Drone-as-a-Service: Research Challenges and Directions

We conduct a survey on drones used as a service, denoted as drone-as-a-service (DaaS). We develop a novel taxonomy based on DaaS functions, research tasks, and application domains. We provide a discussion on drones and their associated capabilities based on their type of use. We propose a three-layered DaaS system architecture that vertically integrates <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">cloud</i> computing, <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">drones</i>, and <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">services</i> as a reference framework to compare existing drone service implementations. Additionally, we propose a representative uncertainty-aware DaaS model for delivery scenarios, illustrating how service definitions can incorporate both functional and nonfunctional attributes under dynamic environmental conditions. Finally, we identify and discuss future research directions and open problems related to the use of drones for service delivery.