<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" dtd-version="1.0" article-type="research-article">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="nlm-ta">Complex Eng. Syst.</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">comengsys</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Complex Engineering Systems</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2770-6249</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>OAE Publishing Inc.</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.20517/ces.2026.10</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">CES-2026-10</article-id>
<article-categories>
<subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
<subject>Research Article</subject>
</subj-group>
</article-categories>
<title-group>
<article-title>Kriging-based resilience assessment of low-altitude logistics networks under multiple operational disturbances</article-title>
</title-group>	  
<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">

<name>
<surname>Yao</surname>
<given-names>Anzhuo</given-names>
</name>
  <xref ref-type="aff" rid="I1">
            <sup>1</sup>
          </xref>
<email>anzhuoyao2024@buaa.edu.cn</email>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name>
<surname>Song</surname>
<given-names>Xueying</given-names>
</name>
  <xref ref-type="aff" rid="I1">
            <sup>1</sup>
          </xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name>
<surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Shanghan</given-names>
</name>
  <xref ref-type="aff" rid="I1">
            <sup>1</sup>
          </xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name>
<surname>Feng</surname>
<given-names>Kaifeng</given-names>
</name>
  <xref ref-type="aff" rid="I1">
            <sup>1</sup>
          </xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name>
<surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Hang</given-names>
</name>
 <xref ref-type="aff" rid="I2">
            <sup>2</sup>
          </xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name>
<surname>Zhou</surname>
<given-names>Hang</given-names>
</name>
 <xref ref-type="aff" rid="I3">
            <sup>3</sup>
          </xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group>

      <aff id="I1"><sup>1</sup>School of Reliability and Systems Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.</aff>
      <aff id="I2"><sup>2</sup>Research Institute of Science and Technology Innovation, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin 300300, China.</aff>
      <aff id="I3"><sup>3</sup>Sino-European Institute of Aviation Engineering, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin 300300 China.</aff>
      <author-notes>
        <corresp id="cor1">Correspondence to: Dr. Anzhuo Yao, School of Reliability and Systems Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China. E-mail: <email>anzhuoyao2024@buaa.edu.cn</email></corresp>
        <fn fn-type="other">
          <p><bold>Received:</bold> 1 Mar 2026 | <bold>First Decision:</bold> 8 Apr 2026 | <bold>Revised:</bold> 13 Apr 2026 | <bold>Accepted:</bold> 13 May 2026 | <bold>Published:</bold> 30 Jul 2026</p>
        </fn>
        <fn fn-type="other">
          <p><bold>Academic Editor:</bold> Duxin Chen | <bold>Copy Editor:</bold> Fangling Lan | <bold>Production Editor:</bold> Fangling Lan </p>
        </fn>
      </author-notes>
     <pub-date pub-type="ppub">
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>30</day>
        <month>7</month>
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>6</volume>
	  <issue>3</issue>
      <elocation-id>14</elocation-id>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>© The Author(s) 2026.</copyright-statement>
        <license xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">
          <license-p>© The Author(s) 2026.<bold>Open Access</bold>This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (<uri xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</uri>), which permits unrestricted use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
     <abstract>
     <p>Low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) logistics networks are subject to multiple operational disturbances that can severely degrade delivery performance. This paper proposes a Kriging-based resilience assessment framework that efficiently evaluates the reliability and resilience of such networks under multi-dimensional disturbances. A discrete-event simulation environment is developed that incorporates Voronoi-based airspace topology, A* path planning, and dynamic re-planning. Three disturbance types—structural (no-fly zones), functional (adverse weather), and informational (communication delays)—are modelled and screened via Sobol sensitivity analysis. Two complementary Kriging surrogates, trained on Latin Hypercube samples, replace expensive Monte Carlo simulations with a 25-fold speed-up: one predicting endpoint cumulative orders for failure probability estimation, and the other predicting the integral resilience triangle index for resilience surface characterisation. Results show that structural disruption and weather degradation contribute nearly equally to performance variance (52.4% <italic>vs</italic>. 47.6%). The resilience surface reveals that only 10.9% of the disturbance parameter space sustains high resilience (<italic>R</italic> ≥ 0.8), while 26.4% falls into a low-resilience regime (<italic>R</italic> &lt; 0.6) where severe throughput loss and incomplete recovery coexist. The proposed framework provides a computationally efficient tool for resilience-informed management of low-altitude logistics networks.</p>
     </abstract>	
      <kwd-group>
     <kwd>Intelligent transportation systems</kwd>
     <kwd>low-altitude logistics network</kwd>
     <kwd>re-silience assessment</kwd>
     <kwd>kriging surrogate model</kwd>
     <kwd>failure probability mapping</kwd>
     </kwd-group>


</article-meta>
</front>

<body>

<sec id="s1">
<title>1. INTRODUCTION</title>
<p>The rapid proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has opened a new paradigm in last-mile logistics. Urban air mobility and low-altitude delivery services promise reduced surface congestion, faster delivery times, and access to areas difficult to reach by ground transport. Major industry players and governmental agencies worldwide have invested heavily in UAV traffic management (UTM) systems, airspace integration protocols, and fleet-scale operational frameworks<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b1">1</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b2">2</xref>]</sup>. As these networks scale from pilot projects to city-wide deployments, their exposure to operational disturbances increases correspondingly.</p>

<p>In practice, low-altitude logistics networks face three principal categories of disruption. <italic>Structural disturbances</italic> arise when temporary no-fly zones (NFZs), imposed for security, emergency, or regulatory reasons, block portions of the airspace and force re-routing<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b3">3</xref>]</sup>. <italic>Functional disturbances</italic> stem from adverse weather conditions (wind, rain, reduced visibility) that lower achievable flight speeds and increase energy consumption<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b4">4</xref>]</sup>. <italic>Informational disturbances</italic> occur when communication links between UAVs and the UTM system experience latency or disruption, impairing dispatching and re-planning decisions<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b5">5</xref>]</sup>. In real-world operations, these disturbances frequently co-occur and interact, making isolated analysis insufficient.</p>

<p>Resilience—the ability of a system to absorb, adapt to, and recover from disturbances while maintaining acceptable performance—has emerged as a central concept in critical infrastructure assessment<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b6">6</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b7">7</xref>]</sup>. In the transportation domain, resilience metrics such as the resilience triangle, recovery time, and adaptive capacity have been proposed for road, rail, and air traffic systems<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b8">8</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b9">9</xref>]</sup>. For UAV systems specifically, recent work has examined resilience to individual failure modes—such as vehicle loss, communication failure, or geofence violations—but comprehensive assessments of multi-disturbance resilience remain limited<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b10">10</xref>]</sup>.</p>

<p>Classical path planning algorithms for UAV delivery, including A*-based, metaheuristic, and stochastic optimisation methods, have been extensively studied<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b11">11</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b12">12</xref>]</sup>. At the low-altitude network level, Li <italic>et al</italic>. developed a traffic management and resource allocation framework for UAV-based parcel delivery in urban low-altitude space, integrating obstacle-aware path planning, conflict detection and resolution, and airspace allocation<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b13">13</xref>]</sup>. Recent review papers summarised drone routing, charging, security, delivery modes, and system-level design challenges, and have emphasised scalability, uncertainty handling, and real-world deployment as persistent bottlenecks<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b14">14</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b15">15</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b16">16</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b17">17</xref>]</sup>.</p>

<p>More recently, learning-based dispatching and scheduling have emerged as an active direction in low-altitude logistics and adjacent truck–drone/courier–drone systems. In the single-vehicle domain, representative examples include DeliverSense for delivery-drone scheduling<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b18">18</xref>]</sup> and reinforcement-learning approaches for truck–drone coordinated delivery<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b19">19</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b20">20</xref>]</sup>. At the fleet level, C-SPPO addresses large-scale dynamic logistics UAV routing<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b21">21</xref>]</sup>, while risk-aware multi-agent reinforcement learning has been applied to real-time courier–drone coordination in on-demand food delivery<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b22">22</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b23">23</xref>]</sup>. Most directly related to the present study, Rumman <italic>et al</italic>. proposed intelligent drone pickup scheduling via deep reinforcement learning (DRL) in low-altitude economy networks, demonstrating the promise of policy learning for pickup, delivery, and on-demand service coordination<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b24">24</xref>]</sup>.</p>

<p>These studies apply DRL to adaptive dispatching, pickup coordination, and routing. However, their primary objective is usually to optimise service efficiency, routing cost, or delivery timeliness under nominal or scenario-specific conditions. They seldom quantify how a UAV logistics network degrades and recovers under coupled structural, functional, and informational disturbances. Resilience-oriented outputs such as failure probability fields, safe operating envelopes, and global sensitivity decompositions are rarely provided. The present work is therefore complementary to the intelligent scheduling literature. Rather than proposing another dispatching policy, we focus on fast resilience assessment of the network–policy system under disturbances. The resulting framework can later be used to compare greedy, anticipatory, and DRL-based schedulers under a common disturbance space.</p>

<p>Surrogate modelling techniques, particularly Kriging (Gaussian process regression), have proven effective in reliability engineering<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b25">25</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b26">26</xref>]</sup>. By replacing expensive simulations with fast-to-evaluate predictive models, Kriging enables efficient exploration of high-dimensional parameter spaces. Active learning strategies such as AK-MCS (Active Kriging with Monte Carlo Simulation) further refine surrogate accuracy near failure boundaries<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b25">25</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b27">27</xref>]</sup>. These methods have been applied successfully in structural reliability and system safety, but their use in the operational resilience of logistics networks remains limited.</p>

<p>Despite the progress in both optimisation and learning-based dispatching, three research gaps remain. First, most UAV network studies treat disturbances in isolation. A unified framework that simultaneously captures structural, functional, and informational disruptions is needed. Second, a full Monte Carlo simulation of multi-dimensional disturbance scenarios is prohibitively expensive. Efficient surrogate-based approaches tailored to this problem have not been explored. Third, existing resilience metrics (e.g., single-valued indices) provide limited operational guidance. Spatial risk maps, sensitivity decompositions, and failure boundaries are needed to support real-time decision-making.</p>

