Air cargo terminals must be able to maintain effective cargo preparation and allocation, even when faced with external disturbances such as delays in arrivals or departures. Unit Load Device (ULD) build-up is especially vulnerable to such disturbances because it depends on gradually arriving cargo, limited workspace capacity, and strict flight deadlines. This paper develops an online ULD build-up scheduling model with gradual look-ahead, and evaluates its contribution to air cargo terminal robustness using an embedded simulation-optimization framework. A Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) model represents terminal operations and disturbance propagation, while a time-indexed mixed-integer programming model generates rolling-horizon build-up schedules using updated terminal state information and, when available, estimated knowledge on future disturbances. The online scheduling model is benchmarked against three other configurations under different disturbance scenarios. Results show that online scheduling improves the invariance of a terminal to external disturbances, with the strongest evidence coming from full system response tests. Schedule adherence within the terminal only decreased with 0.05 to 0.35 percentage points when using the online scheduler, compared to 5.28 to 8.44 points for the current representation. The main robustness driver is the periodic re-optimization using terminal state information, rather than the gradual look-ahead mechanism on its own. The results produced can be greatly improved by using a large optimization window for the online scheduling model. ... Read more

This report aims to detail the design process and final design for a Search and Rescue (SAR) drone that will search for victims under collapsed buildings. Firstly, the objectives and requirements for the drone system are given by the overall mission objectives. Then a detailed description of the design for each subsystem is presented. This is followed by an overview of the combined and integrated system. Subsequently, a performance analysis and a use case example of the system are given to indicate how the drone will perform during a mission.
Furthermore, the Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) characteristics are displayed together with an overview of how sustainability has been integrated into the design. The plan for how further development and eventual production will be tackled is proposed. The
operational aspect is also discussed. The report finishes with an overall financial evaluation of the product and the main conclusions and recommendations found during the design process. The report is a continuation and overview of the work done and detailed in the Project Plan,
Baseline Report and Midterm Report by Bergmans et al. [2–4]... ... Read more