Publication:
Unlocking the Lower Skies: The Costs and Benefits of Deploying Drones across Use Cases in East Africa

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorOchoa, Maria Catalina
dc.contributor.authorStokenberga, Aiga
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-18T21:50:31Z
dc.date.available2021-05-18T21:50:31Z
dc.date.issued2021-05-18
dc.description.abstractThis book explores the economic and broader societal rationale for using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or “drone” technologies as a complement to the current transport and logistics systems in several use cases in East Africa. The specific use cases examined include medical goods deliveries, food aid delivery, land mapping and risk assessment, agriculture, and transport and energy infrastructure inspection. Across these applications, the case for using UAVs is examined within the context of logistics objectives—total operating costs, speed, availability, and flexibility—as well as human, or societal, objectives. In the public health use case, as more low- and middle-income countries explore opportunities to improve efficiency and performance in their health supply chains and diagnostics networks, they face myriad choices about how best to use UAVs to improve product availability and public health outcomes and to reach the last mile. The high-level findings from this analysis are that, if examining commodity categories individually and looking exclusively at costs, delivery with UAVs in general is still more expensive for most categories. Although the cost is still higher, the most cost-effective use case examples include the transport of laboratory samples to selected destinations and delivery of life-saving items and blood. However, “layering” several use cases can provide efficiencies and cost savings by allocating fixed costs across a greater number of flights and maximizing capacity and time utilization. From the perspective of public decision-makers, the cost effectiveness of UAVs cannot be analyzed without looking at the public health benefits, which may be substantial. Drone application in the other use cases examined in this book, such as mapping, risk assessment, and agriculture, is relatively more common than cargo drone operations, and the existing pilot initiatives in East Africa have delivered impressive results for speed and quality (precision). Food aid delivery by drones is still mostly at a planning, rather than implementation, stage. Drone applications are rapidly evolving, and several use cases could gain impact and scale over the coming years.en
dc.identifierhttps://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/800891621396276151/unlocking-the-lower-skies-the-costs-and-benefits-of-deploying-drones-across-use-cases-in-east-africa
dc.identifier.doi10.1596/978-1-4648-1696-3
dc.identifier.issn978-1-4648-1696-3
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/35593
dc.publisherWashington, DC: World Bank
dc.relation.ispartofseriesInternational Development in Focus;
dc.rightsCC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holderWorld Bank
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subjectDRONE TECHNOLOGY
dc.subjectUAV
dc.subjectTRANSPORT
dc.subjectLOGISTICS
dc.subjectHEALTH SERVICE DELIVERY
dc.subjectFOOD AID
dc.subjectLAND MAPPING
dc.subjectINFRASTRUCTURE INSPECTION
dc.subjectAGRICULTURE
dc.subjectAGRICULTURAL DATA COLLECTION
dc.titleUnlocking the Lower Skiesen
dc.title.subtitleThe Costs and Benefits of Deploying Drones across Use Cases in East Africaen
dc.typeBooken
dc.typeLivrefr
dc.typeLibroes
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.date.disclosure2021-05-18
okr.doctypePublications & Research
okr.doctypePublications & Research::Publication
okr.guid800891621396276151
okr.identifier.doi10.1596/978-1-4648-1696-3
okr.identifier.report159125
okr.language.supporteden
okr.region.administrativeAfrica
okr.region.administrativeAfrica Eastern and Southern (AFE)
okr.region.geographicalEast Africa
okr.topicHealth, Nutrition and Population::Health Service Management and Delivery
okr.topicScience and Technology Development::Technology Innovation
okr.topicTransport::Transport and Trade Logistics
okr.unitIAET1
relation.isAuthorOfPublication83352741-e2f6-558f-a8c5-aea49aa82766
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery83352741-e2f6-558f-a8c5-aea49aa82766
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
9781464816963.pdf
Size:
8.61 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
English PDF
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
International Development in Focus