<p>To address these gaps, this paper makes three contributions:</p>

<p>1. A simulation-based multi-disturbance framework for low-altitude logistics networks that integrates structural, functional, and informational disruptions within a unified discrete-event simulation environment featuring Voronoi-based topology, A* path planning, and dynamic dispatching with re-planning.</p>

<p>2. A Kriging surrogate model trained via Latin Hypercube sampling (LHS) that replaces extensive Monte Carlo simulations, achieving a 25-fold computational speed-up while providing both mean predictions and uncertainty estimates.</p>

<p>3. A multi-layer resilience analysis comprising failure probability field mapping, resilience surface characterisation, Sobol global sensitivity decomposition, and critical failure boundary identification.</p>

<p>The remainder of this paper is organised as follows. Section 2 formulates the problem and presents the overall methodology. Section 3 describes the simulation environment, experimental design, and Kriging surrogate model construction. Section 4 presents and discusses the results. Section 5 concludes the paper. The overall research framework is illustrated in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure1">Figure 1</xref>.</p>

<fig id="Figure1">
<label>Figure 1</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Overall research framework. Phase 1 performs single-disturbance isolation tests. Phase 2 trains a Kriging surrogate on LHS samples. Phase 3 produces failure probability fields, resilience surfaces, Sobol indices, and the critical failure boundary.</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.1.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
</sec>


<sec id="s2">
<title>2. PROBLEM FORMULATION AND METHODOLOGY</title>
<sec id="s2-1">
<title>2.1 Low-altitude logistics network description</title>
<p>We consider a low-altitude UAV logistics network operating in a two-dimensional airspace. The network is modelled as an undirected graph <inline-formula><tex-math id="M3">$$ G = (V, E) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M4">$$ V $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the set of waypoints (vertices) and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M5">$$ E $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the set of feasible air corridors (edges). The topology is generated from a Voronoi tessellation: a set of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M6">$$ N_{\mathrm{seed}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> random seed points is uniformly distributed over an <inline-formula><tex-math id="M7">$$ L_x \times L_y $$</tex-math></inline-formula> rectangular domain, and the dual graph of the resulting Voronoi diagram yields the waypoint set <inline-formula><tex-math id="M8">$$ V $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and edge set <inline-formula><tex-math id="M9">$$ E $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. Each edge <inline-formula><tex-math id="M10">$$ e = (u, v) \in E $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is assigned a weight <inline-formula><tex-math id="M11">$$ w(e) = \lVert u - v \rVert_2 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> equal to the Euclidean distance between its endpoints. This construction produces a spatially irregular yet connected network that closely resembles realistic vertiport–corridor layouts.</p>

<p>A fleet of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M12">$$ N_{\mathrm{UAV}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> homogeneous rotary-wing UAVs operates over this network. Delivery orders arrive according to a Poisson process with rate <inline-formula><tex-math id="M13">$$ \lambda_{\mathrm{order}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (orders per unit time). Each order <inline-formula><tex-math id="M14">$$ o_k = (\mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{O}}_k, \mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{D}}_k, t^{\mathrm{gen}}_k) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> specifies an origin, a destination, and a generation time. A minimum origin–destination separation constraint <inline-formula><tex-math id="M15">$$ \lVert \mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{O}} - \mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{D}} \rVert \geq d_{\min} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is imposed to ensure non-trivial delivery tasks.</p>

<p>A UTM system coordinates the fleet through two periodic decision processes:</p>

<p>1. Dispatching. Every <inline-formula><tex-math id="M16">$$ \Delta t_{\mathrm{disp}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> seconds, the dispatcher examines the set of pending orders <inline-formula><tex-math id="M17">$$ \mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{pend}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and the set of idle UAVs <inline-formula><tex-math id="M18">$$ \mathcal{U}_{\mathrm{idle}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. For each pending order <inline-formula><tex-math id="M19">$$ o_k $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, the assignment cost of dispatching UAV <inline-formula><tex-math id="M20">$$ u_j $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is defined as</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(1)</label> <tex-math id="E1"> $$     C(u_j, o_k) = d_{A^*}\!\bigl(\mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{UAV}}_j, \, \mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{O}}_k\bigr) + d_{A^*}\!\bigl(\mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{O}}_k, \, \mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{D}}_k\bigr), $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M21">$$ d_{A^*}(\cdot, \cdot) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> denotes the shortest-path distance computed by the A* algorithm on the current available edge set <inline-formula><tex-math id="M22">$$ E_{\mathrm{avail}}(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M23">$$ \mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{UAV}}_j $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the current position of UAV <inline-formula><tex-math id="M24">$$ u_j $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M25">$$ \mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{O}}_k $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M26">$$ \mathbf{p}^{\mathrm{D}}_k $$</tex-math></inline-formula> are the origin and destination of order <inline-formula><tex-math id="M27">$$ o_k $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The first term represents the pickup distance (UAV to order origin) and the second term represents the delivery distance (origin to destination). A greedy strategy is adopted: orders are processed sequentially and each is assigned to the idle UAV with the lowest total cost:</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(2)</label> <tex-math id="E2"> $$    u^*_k = \arg\min\limits_{u_j \in \mathcal{U}_{\mathrm{idle}}} C(u_j, o_k).  $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>If no idle UAV is available or no feasible path exists, the order remains in the pending queue until the next dispatching cycle.</p>

<p>2. Re-planning. When a UAV's next edge becomes unavailable (e.g., blocked by a no-fly zone), the UAV enters a <italic>hold</italic> state at its current vertex and attempts to re-plan via A* every <inline-formula><tex-math id="M28">$$ \Delta t_{\mathrm{replan}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> seconds. The UAV re-queries the current edge set <inline-formula><tex-math id="M29">$$ E_{\mathrm{avail}}(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and seeks an alternative shortest path to its destination. Re-planning continues until a feasible path is found or the disturbance is lifted.</p>

<p>At each simulation time step <inline-formula><tex-math id="M30">$$ \delta t $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, UAVs move along their assigned paths at an effective speed</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(3)</label> <tex-math id="E3"> $$   v_{\mathrm{eff}}(e, t) = v_{\max} \cdot \varphi_{\mathrm{cap}}(e) \cdot \varphi_{\mathrm{weather}}(e, t), $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M31">$$ v_{\max} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the nominal cruising speed, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M32">$$ \varphi_{\mathrm{cap}}(e) \in \{0.7, \, 1.0\} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is a capacity-based factor that reduces speed when the number of UAVs on edge <inline-formula><tex-math id="M33">$$ e $$</tex-math></inline-formula> exceeds a route capacity <inline-formula><tex-math id="M34">$$ C_{\mathrm{route}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M35">$$ \varphi_{\mathrm{weather}}(e, t) \in (0, 1] $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the weather degradation factor defined in Section 2.3.2.</p>

</sec>


<sec id="s2-2">
<title>2.2 Performance metrics and failure criteria</title>
<p>Five operational metrics are defined to characterise network performance:</p>

<p>1. Cumulative completed orders <inline-formula><tex-math id="M36">$$ Q(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>: the total number of orders delivered by time <inline-formula><tex-math id="M37">$$ t $$</tex-math></inline-formula>,</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(4)</label> <tex-math id="E4"> $$  Q(t) = N_{\mathrm{completed}}(t).$$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>2. Throughput rate <inline-formula><tex-math id="M38">$$ q(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>: the instantaneous rate of order completion, computed over a time window <inline-formula><tex-math id="M39">$$ \Delta t $$</tex-math></inline-formula>,</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(5)</label> <tex-math id="E5"> $$    q(t) = \frac{\Delta Q}{\Delta t} \quad (\text{orders/min}), $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M40">$$ \Delta Q = Q(t) - Q(t - \Delta t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> denotes the number of orders completed during the interval <inline-formula><tex-math id="M41">$$ [t - \Delta t, \, t] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. In this study <inline-formula><tex-math id="M42">$$ \Delta t = 20 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> s.</p>

<p>3. Average delivery distance <inline-formula><tex-math id="M43">$$ \bar{d} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>: the mean path length per completed order,</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(6)</label> <tex-math id="E6"> $$   \bar{d} = \frac{1}{N_{\mathrm{completed}}} \sum\limits_{i=1}^{N_{\mathrm{completed}}} d_i. $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>4. UAV utilisation <inline-formula><tex-math id="M44">$$ U $$</tex-math></inline-formula>: the fraction of total UAV capacity consumed by active missions,</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(7)</label> <tex-math id="E7"> $$   U = \frac{1}{M} \sum\limits_{j=1}^{M} \frac{t_j^{\mathrm{active}}}{T}, $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M45">$$ M $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the fleet size and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M46">$$ T $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the simulation horizon.</p>

<p>5. Infeasible order fraction <inline-formula><tex-math id="M47">$$ \phi $$</tex-math></inline-formula>: the ratio of orders that cannot be dispatched due to the minimum origin–destination separation constraint <inline-formula><tex-math id="M48">$$ d_{\min} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>,</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(8)</label> <tex-math id="E8"> $$ \phi = \frac{N_{\mathrm{infeasible}}}{N_{\mathrm{total}}}.  $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>Among these, the endpoint cumulative orders <inline-formula><tex-math id="M49">$$ Q(T) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> serves as the primary performance metric for failure probability estimation, while the full throughput rate trajectory <inline-formula><tex-math id="M50">$$ q(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> over the disturbance window underpins resilience assessment. The remaining three metrics (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M51">$$ \bar{d} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M52">$$ U $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M53">$$ \phi $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) are complementary descriptors of baseline network behaviour reported in Section 3.1.</p>

