School of Science, Computing and Engineering Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia.
Institute of Railway Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Sep 28;22(19):7380. doi: 10.3390/s22197380.
Transport is Australia's third-largest source of greenhouse gases accounting for around 17% of emissions. In recent times, and particularly as a result of the global pandemic, the rapid growth within the e-commerce sector has contributed to last-mile delivery becoming one of the main emission sources. Delivery vehicles operating at the last-mile travel long routes to deliver to customers an array of consignment parcels in varying numbers and weights, and therefore these vehicles play a major role in increasing emissions and air pollutants. The work reported in this paper aims to address these challenges by developing an IoT platform to measure and report on real-world last-mile delivery emissions. Such evaluations help to understand the factors contributing to freight emissions so that appropriate mitigation measures are implemented. Unlike previous research that was completed in controlled laboratory settings, the data collected in this research were from a delivery vehicle under real-world traffic and driving conditions. The IoT platform was tested to provide contextualised reporting by taking into account three main contexts including vehicle, environment and driving behaviours. This approach to data collection enabled the analysis of parcel level emissions and correlation of the vehicle characteristics, road conditions, ambient temperature and other environmental factors and driving behaviour that have an impact on emissions. The raw data collected from the sensors were analysed in real-time in the IoT platform, and the results showed a trade-off between parcel weight and total distance travelled which must be considered when selecting the best delivery order for reducing emissions. Overall, the study demonstrated the feasibility of the IoT platform in collecting the desired levels of data and providing detailed analysis of emissions at the parcel level. This type of micro-level understanding provides an important knowledge base for the enhancement of delivery processes and reduction of last-mile delivery emissions.
交通是澳大利亚温室气体排放的第三大来源，约占排放总量的 17%。近年来，特别是由于全球大流行，电子商务行业的快速增长导致最后一英里配送成为主要的排放源之一。最后一英里的配送车辆行驶长距离，为数以千计、重量各异的包裹向客户配送，因此这些车辆在增加排放和空气污染物方面发挥着重要作用。本文旨在通过开发物联网平台来测量和报告实际最后一英里配送排放，以应对这些挑战。这种评估有助于了解导致货运排放的因素，从而实施适当的缓解措施。与之前在受控实验室环境中完成的研究不同，本研究中收集的数据来自于实际交通和驾驶条件下的配送车辆。物联网平台经过测试，可以通过考虑车辆、环境和驾驶行为这三个主要方面提供情境化报告。这种数据收集方法能够分析包裹级别的排放，并对车辆特性、道路状况、环境温度等影响排放的因素以及驾驶行为进行相关分析。从传感器收集的原始数据在物联网平台中实时进行分析，结果表明在选择最佳配送顺序以减少排放时，必须考虑包裹重量和总行驶距离之间的权衡。总的来说，该研究展示了物联网平台在收集所需数据水平和提供包裹级排放详细分析方面的可行性。这种微观层面的理解为改进配送流程和减少最后一英里配送排放提供了重要的知识库。
