A PolyU team clinched a 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.

The winning team included Mr LI Yu and Mr JIN Zhicheng, both PhD candidates from PolyU’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Dr FAN Wenbo, Research Assistant Professor, and Prof. GU Weihua, Associate Professor, from the same department, as well as Prof. WU Lingxiao, Assistant Professor from the Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering at PolyU. The team was supervised by Prof. GU.

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.

This year’s workshop, themed “Digital Intelligence Empowerment and Resilient Collaboration”, gathered more than 500 experts and scholars from 137 universities and research institutions both domestically and internationally.

The workshop was co-hosted by Central South University and the Organising Committee of the International Workshop on Computational Transportation Science (CTS). It was jointly organised by the School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering of Central South University, the State Key Laboratory of Heavy-duty and Express High-power Electric Locomotive, and the Key Laboratory of Complex Systems Analysis and Management Decision of the Ministry of Education, and co-organised by CRSC Low-Altitude Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. It was also supported by “Future Urban Traffic Management”, a project under the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Excellence Research Group Programme.