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Report

Boston Delivers: Cargo Bike Pilot Evaluation

 
Download PDF  (0.93 MB)
Publication Date: 2025
Summary:

Boston Delivers is a pilot project that promoted sustainable methods of making neighborhood deliveries for local businesses in Allston, Brighton, and the surrounding area. Instead of motor vehicles, packages were delivered by electric cargo bikes. The Boston Transportation Department (BTD) partnered with Net Zero Logistics (Net Zero) to carry out this delivery service. Net Zero Logistics provided electric cargo bikes, made deliveries, and coordinated delivery logistics. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) funded the pilot through their Accelerating Clean Transportation for All (ACT4All) Program. The pilot intended to test the policy implications of using right-sized delivery vehicles in urban environments, generate societal co-benefits from an efficient and sustainable mode for goods movement, and share learnings with a broad audience.

The city outlined four core goals as follows:

  • Support Local Businesses,
  • Reduce Urban Congestion,
  • Improve Street Safety, and
  • Reduce Pollution

Furthermore, the city created five learning objectives for the pilot program, as follows:

  1. Identify the policies, programs, and regulations that need to change to allow for e-
    cargo bike delivery in the City of Boston;
  2. Test infrastructure changes needed to accommodate e-cargo bike delivery, including
    but not limited to e-cargo bike delivery zones, staging and sorting areas, parcel lockers,
    and other last-mile logistical needs;
  3. Measure the benefits of e-cargo bike delivery, including its impact on
    environmental, safety, and economic metrics;
  4. Understand the costs and feasibility of e-cargo bike delivery for different types of
    businesses;
  5. Share findings on e-cargo bike delivery and communicate to delivery service providers
    that the City of Boston is ready for e-cargo bikes to be used on a larger scale.

The 18-month pilot began in September 2023 and concluded in February 2025. The Boston
team successfully recruited a logistics partner (Net Zero), onboarded and launched a new
delivery service, and completed thousands of deliveries on behalf of underserved populations during the pilot period. Net Zero and BTD worked with four different clients who utilized the service:

  • a private “meals on wheels” service provider (City Fresh Foods),
  • a local restaurant (OliToki),
  • a local non-profit (Allston Brighton Health Collaborative), and
  • a catering service that fulfilled group food orders for corporate offices.

Between September 2023 and January 2025, 18,375 deliveries were made (approximately
20,000 units) with an estimated total of 5,881 cargo bicycle miles traveled and an estimated
savings of 2,352.5 – 3,193.5 of kg CO2e (carbon emissions) avoided. By replacing larger vehicle trips, these outcomes directly contributed to the City’s goals of reducing neighborhood congestion and the chances for serious crashes, improving air quality through less tailpipe pollution, and showcasing new delivery methods that could benefit local businesses.

The pilot demonstrated that e-bike deliveries could be a feasible alternative to cars for specific delivery scenarios. Critically, Boston created a strong pilot framework that referenced big picture agency goals but focused on measurable pilot learning objectives. This approach allowed for a flexible and adaptive approach during pilot design and implementation, which made the pilot all the more successful. With an adaptive approach, the city was able to uncover important key learnings for future pilots.

While the critical elements of the pilot were achieved (launching a cargo bike operator,
performing thousands of deliveries, and focusing on an underserved neighborhood), key
learnings for future sustainable delivery programs from the pilot included:

  • Flexibility in pilot design and implementation is critical during the execution of any pilot program and especially when working in close partnership with multiple organizations and companies.
  • There is a need to coordinate and potentially partner with anchor clients or partners with significant volume ahead of launching a sustainable delivery program.
  • For pilots or programs that require space for staging, identifying location(s) for these
    activities, and ensuring they can be launched expediently and permitted in a timely
    manner, is critical for success.
  • When choosing a pilot geography, the use cases for e-bikes for last mile delivery should be evaluated in terms of existing neighborhood density, ease or lack thereof in making deliveries by large van or truck, and whether the neighborhood already has significant numbers of bike deliveries and a robust cycling culture.
  • Organizers should understand the economics of programs that involve multiple non-
    governmental and private sector organizations, including the significant start up (capital) costs required, and the importance of achieving economies of scale in delivery volume to ensure long-term financial health of a program.
  • Broader citywide goals and policies around safety, congestion relief, and decarbonization can help center urban delivery goals in broader contexts (potentially allowing for additional funding, programmatic support, communication, better unit economics, etc.).

