A Modelling Framework of Drone Deployment for Monitoring Air Pollution from Ships

Sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions impose a serious health threat to the residents and a substantial cost to the local environment. In many countries and regions, ocean-going vessels are mandated to use low-sulphur fuel when docking at emission control areas. Recently, drones have been identified as an efficient way to detect non-compliance of ships, as they offer the advantage of covering a wide range of surveillance areas. To date, the managerial perspective of the deployment of a fleet of drones to inspect air pollution from ships has not been addressed yet. In this paper, we propose a modelling framework of drone deployment. It contains three components: drone scheduling at the operational level, drone assignment at the tactical level and drone base station location at the strategic level.