<p>Under nominal (undisturbed) conditions, the system attains a baseline performance <inline-formula><tex-math id="M54">$$ Q_0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. A <italic>failure event</italic> is declared whenever the observed performance falls below a prescribed fraction of the baseline:</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(9)</label> <tex-math id="E9"> $$  Q(T; \boldsymbol{\omega}) &#60; Q_{\mathrm{th}}, \qquad Q_{\mathrm{th}} = \alpha \, Q_0, $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M55">$$ \alpha \in (0, 1) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the threshold ratio (set to <inline-formula><tex-math id="M56">$$ \alpha = 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> throughout this study) and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M57">$$ \boldsymbol{\omega} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the disturbance parameter vector defined in Section 2.3.</p>

<p>The failure probability is estimated via Monte Carlo simulation:</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(10)</label> <tex-math id="E10"> $$ P_f = \Pr\!\bigl[Q(T; \boldsymbol{\omega}) &#60; Q_{\mathrm{th}}\bigr] \approx \frac{1}{N_{\mathrm{MC}}} \sum\limits_{i=1}^{N_{\mathrm{MC}}} \mathbb{I}\!\bigl[Q^{(i)} &#60; Q_{\mathrm{th}}\bigr]. $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>The system resilience is quantified using the <italic>resilience triangle</italic> approach<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b6">6</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b28">28</xref>]</sup>. Let <inline-formula><tex-math id="M58">$$ q_{\mathrm{nom}}(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> denote the nominal (undisturbed) throughput rate curve and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M59">$$ q(t; \boldsymbol{\omega}) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> the throughput rate curve under disturbance scenario <inline-formula><tex-math id="M60">$$ \boldsymbol{\omega} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The performance loss area during the observation window <inline-formula><tex-math id="M61">$$ [t_{\mathrm{on}}, T] $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(11)</label> <tex-math id="E11"> $$  S_{\mathrm{loss}} = \int_{t_{\mathrm{on}}}^{T} \max\!\bigl(q_{\mathrm{nom}}(t) - q(t; \boldsymbol{\omega}), \; 0\bigr)\, \mathrm{d}t, $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>which captures both the degradation phase (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M62">$$ t \in [t_{\mathrm{on}}, t_{\mathrm{off}}] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) and any residual recovery lag (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M63">$$ t \in [t_{\mathrm{off}}, T] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>). The reference area under the nominal curve over the same interval is</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(12)</label> <tex-math id="E12"> $$   S_0 = \int_{t_{\mathrm{on}}}^{T} q_{\mathrm{nom}}(t)\, \mathrm{d}t.$$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>The resilience index is then defined as</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(13)</label> <tex-math id="E13"> $$  R(\boldsymbol{\omega}) = 1 - \frac{S_{\mathrm{loss}}}{S_0}, $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>so that <inline-formula><tex-math id="M64">$$ R = 1 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> corresponds to zero performance loss (perfect resilience) and smaller values indicate greater degradation. Compared with a simple endpoint ratio <inline-formula><tex-math id="M65">$$ Q(T)/Q_0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, this integral formulation accounts for the time-dependent degradation trajectory and recovery dynamics, consistent with the resilience triangle framework in the engineering resilience literature<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b6">6</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b28">28</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b29">29</xref>]</sup>. The concept is illustrated schematically in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure2">Figure 2</xref>.</p>

<fig id="Figure2">
<label>Figure 2</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Schematic illustration of the resilience triangle. The shaded area between the nominal throughput rate curve <inline-formula><tex-math id="M66">$$ q_{\mathrm{nom}}(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and the disturbed throughput rate curve <inline-formula><tex-math id="M67">$$ q(t;\boldsymbol{\omega}) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> represents the loss area <inline-formula><tex-math id="M68">$$ S_{\mathrm{loss}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The resilience index <inline-formula><tex-math id="M69">$$ R = 1 - S_{\mathrm{loss}}/S_0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> captures both the degradation depth and the recovery dynamics.</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.2.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
</sec>


<sec id="s2-3">
<title>2.3 Multi-dimensional disturbance modelling</title>
<p>Operational disturbances are classified into three categories [<xref ref-type="table" rid="Table1">Table 1</xref>], each parameterised by a scalar intensity that together form the disturbance vector <inline-formula><tex-math id="M70">$$ \boldsymbol{\omega} = (S, F, D)^{\!\top} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. All disturbances are activated within a common temporal window <inline-formula><tex-math id="M71">$$ [t_{\mathrm{on}}, t_{\mathrm{off}}] = [200, 600] $$</tex-math></inline-formula> s, but differ in spatial scope: the structural disturbance (NFZ) acts as a local square region centred at the airspace midpoint <inline-formula><tex-math id="M72">$$ (x_c, y_c) = (50, 50) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>; the functional disturbance (weather) applies globally across the entire <inline-formula><tex-math id="M73">$$ 100\; \times\; 100 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> domain; and the informational disturbance (delay) affects all UTM decision processes system-wide.</p>

<table-wrap id="Table1">
<label>Table 1</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Summary of operational disturbance types and their modelled parameter ranges</p>
</caption>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Type</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Physical mechanism</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Distribution</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Range</bold></td>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">Structural (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M74">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>)</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">No-fly zone blocks edges</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">Uniform</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M75">$$ [15, 55] $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Functional (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M76">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>)</td>
<td align="left">Weather reduces flight speed</td>
<td align="left">Uniform</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M77">$$ [0.1, 0.8] $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">Informational (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M78">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula>)</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">Comm. delay slows decisions</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">Uniform</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M79">$$ [1, 40] $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

</table-wrap>

<sec id="s2-3-1">
<title>2.3.1 Structural disturbance (no-fly zone)</title>
<p>The NFZ is modelled as a square region of side length <inline-formula><tex-math id="M80">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (in grid units) centred at the airspace midpoint. The parameter <inline-formula><tex-math id="M81">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula> controls the spatial extent of the restricted area: a larger <inline-formula><tex-math id="M82">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula> blocks a greater number of air corridors, forcing UAVs onto longer detour paths or leaving them unable to reach their destinations. Let <inline-formula><tex-math id="M83">$$ \mathcal{Z}_{\mathrm{NFZ}}(S) = \{(x, y) : |x - 50| \leq S/2, \; |y - 50| \leq S/2\} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> denote the square NFZ. During the disturbance window <inline-formula><tex-math id="M84">$$ [t_{\mathrm{on}}, t_{\mathrm{off}}] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, any edge whose line segment geometrically intersects this region is removed from the available edge set:</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(14)</label> <tex-math id="E14"> $$  e \in E_{\mathrm{avail}}(t) \;\iff\; \neg\, \mathrm{intersects}\!\bigl(\overline{uv}, \, \mathcal{Z}_{\mathrm{NFZ}}(S)\bigr) \;\lor\; t \notin [t_{\mathrm{on}}, t_{\mathrm{off}}], $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M85">$$ \overline{uv} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the line segment connecting the two endpoints of edge <inline-formula><tex-math id="M86">$$ e = (u, v) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M87">$$ \mathrm{intersects}(\cdot, \cdot) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is a Boolean geometric intersection test. Edge removal is instantaneous: at <inline-formula><tex-math id="M88">$$ t = t_{\mathrm{on}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> all intersecting edges are simultaneously deactivated, and at <inline-formula><tex-math id="M89">$$ t = t_{\mathrm{off}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> they are restored. UAVs currently traversing a blocked edge enter the hold state at their last visited vertex and attempt re-planning (Section 2.1). The intensity parameter is sampled from <inline-formula><tex-math id="M90">$$ S \sim \mathrm{Uniform}(15, 55) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. Here, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M91">$$ S = 15 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> represents a localised restriction affecting only a few edges, while <inline-formula><tex-math id="M92">$$ S = 55 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> covers over half the airspace diagonal.</p>

</sec>


<sec id="s2-3-2">
<title>2.3.2 Functional disturbance (weather degradation)</title>
<p>Adverse weather conditions (e.g., strong wind, heavy rain, reduced visibility) degrade the achievable flight speed of UAVs. Unlike the localised NFZ, the weather disturbance is modelled as a global effect covering the entire <inline-formula><tex-math id="M93">$$ 100\; \times\; 100 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> domain (i.e., <inline-formula><tex-math id="M94">$$ \mathcal{R}_{\mathrm{weather}} = [0, L_x] \times [0, L_y] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>), representing large-scale meteorological phenomena. The degradation is parameterised by a weather disturbance intensity <inline-formula><tex-math id="M95">$$ F \in [0, 1) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M96">$$ F = 0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> denotes no weather impact and larger values represent more severe conditions. The resulting speed reduction factor applied to every edge in the network is</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(15)</label> <tex-math id="E15"> $$  \varphi_{\mathrm{weather}}(e, t) =   \begin{cases}     1 - F, &#38; \text{if } e \cap \mathcal{R}_{\mathrm{weather}} \neq \varnothing \text{ and } t \in [t_{\mathrm{on}}, t_{\mathrm{off}}], \\     1, &#38; \text{otherwise}, \end{cases}  $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M97">$$ e \cap \mathcal{R}_{\mathrm{weather}} \neq \varnothing $$</tex-math></inline-formula> indicates that at least one endpoint of edge <inline-formula><tex-math id="M98">$$ e $$</tex-math></inline-formula> falls inside the weather region. When <inline-formula><tex-math id="M99">$$ F = 0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, the speed factor equals 1 (nominal speed). As <inline-formula><tex-math id="M100">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> increases, the effective speed <inline-formula><tex-math id="M101">$$ v_{\mathrm{eff}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> in Eq. (3) is proportionally reduced. For example, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M102">$$ F = 0.5 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> yields a speed factor of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M103">$$ 1 - 0.5 = 0.5 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, halving the flight speed and doubling the traversal time. The compounding effect is twofold: slower flights extend individual delivery times and delay UAV availability for subsequent orders. The intensity is sampled as <inline-formula><tex-math id="M104">$$ F \sim \mathrm{Uniform}(0.1, 0.8) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. <inline-formula><tex-math id="M105">$$ F = 0.1 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> represents mild degradation (10% speed loss) and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M106">$$ F = 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> represents severe conditions (80% speed reduction).</p>