Overall, the goal of this pilot evaluation is to reflect on the City of Boston’s pilot experience and provide transparency about these learnings to a wide audience. We hope that the information below will provide real value for future City of Boston initiatives, delivery service providers and vendors, and cities nationwide as they continue to focus on ways to unlock greater efficiency in urban deliveries and realize a wide array of societal benefits.

Authors: Kelly RulaYu-Chen ChuDr. Giacomo Dalla ChiaraDr. Anne GoodchildArsalan Esmaili, Ben Rosenblatt, Harper Mills (Boston Transportation Department), Matthew Warfield (Boston Transportation Department)
Recommended Citation:
Rula, K., Rosenblatt, B., Mills, H., Chu, Y, Dalla Chiara, G., Warfield, M., Goodchild, A. (2025). Boston Delivers Cargo Bike Pilot Evaluation. Urban Freight Lab, University of Washington.

Boston Delivers Cargo Bike Pilot Evaluation

Background and Overview

Boston Delivers is a pilot project that promoted sustainable methods of making neighborhood deliveries for local businesses in Allston, Brighton, and the surrounding area. Instead of motor vehicles, packages were delivered by electric cargo bikes. The Boston Transportation Department (BTD) partnered with Net Zero Logistics (Net Zero) to carry out this delivery service. Net Zero Logistics provided electric cargo bikes, made deliveries, and coordinated delivery logistics. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) funded the pilot through their Accelerating Clean Transportation for All (ACT4All) Program. The pilot intended to test the policy implications of using right-sized delivery vehicles in urban environments, generate societal co-benefits from an efficient and sustainable mode for goods movement, and share learnings with a broad audience.

The city outlined four core goals as follows:

  1. Support Local Businesses,
  2. Reduce Urban Congestion,
  3. Improve Street Safety, and
  4. Reduce Pollution

Furthermore, the city created five learning objectives for the pilot program, as follows:

  1. Identify the policies, programs, and regulations that need to change to allow for ecargo bike delivery in the City of Boston;
  2. Test infrastructure changes needed to accommodate e-cargo bike delivery, including but not limited to e-cargo bike delivery zones, staging and sorting areas, parcel lockers, and other last-mile logistical needs;
  3. Measure the benefits of e-cargo bike delivery, including its impact on environmental, safety, and economic metrics;
  4. Understand the costs and feasibility of e-cargo bike delivery for different types of businesses;
  5. Share findings on e-cargo bike delivery and communicate to delivery service providers that the City of Boston is ready for e-cargo bikes to be used on a larger scale.

The 18-month pilot began in September 2023 and concluded in February 2025. The Boston team successfully recruited a logistics partner (Net Zero), onboarded and launched a new delivery service, and completed thousands of deliveries on behalf of underserved populations during the pilot period.

Between September 2023 and January 2025, 18,375 deliveries were made (approximately 20,000 units) with an estimated total of 5,881 cargo bicycle miles traveled and an estimated savings of 2,352.5 – 3,193.5 of kg CO2e (carbon emissions) avoided. By replacing larger vehicle trips, these outcomes directly contributed to the City’s goals of reducing neighborhood congestion and the chances for serious crashes, improving air quality through less tailpipe pollution, and showcasing new delivery methods that could benefit local businesses.

The pilot demonstrated that e-bike deliveries could be a feasible alternative to cars for specific delivery scenarios. Critically, Boston created a strong pilot framework that referenced big picture agency goals but focused on measurable pilot learning objectives. This approach allowed for a flexible and adaptive approach during pilot design and implementation, which made the pilot all the more successful. With an adaptive approach, the city was able to uncover important key learnings for future pilots.

