New integrated routing and surveillance model with drones and charging station considerations

Cash/valuables routing is vulnerable to attacks and robberies, so it is essential to prioritize transport security. This research employs a surveillance drone approach to enhance the transport security of cash/valuables routing. Using drones to identify suspicious and high-risk situations is a secure way to transport cash/valuables. Compared to ground-based operators, drones provide superior advantages such as improved security, efficiency, and accuracy. To this end, an integrated routing and surveillance problem is proposed to secure cash/valuables transport. In this problem, ground vehicles (GVs) and surveillance drones are routed in coordination. GVs are responsible for transporting and delivering cash/valuables, while drones are tasked with monitoring the GVs’ routes. The drone surveillance is as follows: before GVs leave the customers’ points, drones must surveil the GV through the link ahead and ensure their security. Links are surveilled in specific time windows. In this problem, charging stations are considered to swap drones’ batteries. In addition, an improved iterated local search (ILS) algorithm is designed in this study to optimize the proposed problem. The performance of the proposed algorithm is then evaluated in small and large sizes. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is performed on some key parameters to assess the proposed model. Finally, the proposed approach is implemented in a real-world case study in Iran, with the results analyzed.