</sec>


<sec id="s2-3-3">
<title>2.3.3 Informational disturbance (communication delay)</title>
<p>Communication disruptions between the UAV fleet and the UTM system degrade the timeliness of two critical decision processes: dispatching (assigning idle UAVs to pending orders) and re-planning (computing alternative paths when edges are blocked). The delay is modelled as a multiplicative factor <inline-formula><tex-math id="M107">$$ D \geq 1 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> that stretches both decision periods:</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(16)</label> <tex-math id="E16"> $$  \Delta t_{\mathrm{disp}}^{\prime} = D \cdot \Delta t_{\mathrm{disp}}, \qquad   \Delta t_{\mathrm{replan}}^{\prime} = D \cdot \Delta t_{\mathrm{replan}}, $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M108">$$ \Delta t_{\mathrm{disp}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M109">$$ \Delta t_{\mathrm{replan}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> are the nominal dispatching and re-planning periods [<xref ref-type="table" rid="Table2">Table 2</xref>]. When <inline-formula><tex-math id="M110">$$ D = 1 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, the system operates at normal decision frequency. As <inline-formula><tex-math id="M111">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula> increases, the UTM system makes decisions less frequently, causing orders to wait longer in the pending queue and UAVs blocked by NFZs to remain in hold states for extended periods. For example, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M112">$$ D = 10 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> means that the dispatching cycle increases from 1.0 to 10.0 s and the re-planning cycle from 2.0 to 20.0 s, effectively reducing the system's responsiveness by an order of magnitude. The parameter is sampled as <inline-formula><tex-math id="M113">$$ D \sim \mathrm{Uniform}(1, 40) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, spanning from no delay to an extreme 40-fold slowdown in decision-making.</p>

<table-wrap id="Table2">
<label>Table 2</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Simulation parameters</p>
</caption>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Parameter</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Symbol</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="center"><bold>Value</bold></td>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">Grid size</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M114">$$ L_x \times L_y $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="center">100 × 100 </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Voronoi seed points</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M116">$$ N_{\mathrm{seed}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">140</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Fleet size</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M117">$$ N_{\mathrm{UAV}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">80</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Maximum speed</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M118">$$ v_{\max} $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">4.0 units/s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Route capacity</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M119">$$ C_{\mathrm{route}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">4 UAVs/edge</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Simulation time step</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M120">$$ \delta t $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">0.5 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Simulation horizon</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M121">$$ T $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">1,000 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Order arrival rate</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M122">$$ \lambda_{\mathrm{order}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">6.0/s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Min. O–D distance</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M123">$$ d_{\min} $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">30 units</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Dispatching period</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M124">$$ \Delta t_{\mathrm{disp}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">1.0 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Re-planning period</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M125">$$ \Delta t_{\mathrm{replan}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="center">2.0 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">Disturbance window</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M126">$$ [t_{\mathrm{on}}, t_{\mathrm{off}}] $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="center"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M127">$$ [200, 600] $$</tex-math></inline-formula> s</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

</table-wrap>
</sec>

</sec>

</sec>


<sec id="s3">
<title>3. SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT AND SURROGATE MODEL CONSTRUCTION</title>

<sec id="s3-1">
<title>3.1 Simulation platform and parameter settings</title>
<p>A discrete-event simulation platform is developed in Python to model the network described in Section 2.1. The simulation proceeds in fixed time steps of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M128">$$ \delta t = 0.5 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> s over a horizon of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M129">$$ T = 1,000 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> s. Each step executes: (1) order generation via a Poisson process; (2) edge occupancy counting; (3) greedy dispatching via A* with Euclidean heuristic; (4) re-planning for UAVs whose next edge is blocked; (5) UAV movement at the effective speed in Eq. (3); and (6) metrics recording.</p>

<p>The Voronoi-based network is generated from <inline-formula><tex-math id="M130">$$ N_{\mathrm{seed}} = 140 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> random seed points on a 100 × 100 grid, yielding a connected graph with approximately 230–245 vertices and 325–350 edges; the specific instance in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure3">Figure 3A</xref> contains 234 vertices and 329 edges. Key parameters are listed in <xref ref-type="table" rid="Table2">Table 2</xref>.</p>

<fig id="Figure3">
<label>Figure 3</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Simulation environment. (A) Voronoi-based airspace network (234 vertices, 329 edges) with UAV initial positions; (B) example no-fly zone (shaded rectangle) blocking edges; (C) active UAV trajectories during a disturbance scenario showing re-routing behaviour.</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.3.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
<p>Under nominal conditions (no disturbances active), the system completes approximately <inline-formula><tex-math id="M134">$$ Q_0 = 2,200 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> orders by <inline-formula><tex-math id="M135">$$ t = T $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, as established from 15 independent baseline replications. The failure threshold is set to <inline-formula><tex-math id="M136">$$ Q_{\mathrm{th}} = 0.8\; \times\; 2,200 = 1,760 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> orders.</p>

<p><xref ref-type="table" rid="Table3">Table 3</xref> reports the operational metrics (defined in Section 2.2) under nominal conditions. The high UAV utilisation (97.2%) indicates near-full fleet capacity with minimal buffer against disturbances. The average delivery distance of 113.2 grid units corresponds to approximately 16% of the airspace diagonal. No orders were infeasible under the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M137">$$ d_{\min} = 30 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> constraint, as the dense Voronoi graph (140 seeds) provides sufficient path diversity.</p>

<table-wrap id="Table3">
<label>Table 3</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Baseline network performance under nominal conditions (15 replications)</p>
</caption>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Metric</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="center"><bold>Mean</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="center"><bold>Std</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="center"><bold>Range</bold></td>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">Throughput rate <inline-formula><tex-math id="M138">$$ q $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (orders/min)</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="center">134.0</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="center">2.4</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="center">[128.2, 137.6]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Avg. delivery distance <inline-formula><tex-math id="M139">$$ \bar{d} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (grid units)</td>
<td align="center">113.2</td>
<td align="center">2.5</td>
<td align="center">[109.7, 119.3]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">UAV utilisation <inline-formula><tex-math id="M140">$$ U $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (%)</td>
<td align="center">97.2</td>
<td align="center">0.07</td>
<td align="center">[97.1, 97.3]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">Infeasible order fraction <inline-formula><tex-math id="M141">$$ \phi $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (%)</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="center">0.0</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="center">0.0</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="center">—</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

</table-wrap>
<p>At the start of each replication, the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M142">$$ N_{\mathrm{UAV}} = 80 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> UAVs are placed at vertices selected uniformly at random (with replacement) from <inline-formula><tex-math id="M143">$$ V $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, modelling a dispersed fleet with no predetermined depot structure. Each replication is assigned a deterministic random seed computed as <inline-formula><tex-math id="M144">$$ \mathit{seed} = 10,000\; +\; 100i\; +\; r $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M145">$$ i $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the scenario index and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M146">$$ r $$</tex-math></inline-formula> the replication index. This seed controls all stochastic elements—Voronoi seed point placement, order generation, and UAV initial positions—thereby ensuring full reproducibility. Because the global random state is re-seeded before each run, the network topology, demand sequence, and fleet deployment differ across replications, capturing the joint variability of network structure and operational randomness.</p>

<p>All simulation code is implemented in Python 3.10 using NumPy 1.24, SciPy 1.11, and scikit-learn 1.3.</p>

</sec>


<sec id="s3-2">
<title>3.2 Experimental design</title>
<p>Phase 1 — Single-disturbance experiments. Each disturbance type is first varied in isolation, as a one-factor-at-a-time screening, to characterise its marginal degradation curve and rank the three factors. Ten equally spaced intensity levels are used for each factor (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M147">$$ S \in \{10, 15.6, 21.1, \ldots, 60\} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M148">$$ F \in \{0.1, 0.178, \ldots, 0.8\} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M149">$$ D \in \{1, 5.1, \ldots, 37.5\} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>). To capture the full response of each factor from onset to saturation, the structural intensity is screened over the slightly wider interval <inline-formula><tex-math id="M147">$$ S \in [10, 60] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, which brackets the range [15, 55] used later for the surrogate, while the weather (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M147">$$ F \in [0.1, 0.8] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) spans its full modelled range and the delay (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M147">$$ D \in [1, 37.5] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) covers a subset of its modelled range [1, 40] in <xref ref-type="table" rid="Table1">Table 1</xref>. The complete delay range [1, 40] is later exercised in full by the conditional interaction analysis in Section 4.1. This screening confirms that the modelled ranges enclose the relevant transition region, on which the Phase-2 surrogate and all subsequent analyses are built. At each level, 15 independent replications are executed, yielding 3 × 10 × 15 = 450 simulation runs. The remaining two disturbance parameters are held at their nominal values (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M151">$$ S = 0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M152">$$ F = 0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M153">$$ D = 1 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) so that each type's marginal effect is isolated. The degradation mode (linear, convex, or saturating), maximum performance loss, and critical threshold-crossing point are extracted to rank disturbance sensitivity and inform the dimension-reduction decision for Phase 2.</p>

<p>Phase 2 — Multi-disturbance training set. An LHS design with <inline-formula><tex-math id="M154">$$ n_{\mathrm{train}} = 80 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> samples is generated in the two-dimensional disturbance space <inline-formula><tex-math id="M155">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M156">$$ S \sim \mathrm{Uniform}(15, 55) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M157">$$ F \sim \mathrm{Uniform}(0.1, 0.8) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The LHS procedure divides each marginal into <inline-formula><tex-math id="M158">$$ n_{\mathrm{train}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> equal-probability strata and draws one sample per stratum, then randomly pairs the marginal samples across dimensions. This guarantees uniform marginal coverage while avoiding the clustering that can occur with simple random sampling. The delay dimension <inline-formula><tex-math id="M159">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is excluded on the basis of the Phase-1 finding that its marginal sensitivity is substantially lower than the other two (see Section 4.1).</p>

<p>For each of the 80 training scenarios, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M160">$$ n_{\mathrm{rep}} = 5 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> independent replications are executed. The mean completed-order count <inline-formula><tex-math id="M161">$$ \bar{Q} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is used as the response variable, giving a total of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M162">$$ 80 \times 5 = 400 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> simulation runs. Averaging over replications reduces the noise level seen by the Kriging model and improves surrogate fit quality.</p>