While the critical elements of the pilot were achieved (launching a cargo bike operator, performing thousands of deliveries, and focusing on an underserved neighborhood), key learnings for future sustainable delivery programs from the pilot included:

  • Flexibility in pilot design and implementation is critical during the execution of any pilot program and especially when working in close partnership with multiple organizations and companies.
  • There is a need to coordinate and potentially partner with anchor clients or partners with significant volume ahead of launching a sustainable delivery program.
  • For pilots or programs that require space for staging, identifying location(s) for these activities, and ensuring they can be launched expediently and permitted in a timely manner, is critical for success.
  • When choosing a pilot geography, the use cases for e-bikes for last mile delivery should be evaluated in terms of existing neighborhood density, ease or lack thereof in making deliveries by large van or truck, and whether the neighborhood already has significant numbers of bike deliveries and a robust cycling culture.
  • Organizers should understand the economics of programs that involve multiple nongovernmental and private sector organizations, including the significant start up (capital) costs required, and the importance of achieving economies of scale in delivery volume to ensure long-term financial health of a program.
  • Broader citywide goals and policies around safety, congestion relief, and decarbonization can help center urban delivery goals in broader contexts (potentially allowing for additional funding, programmatic support, communication, better unit economics, etc.).

Overall, the goal of this pilot evaluation is to reflect on the City of Boston’s pilot experience and provide transparency about these learnings to a wide audience. We hope that the information below will provide real value for future City of Boston initiatives, delivery service providers and vendors, and cities nationwide as they continue to focus on ways to unlock greater efficiency in urban deliveries and realize a wide array of societal benefits.

Scope of Work

  1. Support design of pilot evaluation plan
    • Provide feedback on an evaluation approach/framework, metrics, methodology, and data collection strategies.
    • Deliverables: Written pilot evaluation plan, additional comments and participate in 1-2 meetings.
  2. Gather and perform data analysis
    • Depending on availability and quality of data obtained, data will be processed to compute operational performance metrics as defined in Task 1 (e.g total VMT, deliveries per hour, etc). The UFL will work with NetZero Logistics to obtain data on deliveries performed over the study period.
    • Incorporate available qualitative data. UFL to conduct interviews with NetZero Logistics and at least 3 participating businesses.
    • Deliverables: Analyze data collected by the City of Boston.
  3. Report write-up
    • UFL to summarize methodology and findings in report format in collaboration with Boston including key learnings, challenges, and future opportunities.
    • UFL to provide outline and final content, while Boston will collaborate on graphics and layout for the final deliverable.
    • Deliverables: Final report content including analysis with 1 major review cycle.
Paper

Does Proximity Matter in Shopping Behavior?

 
Download PDF  (6.27 MB)
Publication: Elsevier Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
Volume: 196
Publication Date: 2025
Summary:

While e-commerce continues to grow as a proportion of retail sales, consumers still largely rely on vehicle travel to shop. At the same time, the “15-minute city” concept is gaining traction, suggesting that the livability and sustainability of urban areas will improve if essential goods and services are all located in close proximity to residential areas. However, little is known about how the proximity of commercial establishments to consumers affects their shopping behaviors, namely their choice of whether to shop online or in-person, and the mode of travel if the latter is chosen.

In this study, we use data from a 2022 shopping behavior survey asking about consumers’ most recent shopping events, whether they were performed online or in-person, the travel mode. Respondents’ approximate home locations were also collected, allowing the research team to map nearby establishments. The collected data was used to estimate discrete choice models of shopping behaviors and test whether proximity to commercial establishments affects shoppers’ choices. In particular, this study tests whether proximity to commercial establishments makes consumers more likely to shop in person (vs. online) and to travel by walking (vs. driving).

