How Useful are Drones in Supply Chains
Abstract
The last several years have witnessed increasing adoption of drones for civilian applications ranging from agriculture, emergency response, and exploration through transportation. Given the diverse nature of supply chains, it is no surprise that drones are also being used in supply chain applications. Specific applications include those from farms all the way to the end consumer. With the introduction various types of technologies such as satellite imaging and geolocation during the last four decades to the recent use of sensor- and actuator-based automated systems shows tremendous promise for precision agriculture as the need for more food arises with the increasing world population. At the other end of the supply chain, drones are being used in last mile delivery applications. We critically consider drone-based applications with their respective non-based counterparts to determine the utility brought to these applications by drones.
Short Biography
Selwyn Piramuthu is Professor of Information Systems and Operations Management at the University of Florida, where he has taught since Fall 1991. Trained in machine learning, his research interests also include cryptography with applications related to IoT/RFID, privacy/security, supply chain management, among others. His (co-authored with Wei Zhou) book titled, “RFID and Sensor Network Automation in the Food Industry” was published by Wiley in 2016. He received his B.Tech., M.S., and Ph.D. respectively from IIT-Madras, University of Arizona, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
