TeCoR-UAV achieves better bi-objective trade-offs in most medium- and large-scale scenarios, as well as in topologically constrained scenarios, and improves service quality by an average of 18.5 percentage points, indicating its scenario adaptability and potential for practical application.
Abstract
Multi-UAV cooperative delivery is a key technology for intelligent low-altitude logistics, with applications in mountainous-area transport, urban last-mile delivery, and emergency resupply. In complex three-dimensional (3D) low-altitude environments, obstacle-constrained airspace, fleet heterogeneity, payload limits, and time windows make the realistic representation of flight costs difficult and substantially restrict the feasible region of cooperative planning. To address these challenges, this paper proposes TeCoR-UAV, a two-stage topology extraction and cooperative route planning framework. The proposed method first precomputes executable flight trajectories in obstacle-constrained airspace and constructs a topological graph that captures realistic flight costs. A bi-objective optimization model is then formulated to minimize operational cost and maximize service quality. Furthermore, a hierarchical genetic solver is designed to improve solution quality and feasibility jointly through global task allocation and single-UAV execution sequence optimization. Experimental results show that the proposed method can better reflect realistic flight costs in complex environments. Compared with existing benchmark methods, TeCoR-UAV achieves better bi-objective trade-offs in most medium- and large-scale scenarios, as well as in topologically constrained scenarios, and improves service quality by an average of 18.5 percentage points, indicating its scenario adaptability and potential for practical application.
To address the challenges of collaborative task allocation and path planning for multiple logistics unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in urban low-altitude environments, this paper proposes a bilevel nested joint optimization method based on reinforcement learning and a graph search algorithm to enhance the efficiency of collaborative last-mile delivery by multiple logistics UAVs while reducing flight risks. The proposed method constructs a bilevel architecture system based on a task allocation and decision-making model and a path planning model. The upper-level model holistically considers the demands of three stakeholders—government (safety), customers (timeliness), and UAV enterprises (economy)—at the macro level. Then, based on real-time order information and UAV status, a multi-objective optimization and constraint model is constructed under complex dynamic environments. A multi-agent proximal policy optimization algorithm is employed to achieve rapid dynamic task allocation and decision-making. The lower-layer model utilizes the upper-level allocation results combined with detailed environmental information to plan safe and efficient flight paths for each UAV at the micro level. It employs an improved jumping-point search algorithm for refined path optimization. A loop feedback mechanism is designed to facilitate information exchange between layers, thereby coupling the task allocation and path planning processes to achieve collaborative optimization of upper- and lower-level task allocation and decision-making. This method effectively addresses complex logistics delivery scenarios, enhancing the overall efficiency and robustness of the delivery system. Simulation experiments comprehensively consider path influences from flexible open-area delivery, varying numbers of distribution centers and UAVs, and on-demand rush orders. Tests conducted in medium- and high-density environments demonstrate the proposed model and algorithm’s significant superiority in dynamic complex scenarios. Even when confronted with complex environments and dynamic order scenarios, it consistently generates highly applicable UAV flight paths.
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