<p>Phase 3 — Reliability and resilience analysis. After training, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M163">$$ N_{\mathrm{test}} = 10,000 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> test scenarios are drawn from a uniform distribution over <inline-formula><tex-math id="M164">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and predicted instantaneously by the trained surrogate (each query returns a mean <inline-formula><tex-math id="M165">$$ \hat{\mu} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and standard deviation <inline-formula><tex-math id="M166">$$ \hat{\sigma} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> in <inline-formula><tex-math id="M167">$$ \sim 0.1 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> ms). Four analyses are then performed:</p>

<p>1. Failure probability field. For each of the 10,000 test points, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M168">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is computed via Eq. (21). The results are binned onto a <inline-formula><tex-math id="M169">$$ 50\; \times\; 50 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> grid by nearest-neighbour assignment to produce a spatial risk map.</p>

<p>2. Resilience surface. An independent resilience surrogate (Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M170">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, described in Section 3.3) is used to predict the resilience triangle index <inline-formula><tex-math id="M171">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> in Eq. (13) directly on the same grid, and is rendered as a heatmap.</p>

<p>3. Sobol sensitivity indices. The first-order Sobol indices <inline-formula><tex-math id="M172">$$ S_S $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M173">$$ S_F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> are estimated by a variance-decomposition approach<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b30">30</xref>]</sup>: the total output variance <inline-formula><tex-math id="M174">$$ \sigma_Y^2 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> of the 10,000 predictions is computed, then each input is fixed at a sequence of values while the other is marginalised, yielding the conditional variance contributions.</p>

<p>4. Critical failure boundary. All test points satisfying <inline-formula><tex-math id="M175">$$ |\hat{Q} - Q_{\mathrm{th}}| &#60; 0.05\, Q_{\mathrm{th}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (i.e. within a 5% band of the threshold) are extracted and plotted in the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M176">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> space to delineate the transition zone between safe and failure regions.</p>

</sec>


<sec id="s3-3">
<title>3.3 Kriging surrogate model: formulation, training, and computational efficiency</title>
<p>Model formulation. A Kriging model (Gaussian process regression) maps the disturbance vector <inline-formula><tex-math id="M177">$$ \boldsymbol{\omega} = (S, F)^{\!\top} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> to the performance metric <inline-formula><tex-math id="M178">$$ Q(T; \boldsymbol{\omega}) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The predictor is</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(17)</label> <tex-math id="E17"> $$  \hat{Q}(\boldsymbol{\omega}) = \sum\limits_{i=1}^{n} \alpha_i \, k(\boldsymbol{\omega}, \boldsymbol{\omega}_i), $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M179">$$ \{(\boldsymbol{\omega}_i, Q_i)\}_{i=1}^{n} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> are training observations, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M180">$$ \alpha_i $$</tex-math></inline-formula> are optimised weights, and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M181">$$ k(\cdot, \cdot) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is a radial basis function (RBF) kernel with automatic relevance determination (ARD):</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(18)</label> <tex-math id="E18"> $$  k(\boldsymbol{\omega}, \boldsymbol{\omega}') = \sigma_f^2 \exp\!\left( -\sum\limits_{j=1}^{d} \frac{(\omega_j - \omega_j')^2}{2\, \ell_j^2} \right), $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M182">$$ \sigma_f^2 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the signal variance and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M183">$$ \ell_j $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the characteristic length scale along the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M184">$$ j $$</tex-math></inline-formula>-th axis. The ARD structure assigns an independent length scale to each input dimension: a short <inline-formula><tex-math id="M185">$$ \ell_j $$</tex-math></inline-formula> indicates that the output is highly sensitive to the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M186">$$ j $$</tex-math></inline-formula>-th input, while a long <inline-formula><tex-math id="M187">$$ \ell_j $$</tex-math></inline-formula> implies weak dependence.</p>

<p>Hyperparameter optimisation. The optimisable hyperparameter vector is <inline-formula><tex-math id="M188">$$ \boldsymbol{\theta} = (\sigma_f, \, \ell_1, \ldots, \ell_d) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, comprising the signal amplitude and per-dimension length scales. These are determined by maximising the log marginal likelihood of the training data:</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(19)</label> <tex-math id="E19"> $$   \log p(\mathbf{y} \mid \mathbf{X}, \boldsymbol{\theta})   = -\tfrac{1}{2}\, \mathbf{y}^{\!\top} \mathbf{K}_y^{-1}\, \mathbf{y}    -\tfrac{1}{2}\, \log|\mathbf{K}_y|    -\tfrac{n}{2}\, \log 2\pi, $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M189">$$ \mathbf{y} = (Q_1, \ldots, Q_n)^{\!\top} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the vector of training responses, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M190">$$ \mathbf{X} = (\boldsymbol{\omega}_1, \ldots, \boldsymbol{\omega}_n) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the training input matrix, and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M191">$$ \mathbf{K}_y = \mathbf{K} + \alpha\, \mathbf{I} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the regularised covariance matrix with entries <inline-formula><tex-math id="M192">$$ K_{ij} = k(\boldsymbol{\omega}_i, \boldsymbol{\omega}_j) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The diagonal nugget <inline-formula><tex-math id="M193">$$ \alpha = 10^{-6} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is a fixed regularisation constant that ensures numerical stability of the Cholesky decomposition. Because each training response <inline-formula><tex-math id="M194">$$ \bar{Q}_i $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is already the mean of 5 replications, the residual observation noise is small and does not require a separate noise kernel.</p>

<p>The first term in Eq. (19) penalises data misfit, the second penalises model complexity, and the third is a normalisation constant. Optimisation is performed using L-BFGS-B with <inline-formula><tex-math id="M195">$$ n_{\mathrm{restart}} = 10 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> random restarts to mitigate local optima. The training targets are standardised (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M196">$$ y \leftarrow (y - \bar{y})/s_y $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) before fitting to improve numerical conditioning. Predictions are back-transformed to the original scale.</p>

<p>Training results. The model is trained on <inline-formula><tex-math id="M197">$$ n = 80 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> LHS design points. After optimisation, the maximised log marginal likelihood is <inline-formula><tex-math id="M198">$$ \log p(\mathbf{y} \mid \mathbf{X}, \hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}}) = -38.92 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, and the optimised kernel is <inline-formula><tex-math id="M199">$$ k = 0.773^2 \times \mathrm{RBF}(\ell_S = 2.176, \; \ell_F = 0.132) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The length-scale ratio <inline-formula><tex-math id="M200">$$ \ell_S / \ell_F \approx 16.5 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> confirms that the performance surface varies much more rapidly along the weather axis (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M201">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>), requiring only <inline-formula><tex-math id="M202">$$ \ell_F = 0.132 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> units to capture its steep gradient, whereas a comparatively gentle <inline-formula><tex-math id="M203">$$ \ell_S = 2.176 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> suffices for the structural axis (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M204">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>). The training data spans a response range of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M205">$$ [1,403.6, \, 1,980.8] $$</tex-math></inline-formula> completed orders with mean <inline-formula><tex-math id="M206">$$ \bar{y} = 1633.2 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and standard deviation <inline-formula><tex-math id="M207">$$ s_y = 153.4 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>.</p>

<p>Computational efficiency. A direct Monte Carlo evaluation of the failure probability field at a resolution of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M208">$$ 50 \times 50 = 2{, }500 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> grid points with 5 replications per point would require 12,500 simulation runs (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M209">$$ {\approx}86 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> h). The Kriging approach requires only 400 training runs (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M210">$$ {\approx}3.4 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> h), after which the 2,500-point prediction takes less than one second—a speed-up of approximately 25-fold.</p>

<p>Resilience surrogate (Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M211">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula>). The performance surrogate described above (hereafter Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M212">$$ _Q $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) predicts <inline-formula><tex-math id="M213">$$ Q(T) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and is used for failure probability estimation, Sobol sensitivity analysis, and critical failure boundary identification. To capture the degradation and recovery dynamics reflected in the resilience index <inline-formula><tex-math id="M214">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> in Eq. (13), we train a second surrogate—Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M215">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula>—using training labels derived from the full throughput rate trajectory <inline-formula><tex-math id="M216">$$ q(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>.</p>

<p>For each of the 80 LHS training scenarios, the full time-series outputs (throughput buckets, completed orders, and backlog over the 1,000 s horizon) were saved during Phase 2 simulation runs. From these trajectories, the resilience triangle index <inline-formula><tex-math id="M217">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is computed via Eqs. (11)–(13) using the disturbance window <inline-formula><tex-math id="M218">$$ [200, 600] $$</tex-math></inline-formula> s and the nominal throughput rate <inline-formula><tex-math id="M219">$$ q_{\mathrm{nom}}(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> estimated from the pre-disturbance period. The mean <inline-formula><tex-math id="M220">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> over 5 replications serves as the training label, yielding 80 <inline-formula><tex-math id="M221">$$ (S, F, \bar{R}) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> training triplets without additional simulation cost.</p>

<p>A Gaussian process with an RBF–ARD kernel (identical in form to Eq. (18)) is fitted to these data. The optimised kernel is</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(20)</label> <tex-math id="E20"> $$  k_R(\boldsymbol{\omega}, \boldsymbol{\omega}') = 0.731^2 \times \mathrm{RBF}\!\left(\ell_S = 5.65, \; \ell_F = 0.051\right).  $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>Key training statistics: <inline-formula><tex-math id="M222">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> range <inline-formula><tex-math id="M223">$$ [0.540, 0.874] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, mean <inline-formula><tex-math id="M224">$$ = 0.668 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, std <inline-formula><tex-math id="M225">$$ = 0.090 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The length-scale ratio <inline-formula><tex-math id="M226">$$ \ell_S / \ell_F \approx 111 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> indicates that weather intensity <inline-formula><tex-math id="M227">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> drives far more rapid resilience degradation than structural disturbance <inline-formula><tex-math id="M228">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, consistent with the Sobol analysis from Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M229">$$ _Q $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The much shorter <inline-formula><tex-math id="M230">$$ \ell_F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> in Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M231">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (0.051 <italic>vs</italic>. 0.132 in Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M232">$$ _Q $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) reflects the additional sensitivity introduced by the integral formulation. Because <inline-formula><tex-math id="M233">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> accumulates performance loss over the entire disturbance window, sustained speed reduction has a magnified effect compared with the endpoint metric <inline-formula><tex-math id="M234">$$ Q(T) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>.</p>

