A PolyU research team comprising members from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) and the Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering (AAE) has won the Best Paper Award at the 17th International Workshop on Computational Transportation Science (CTS 2026), held at Central South University in Changsha, China, from 7 to 9 August 2026. Themed “Digital Intelligence Empowerment and Resilient Collaboration,” CTS 2026 gathered more than 500 experts and scholars from 137 universities and research institutions both domestically and internationally.
The winning paper, titled “Altitude-Aware Distributionally Robust Drone Delivery Routing under Wind Uncertainty”, integrates three-dimensional drone routing, flight-level selection and battery configuration with weather-informed optimisation to support reliable urban delivery under uncertain wind conditions. Practically, it helps operators reduce delivery costs and manage delay and energy-shortfall risks, supporting smart logistics and the development of the low-altitude economy.
The project was supervised by Prof. GU Weihua, Associate Professor in the Department of EEE. The team includes PhD candidates Mr LI Yu and Mr JIN Zhicheng, alongside Dr FAN Wenbo, Research Assistant Professor, all from the Department of EEE. The research also benefited from the expertise of Prof. WU Lingxiao, Assistant Professor in the Department of AAE.
Reference:
LI, Y., JIN, Z., FAN, W., WU, L., & GU, W. (2026, August 7-9). Altitude-aware distributionally robust drone delivery routing under wind uncertainty [Paper presentation]. 17th International Workshop on Computational Transportation Science (CTS 2026), Central South University, Changsha, China. (Supervised by Prof. GU Weihua. Awarded: Best Paper Award)
