possible problems among people over a large area with a limited number of drone cameras and security staff is established.

Design/methodology/approach

These drones, namely unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be adaptively and automatically distributed over the crowds to control and track the communities by the proposed system. Since crowds are mobile, the design of the drone clusters will be simultaneously re-organized according to densities and distributions of people. An adaptive and dynamic distribution and routing mechanism of UAV fleets for crowds is implemented to control a specific given region. The nine popular clustering algorithms have been used and tested in the presented mechanism to gain better performance.

Findings

The nine popular clustering algorithms have been used and tested in the presented mechanism to gain better performance. An outperformed clustering performance from the aggregated model has been received when compared with a singular clustering method over five different test cases about crowds of human distributions. This study has three basic components. The first one is to divide the human crowds into clusters. The second one is to determine an optimum route of UAVs over clusters. The last one is to direct the most appropriate security personnel to the events that occurred.

Originality/value

This study has three basic components. The first one is to divide the human crowds into clusters. The second one is to determine an optimum route of UAVs over clusters. The last one is to direct the most appropriate security personnel to the events that occurred.

Details

International Journal of Intelligent Unmanned Systems, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-6427

Keywords

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