</sec>


<sec id="s3-4">
<title>3.4 Model validation and uncertainty quantification</title>
<p>For each test point <inline-formula><tex-math id="M235">$$ \boldsymbol{\omega}^{*} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, the Kriging model returns a mean prediction <inline-formula><tex-math id="M236">$$ \hat{\mu}(\boldsymbol{\omega}^{*}) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and a predictive standard deviation <inline-formula><tex-math id="M237">$$ \hat{\sigma}(\boldsymbol{\omega}^{*}) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. This built-in uncertainty quantification is a well-established advantage of Gaussian process models over deterministic surrogates<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b26">26</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b31">31</xref>]</sup>.</p>

<p>The failure probability at a given parameter combination is computed by integrating over the predictive distribution:</p>

<p><disp-formula> <label>(21)</label> <tex-math id="E21"> $$  P_f(\boldsymbol{\omega}^{*}) = \Phi\!\left( \frac{Q_{\mathrm{th}} - \hat{\mu}(\boldsymbol{\omega}^{*})}{\hat{\sigma}(\boldsymbol{\omega}^{*})} \right), $$ </tex-math></disp-formula></p>

<p>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M238">$$ \Phi(\cdot) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the standard normal CDF. This formulation, known as the U-learning function in active-learning reliability analysis<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b25">25</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b27">27</xref>]</sup>, naturally accounts for both the predicted mean and the prediction uncertainty, providing a more conservative risk estimate than a deterministic threshold comparison.</p>

<p>To assess model credibility, we examine the predictive standard deviation across all 10,000 test points. <xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure4">Figure 4</xref> plots each test point's predicted performance (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M239">$$ \hat{\mu} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) against its prediction standard deviation (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M240">$$ \hat{\sigma} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>), with the failure threshold <inline-formula><tex-math id="M241">$$ Q_{\mathrm{th}} = 1,760 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> shown as a vertical dashed line. The results show that the predicted performance spans [1,392.5, 1,995.1] completed orders with a global mean of 1,638.6. The prediction confidence is classified into three tiers:</p>

<fig id="Figure4">
<label>Figure 4</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Kriging model uncertainty analysis based on 10,000 test scenarios. (A) Predicted performance <inline-formula><tex-math id="M243">$$ \hat{\mu} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> <italic>vs</italic>. predictive standard deviation <inline-formula><tex-math id="M244">$$ \hat{\sigma} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. (B) Performance distribution of test predictions (blue) and 80 training samples (green). The red dashed line marks the failure threshold <inline-formula><tex-math id="M245">$$ Q_{\mathrm{th}} = 1,760 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>.</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.4.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
<p>&#9679; High confidence (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M246">$$ \hat{\sigma} &#60; 40 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): approximately 85% of predictions, located near training samples.</p>

<p>&#9679; Moderate confidence (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M247">$$ 40 \leq \hat{\sigma} &#60; 60 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): approximately 13%, in sparser regions of the design.</p>

<p>&#9679; Low confidence (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M248">$$ \hat{\sigma} \geq 60 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): approximately 2%, in extreme extrapolation regions.</p>

<p>With 85% of predictions falling in the high-confidence tier and 98% in the high-or-moderate tier, the 80-point LHS design provides reasonable coverage of the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M249">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> parameter space for mapping global risk trends. However, the remaining 2% of low-confidence points—concentrated near parameter extremes—warrant caution when interpreting predictions in those regions. Targeted infill sampling (e.g., via active learning) could improve local accuracy if higher fidelity is required.</p>

<p>The model is further validated through a multi-threshold reliability analysis [<xref ref-type="table" rid="Table4">Table 4</xref>]. For each threshold level <inline-formula><tex-math id="M250">$$ Q_{\mathrm{th}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, two independent failure probability estimates are computed: (ⅰ) a probabilistic estimate obtained by averaging <inline-formula><tex-math id="M251">$$ P_f(\boldsymbol{\omega}^{*}) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> from Eq. (21) over all 10,000 test points, and (ⅱ) a deterministic estimate computed as the fraction of test points whose mean prediction <inline-formula><tex-math id="M252">$$ \hat{\mu} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> falls below <inline-formula><tex-math id="M253">$$ Q_{\mathrm{th}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The two estimates agree to within 0.5% across all threshold levels, confirming the internal consistency of the Kriging predictions and indicating that predictive uncertainty does not materially bias the failure probability estimates.</p>

<table-wrap id="Table4">
<label>Table 4</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Multi-threshold reliability analysis results</p>
</caption>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Threshold level</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold><inline-formula><tex-math id="M254">$$ Q_{\mathrm{th}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula></bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="center"><bold><inline-formula><tex-math id="M255">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (probabilistic)</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="center"><bold><inline-formula><tex-math id="M256">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (deterministic)</bold></td>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">90% of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M257">$$ Q_0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">1980</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="center">0.989</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="center">0.993</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">80% of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M258">$$ Q_0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="left">1760</td>
<td align="center">0.777</td>
<td align="center">0.782</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">70% of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M259">$$ Q_0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="left">1540</td>
<td align="center">0.288</td>
<td align="center">0.286</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">50% of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M260">$$ Q_0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">1100</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="center"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M261">$$ {\approx}0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="center">0.000</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

</table-wrap>
</sec>

</sec>


<sec id="s4">
<title>4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION</title>

<sec id="s4-1">
<title>4.1 Single-disturbance degradation analysis</title>
<p>Each disturbance type is applied in isolation, while the remaining two are held at nominal values. For every disturbance, 10 intensity levels are evaluated with 15 replications per level, yielding 150 simulation runs per type. The results are summarised in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure5">Figure 5</xref>.</p>

<fig id="Figure5">
<label>Figure 5</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Single-disturbance degradation analysis. Each subfigure contains two vertically stacked panels: the upper panel shows the failure probability <inline-formula><tex-math id="M262">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and the lower panel shows the resilience index <inline-formula><tex-math id="M263">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (both reported as mean <inline-formula><tex-math id="M264">$$ \pm $$</tex-math></inline-formula> standard deviation across 15 replications). The grey dashed line in the lower panel marks <inline-formula><tex-math id="M265">$$ R = 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> as a reference. (A) Structural disturbance (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M266">$$ S \in [10, 60] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): <inline-formula><tex-math id="M267">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> rises sharply between <inline-formula><tex-math id="M268">$$ S = 20 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M269">$$ S = 35 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> before saturating near 0.43; <inline-formula><tex-math id="M270">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> decreases near-linearly from 0.97 to 0.59. (B) Functional disturbance (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M271">$$ F \in [0.1, 0.8] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): <inline-formula><tex-math id="M272">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> exhibits an S-shaped increase; <inline-formula><tex-math id="M273">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> crosses the 0.8 reference near <inline-formula><tex-math id="M274">$$ F \approx 0.5 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. (C) Informational disturbance (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M275">$$ D \in [1, 37.5] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): <inline-formula><tex-math id="M276">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> remains below 0.20 and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M277">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> stays above 0.89 throughout, confirming its limited impact.</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.5.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
<p>Structural disturbance. The structural disturbance exhibits a predominantly linear degradation pattern. The resilience index decreases steadily from <inline-formula><tex-math id="M278">$$ R = 0.970 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> at <inline-formula><tex-math id="M279">$$ S = 10 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><tex-math id="M280">$$ R = 0.585 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> at <inline-formula><tex-math id="M281">$$ S = 60 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, a total resilience loss of approximately 38.5%. Failure probability rises sharply between <inline-formula><tex-math id="M282">$$ S = 21 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M283">$$ S = 27 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (from <inline-formula><tex-math id="M284">$$ P_f = 0.15 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><tex-math id="M285">$$ P_f = 0.30 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>), then saturates near <inline-formula><tex-math id="M286">$$ P_f \approx 0.43 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> for <inline-formula><tex-math id="M287">$$ S &#62; 38 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The linear behaviour can be attributed to the Voronoi network's multiple alternative routes; as the NFZ grows, more edges are blocked, and detour lengths increase proportionally.</p>

<p>Functional disturbance. In contrast, the functional disturbance produces a markedly nonlinear, convex degradation curve. As <inline-formula><tex-math id="M288">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> increases from 0.1 (mild weather) towards 0.8 (severe weather), performance degrades in three distinct phases:</p>

<p>&#9679; A mild-impact zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M289">$$ F &#60; 0.3 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): the resilience remains above <inline-formula><tex-math id="M290">$$ R = 0.91 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, and the fleet absorbs the speed reduction with minimal throughput loss.</p>

<p>&#9679; A transition zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M291">$$ F \approx 0.4 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): the resilience drops from <inline-formula><tex-math id="M292">$$ R = 0.87 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><tex-math id="M293">$$ R = 0.79 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, and failure probability rises sharply from <inline-formula><tex-math id="M294">$$ P_f = 0.30 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><tex-math id="M295">$$ P_f = 0.41 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>.</p>

<p>&#9679; A severe-impact zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M296">$$ F &#62; 0.6 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): the degradation curve steepens. At <inline-formula><tex-math id="M297">$$ F = 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, the resilience index falls to <inline-formula><tex-math id="M298">$$ R = 0.618 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (a 38.2% loss).</p>

<p>This nonlinearity arises because flight speed reductions simultaneously increase delivery time per order and delay UAV re-availability, creating a compounding throughput loss. Among the three disturbance types, weather degradation produces the steepest gradient in resilience loss per unit change in its parameter.</p>

<p>Informational disturbance. The informational disturbance exhibits a mildly nonlinear pattern with relatively low sensitivity. The resilience index remains above <inline-formula><tex-math id="M299">$$ R = 0.95 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> for <inline-formula><tex-math id="M300">$$ D &#60; 25 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. Beyond <inline-formula><tex-math id="M301">$$ D = 30 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, degradation accelerates slightly, but the maximum resilience loss at <inline-formula><tex-math id="M302">$$ D = 37.5 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is only 10.8% (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M303">$$ R = 0.892 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>). The fleet of 80 UAVs provides sufficient capacity to absorb moderate decision latency.</p>

<p>Comparative summary. As summarised in <xref ref-type="table" rid="Table5">Table 5</xref>, these findings motivate two modelling decisions for Phase 2: (1) the delay parameter <inline-formula><tex-math id="M304">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is excluded from the Kriging surrogate to reduce input dimensionality from three to two, improving surrogate accuracy with the same training budget, and (2) the remaining two parameters <inline-formula><tex-math id="M305">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> warrant joint multi-disturbance analysis.</p>

<table-wrap id="Table5">
<label>Table 5</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Comparative summary of single-disturbance degradation analysis</p>
</caption>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Type</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Degradation mode</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Sensitivity</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Critical point</bold></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border" align="left"><bold>Max. loss</bold></td>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">Structural (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M306">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>)</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">Linear</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left">Moderate</td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M307">$$ S \approx 27 $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td style="class:table_top_border2" align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M308">$$ \sim 38\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Functional (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M309">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>)</td>
<td align="left">Nonlinear (convex)</td>
<td align="left">Highest</td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M310">$$ F \approx 0.4 $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M311">$$ \sim 38\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">Informational (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M312">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula>)</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">Mildly nonlinear</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left">Lowest</td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M313">$$ D \approx 30 $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
<td style="class:table_bottom_border" align="left"><inline-formula><tex-math id="M314">$$ \sim 11\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

</table-wrap>
<p>Conditional interaction analysis for the informational disturbance. To verify that the low marginal sensitivity of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M315">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula> observed in Phase 1 (where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M316">$$ S = 0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M317">$$ F = 0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) is not an artefact of the benign background conditions, we conduct a conditional interaction analysis. Two background scenarios are fixed—mild (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M318">$$ S = 20 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M319">$$ F = 0.2 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) and severe (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M320">$$ S = 45 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M321">$$ F = 0.6 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>)—while <inline-formula><tex-math id="M322">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is swept from 1 to 40 across 10 levels with 15 replications each (300 additional runs). The results [<xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure6">Figure 6</xref>] show limited marginal throughput degradation under both conditions: <inline-formula><tex-math id="M323">$$ -2.5\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula> under the mild background and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M324">$$ -3.2\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula> under the severe background. The magnitude of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M325">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula>'s effect does not increase when <inline-formula><tex-math id="M326">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M327">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> are large, indicating an additive rather than synergistic interaction. Under severe structural–weather disturbances, throughput is already constrained by physical factors (blocked routes, reduced speed), so slower decision-making has a bounded marginal impact.</p>

<fig id="Figure6">
<label>Figure 6</label>
<caption>
<p>Conditional interaction analysis: throughput degradation as a function of communication delay <inline-formula><tex-math id="M328">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula> under (A) mild (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M329">$$ S = 20 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M330">$$ F = 0.2 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) and (B) severe (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M331">$$ S = 45 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M332">$$ F = 0.6 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) backgrounds. Error bars indicate mean ± standard deviation across 15 replications.</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.6.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
<p>These results confirm that the cross-interaction effect of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M334">$$ D $$</tex-math></inline-formula> with the other two parameters is small. They further justify concentrating the surrogate modelling effort on the structural–functional disturbance combination <inline-formula><tex-math id="M335">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, whose joint impact on performance and resilience is substantially larger.</p>

</sec>


<sec id="s4-2">
<title>4.2 Multi-disturbance analysis</title>
<p>The trained Kriging surrogates are used to explore the two-dimensional disturbance space <inline-formula><tex-math id="M336">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> comprehensively. The performance surrogate Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M337">$$ _Q $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (predicting endpoint cumulative orders <inline-formula><tex-math id="M338">$$ Q(T) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) supports global sensitivity analysis via Sobol indices (Section 4.2.1), failure probability field mapping (Section 4.2.2), and critical failure boundary identification (Section 4.2.3). The resilience surrogate Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M339">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (predicting the integral resilience triangle index <inline-formula><tex-math id="M340">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) is used to construct the resilience surface characterisation (Section 4.2.4).</p>
<sec id="s4-2-1">
<title>4.2.1 Global sensitivity analysis via Sobol indices</title>
<p>A variance-based Sobol sensitivity analysis is conducted using 10,000 uniformly sampled scenarios predicted by the Kriging model. The total output variance is <inline-formula><tex-math id="M341">$$ \sigma^2_Y = 21{, }206.2 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The first-order Sobol indices are:</p>

<p>&#9679; Structural parameter <inline-formula><tex-math id="M342">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>: <inline-formula><tex-math id="M343">$$ S_S = 0.524 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (52.4% of total variance).</p>

<p>&#9679; Weather parameter <inline-formula><tex-math id="M344">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>: <inline-formula><tex-math id="M345">$$ S_F = 0.476 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (47.6% of total variance).</p>

<p>The near-parity between the two indices is shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure7">Figure 7</xref>. Although the single-disturbance analysis identified weather as the most sensitive factor per unit change, the structural parameter's broader range (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M346">$$ [15, 55] $$</tex-math></inline-formula> <italic>vs</italic>. <inline-formula><tex-math id="M347">$$ [0.1, 0.8] $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) compensates for its lower per-unit sensitivity, making it slightly more influential in the joint space. Neither parameter can be neglected without underestimating systemic risk.</p>

<fig id="Figure7">
<label>Figure 7</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>First-order Sobol sensitivity indices. The structural parameter <inline-formula><tex-math id="M348">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula> contributes 52.4% and the weather parameter <inline-formula><tex-math id="M349">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> contributes 47.6% to the total output variance (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M350">$$ \sigma^2_Y = 21{, }206.2 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>).</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.7.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
</sec>


<sec id="s4-2-2">
<title>4.2.2 Failure probability field mapping</title>
<p>Using Eq. (21), the failure probability <inline-formula><tex-math id="M351">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is computed on a <inline-formula><tex-math id="M352">$$ 50\; \times\; 50 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> grid. The field shows a monotonic risk gradient from the lower-left corner (low <inline-formula><tex-math id="M353">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, low <inline-formula><tex-math id="M354">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>: mild conditions) to the upper-right corner (high <inline-formula><tex-math id="M355">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, high <inline-formula><tex-math id="M356">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>: severe conditions). Three risk zones are identified:</p>

<p>&#9679; Very high risk zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M357">$$ P_f &#62; 0.9 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): covers <inline-formula><tex-math id="M358">$$ \sim 72\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula> of the parameter space, where (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M359">$$ S &#62; 35 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) or (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M360">$$ F &#62; 0.5 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>).</p>

<p>&#9679; Transition zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M361">$$ 0.1 &#60; P_f \leq 0.9 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): covers only <inline-formula><tex-math id="M362">$$ \sim 13.4\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, the narrow transition band between the safe zone and the very-high-risk zone.</p>

<p>&#9679; Safe zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M363">$$ P_f \leq 0.1 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): covers <inline-formula><tex-math id="M364">$$ \sim 14.6\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M365">$$ S &#60; 35 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M366">$$ F &#60; 0.3 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>.</p>

<p>The safe zone covers only about 14.6% of the parameter space [<xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure8">Figure 8</xref>], indicating high vulnerability to combined disturbances across a wide range of operating conditions.</p>

<fig id="Figure8">
<label>Figure 8</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Failure probability field <inline-formula><tex-math id="M367">$$ P_f(S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> over the two-dimensional disturbance parameter space. The colour scale ranges from deep green (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M368">$$ P_f \leq 0.1 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, safe) to deep red (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M369">$$ P_f &#62; 0.9 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, very high risk). The <italic>x</italic>-axis represents the structural disturbance intensity <italic>S</italic> and the <italic>y</italic>-axis represents the weather disturbance intensity <italic>F</italic> (higher <italic>F</italic> = more severe weather). The black dashed lines are iso-probability contours at <inline-formula><tex-math id="M367">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7.</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.8.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
<p>Among the 10,000 sampled test scenarios, the lowest predicted performance occurs at <inline-formula><tex-math id="M376">$$ (S = 52.5, F = 0.696) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> with <inline-formula><tex-math id="M377">$$ \hat{Q} = 1,392.5 \pm 28.9 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> orders (36.7% degradation). The highest performance is found at <inline-formula><tex-math id="M378">$$ (S = 17.4, F = 0.183) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> with <inline-formula><tex-math id="M379">$$ \hat{Q} = 1,995.1 \pm 18.0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> orders (9.3% degradation).</p>

<p>The theoretical worst case corresponds to the parameter-space boundary <inline-formula><tex-math id="M380">$$ (S = 55, F = 0.8) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where the maximum structural disruption is combined with the most severe weather. The observed worst-case sample <inline-formula><tex-math id="M381">$$ (52.5, 0.696) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> lies close to this boundary, and the failure probability field [<xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure8">Figure 8</xref>] confirms that <inline-formula><tex-math id="M382">$$ P_f $$</tex-math></inline-formula> approaches 1.0 in this extreme region. The prediction uncertainty in the worst-case region (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M383">$$ \hat{\sigma} \approx 28.9 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) is moderately higher than in the best-case region (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M384">$$ \hat{\sigma} \approx 18.0 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>), reflecting both greater output variability under severely degraded conditions and sparser training-sample coverage near parameter extremes.</p>

</sec>


<sec id="s4-2-3">
<title>4.2.3 Critical failure boundary identification</title>
<p>The critical failure boundary is the locus of parameter combinations satisfying <inline-formula><tex-math id="M385">$$ |\hat{Q} - Q_{\mathrm{th}}| &#60; 0.05 \cdot Q_{\mathrm{th}} $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (i.e, . <inline-formula><tex-math id="M386">$$ 1,672 &#60; \hat{Q} &#60; 1,848 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>). The boundary consists of approximately 1,348 parameter combinations and traces a diagonal band from the lower-left (safe region: low <inline-formula><tex-math id="M387">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, low <inline-formula><tex-math id="M388">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) to the upper-right (failure region: high <inline-formula><tex-math id="M389">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, high <inline-formula><tex-math id="M390">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>), as shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure9">Figure 9</xref>.</p>

<fig id="Figure9">
<label>Figure 9</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Critical failure boundary in the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M391">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> parameter space. Each dot represents a disturbance scenario whose predicted performance lies within 5% of the failure threshold (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M392">$$ 1,672 &#60; \hat{Q} &#60; 1,848 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>); colour indicates the local failure probability (blue = safe, red = dangerous). The diagonal boundary band separates the safe region (lower-left: low <inline-formula><tex-math id="M393">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, low <inline-formula><tex-math id="M394">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) from the failure region (upper-right: high <inline-formula><tex-math id="M395">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, high <inline-formula><tex-math id="M396">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) and spans approximately 27% of the parameter space, reflecting prediction uncertainty.</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.9.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
<p>Three operationally relevant insights emerge:</p>

<p>1. Asymmetric recovery effectiveness. Reducing weather severity (decreasing <inline-formula><tex-math id="M397">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula>) yields a larger safety margin than reducing structural disruption (decreasing <inline-formula><tex-math id="M398">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>). Investing in weather-adaptive UAV capabilities may be more cost-effective than strategies focused solely on NFZ avoidance.</p>

<p>2. Early warning. The boundary band thickness (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M399">$$ \sim 27\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula> of the parameter space) provides a natural basis for an early-warning system: preliminary alert near the outer edge, elevated warning in the interior, and emergency activation upon crossing to the dangerous side.</p>

<p>3. Real-time safety distance. The current disturbance state <inline-formula><tex-math id="M400">$$ (S_{\mathrm{now}}, F_{\mathrm{now}}) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> can be compared against the boundary to compute a continuously updated safety distance metric for traffic managers.</p>

</sec>


<sec id="s4-2-4">
<title>4.2.4 Resilience surface characterisation</title>
<p>The preceding three analyses (Sobol indices, failure probability field, and critical boundary) are all based on the performance surrogate Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M401">$$ _Q $$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The resilience surface is instead constructed using the dedicated resilience surrogate Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M402">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> (Section 3.3), which directly predicts the resilience triangle index <inline-formula><tex-math id="M403">$$ R(\boldsymbol{\omega}) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> in Eq. (13), computed from the complete throughput rate trajectory <inline-formula><tex-math id="M404">$$ q(t) $$</tex-math></inline-formula>.</p>

<p>The Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M405">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> predictions are evaluated on a <inline-formula><tex-math id="M406">$$ 50\; \times\; 50 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> grid over the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M407">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> parameter space. The disturbance space is partitioned into three resilience zones [<xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure10">Figure 10</xref>]:</p>

<fig id="Figure10">
<label>Figure 10</label>
<caption style="columns:2;">
<p>Resilience surface predicted by Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M408">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> over the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M409">$$ (S, F) $$</tex-math></inline-formula> disturbance parameter space. The colour scale represents the resilience triangle index <inline-formula><tex-math id="M410">$$ R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> in Eq. (13). Three zones are delineated: high-resilience (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M411">$$ R \geq 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, 10.9%), medium-resilience (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M412">$$ 0.6 \leq R &#60; 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, 62.8%), and low-resilience (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M413">$$ R &#60; 0.6 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, 26.4%). The contour lines mark <inline-formula><tex-math id="M414">$$ R = 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M415">$$ R = 0.6 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>.</p>
</caption>
<graphic xlink:href="ces6010.fig.10.jpg"></graphic>
</fig>
<p>&#9679; High-resilience zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M416">$$ R \geq 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): concentrated in the low-<inline-formula><tex-math id="M417">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, low-<inline-formula><tex-math id="M418">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> corner, occupying 10.9% of the parameter space. In this region, the network absorbs disturbances with limited performance degradation.</p>

<p>&#9679; Medium-resilience zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M419">$$ 0.6 \leq R &#60; 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): covering the broad transitional region, accounting for 62.8%. Performance is noticeably degraded, but the system maintains partial functionality.</p>

<p>&#9679; Low-resilience zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M420">$$ R &#60; 0.6 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>): located in the high-<inline-formula><tex-math id="M421">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, high-<inline-formula><tex-math id="M422">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> region where structural and weather disturbances superimpose, covering 26.4%. The network suffers severe throughput loss with slow or incomplete recovery.</p>

<p>The <inline-formula><tex-math id="M423">$$ R = 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M424">$$ R = 0.6 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> contour lines delineate the boundaries between these zones. The surface is strongly anisotropic: the gradient along <inline-formula><tex-math id="M425">$$ F $$</tex-math></inline-formula> is substantially steeper than along <inline-formula><tex-math id="M426">$$ S $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, consistent with the Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M427">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> length-scale ratio <inline-formula><tex-math id="M428">$$ \ell_S / \ell_F \approx 111 $$</tex-math></inline-formula> in Eq. (20). The diagonal alignment of the medium-resilience zone indicates that the two disturbance types interact approximately additively.</p>

<p>Together with the failure probability field and critical boundary, the resilience surface [<xref ref-type="fig" rid="Figure10">Figure 10</xref>] completes a comprehensive risk landscape that can inform both strategic planning (fleet sizing, network design) and tactical decision-making (dynamic dispatching, re-routing protocols).</p>

</sec>

</sec>

</sec>


<sec id="s5">
<title>5. CONCLUSIONS</title>
<p>This paper has proposed a Kriging-based resilience assessment framework for low-altitude UAV logistics networks subject to multiple operational disturbances. A discrete-event simulation environment was developed, integrating Voronoi-based airspace topology, A* path planning, and dynamic dispatching with re-planning. Three disturbance types—structural (no-fly zones), functional (weather degradation), and informational (communication delay)—were modelled and evaluated both individually and jointly. The principal findings are as follows:</p>

<p>1. Weather degradation is the most sensitive individual factor per unit change (critical transition at <inline-formula><tex-math id="M429">$$ F \approx 0.4 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, maximum resilience loss <inline-formula><tex-math id="M430">$$ \sim 38\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula>), closely followed by structural disruption (linear degradation, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M431">$$ \sim 38\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula> loss). Informational delay has a limited impact (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M432">$$ \sim 11\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula> loss).</p>

<p>2. A Kriging surrogate trained on 80 LHS samples achieves a 25-fold speed-up over direct Monte Carlo simulation, with 85% of predictions in the high-confidence region (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M433">$$ \hat{\sigma} &#60; 40 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>).</p>

<p>3. Sobol global sensitivity analysis shows that the structural and weather parameters contribute 52.4% and 47.6% to total performance variance, respectively, indicating comparable influence on network degradation.</p>

<p>4. Only <inline-formula><tex-math id="M434">$$ \sim 14.6\% $$</tex-math></inline-formula> of the parameter space qualifies as a safe operating zone (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M435">$$ P_f \leq 0.1 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>), and the critical failure boundary traces a diagonal band that provides a quantitative basis for early-warning systems and real-time safety distance calculations.</p>

<p>5. The resilience surface constructed from the dedicated Kriging<inline-formula><tex-math id="M436">$$ _R $$</tex-math></inline-formula> surrogate partitions the disturbance space into three zones: high-resilience (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M437">$$ R \geq 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, 10.9%), medium-resilience (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M438">$$ 0.6 \leq R &#60; 0.8 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, 62.8%), and low-resilience (<inline-formula><tex-math id="M439">$$ R &#60; 0.6 $$</tex-math></inline-formula>, 26.4%). The medium- and low-resilience zones together account for 89.1% of the parameter space, indicating that the network is vulnerable over a wide range of combined disturbances.</p>

<p>Several limitations suggest directions for future work. The disturbance model assumes spatially uniform, step-switched profiles, and future work could introduce stochastic spatio-temporal fields (e.g., Gaussian weather models, Karhunen–Lo&#232;ve representations) for greater realism. The resilience assessment also relies on a deterministic disturbance window and would benefit from stochastic durations and recovery profiles. Moreover, the greedy dispatching policy should be benchmarked against anticipatory and DRL-based schedulers<sup>[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b19">19</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b21">21</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b22">22</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b24">24</xref>]</sup> within the same disturbance space. Finally, validation with real UAV delivery trial data is needed to calibrate the simulation and disturbance distributions for specific deployment contexts.</p>
</sec>
</body>
<back>
<sec>
<title>DECLARATIONS</title>
<sec>
<title>Authors' contributions</title>
<p>Methodology, writing - original draft, investigation, conceptualisation: Yao, A.</p>
<p>Investigation, visualisation: Song, X.; Li, S.; Feng, K.</p>
<p>Writing - reviewing, supervision: Li, H.; Zhou, H.</p>
</sec>

<sec>
<title>Availability of data and materials</title>
<p>The authors generated all data and materials used in the research as an integral part of the study, with explicit details provided in the methodology section of the manuscript. These are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.</p>
</sec>

<sec>
<title>AI and AI-assisted tools statement</title>
<p>Not applicable.</p>
</sec>


<sec>
<title>Financial support and sponsorship</title>
<p>This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFB4302901) and the Civil Aviation Safety Capacity Building Project of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (HA202511).</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Conflicts of interest</title>
<p>All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Ethical approval and consent to participate</title>
<p>Not applicable.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Consent for publication</title>
<p>Not applicable.</p>
</sec>
      <sec>
        <title>Copyright</title>
        <p>© The Author(s) 2026.</p>
      </sec>
    </sec>
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