Proximity to commercial establishments did not affect the likelihood of purchasing goods online, while it did affect the travel mode choice for in-person shopping travel for certain types of goods. Regression analysis indicates that each additional commercial establishment within a 0.5-mile radius increased the likelihood of walking by 23%for groceries and 17% for prepared meals. This did not apply to clothes shopping, which also had the highest rate of e-commerce at 62.4%. We observed that for in-person shopping, travel time was approximately 10 min for both walking and driving. In addition, we found that e-commerce made up 25.3% of all shopping activity and the majority (81%) of shopping travel involved driving.

Recommended Citation:
Verma, Rishi, Dalla Chiara, Giacomo, and Goodchild, Anne. (2025) ‘Does proximity matter in shopping behavior?’, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 196, p. 104471. doi:10.1016/j.tra.2025.104471.

Yu-Chen Chu

Yu-Chen Chu
Yu-Chen Chu
  • Research Assistant, Urban Freight Lab
  • Ph.D. Student, Urban Planning and Design, University of Washington

Yu-Chen’s research interests include last-mile delivery and freight equity.

  • APTF Board Scholarship, American Public Transportation Foundation (APTF), Aug 2024
  • 2024 Dekema Scholarship, California Transportation Scholarship, Aug 2024
  • Lewis Center Capstone Fellowship, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, Dec 2023
  • James A. Ditch Education Fund Scholarship, California Transit Training Consortium (CTTC), Nov 2023
  • Vanessa Dingley Fellowship, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, UCLA, Sep 2023
  • Berg & Associates Scholarship, Women’s Transportation Seminar – Los Angeles (WTS – LA), Sep 2023
  • American Disability Association Scholarship, APTF, Aug 2023
  • Systra Scholarship, Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO), Jul 2023
  • Ph.D., Urban Planning and Design, University of Washington (in progress)
  • MURP., Urban and Regional Planning, University of California, Los Angeles
  • B.S. in Agriculture, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University

Yu-Chen holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from National Taiwan University and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Design at the University of Washington.

At UCLA, she was a graduate research assistant, focusing on community vulnerability research related to wildfire risks, specifically in the context of vehicle electrification, land use, and gentrification.

Prior to her studies at UCLA, she gained practical experience as a landscape designer at AECOM in Taipei, where she worked on complete street designs and regional recreational planning projects.

Her recent publications include:

Chu, Yu-Chen & Taylor, Brian. (2024). “The Impact of SADRs on Vehicle Travel and Emissions: A Focus on On-Demand Food Delivery.” Invited presentation at the 2025 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, the 2025 ASCE International Conference on Transportation & Development, and the 2024 METRANS International Urban Freight Conference.

Zhang, N., Jiang, Q., He, B., & Ma, J. (2024, January 10). Multi-scale vulnerability analysis for transportation electrification under extreme weather events. Paper presented at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.

Chu, Yu-Chen & Cheng, Chia-Kuen. (2021). “Effect of Renao Scenes on Relationships between Perceived Crowding and Satisfaction.” Journal of Outdoor Recreation Study (TSSCI), 34(4), 67-98. http://dx.doi.org/10.6130/JORS.202112_34(4).0003

Leveraging a Connected Network of Unattended Micro-Pantries to Reduce Food Waste and Improve Food Security

Traditional Hunger Relief Organizations (HROs) play a central role in reducing food insecurity. However, they face increasing challenges in equitably distributing rescued food. Vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, physically disabled individuals, and households with children, are often not able to access HROs during limited opening hours. Moreover, HROs often do not rescue food from smaller businesses, such as cafes, restaurants, and households which contribute to 70 percent of food waste in urban areas. Instead, HROs rely mostly on larger supply chains, not directly reducing food waste at a neighborhood level. This project proposes to pilot a decentralized network of connected, unattended food micro-pantries to provide real-time information on existing demand for rescued food to food donors, collect food donations at a micro-scale level across neighborhoods of the Seattle study area, and monitor food safety. Micro-pantries are an emerging community-driven concept of independent, small, unattended, open-access, and community-run food pantries and fridges that are hosted on public-right-of-way or private properties and maintained by community members and local organizations. The disaggregated network of micro-pantries could support HROs as additional, more accessible and resilient food sources available closer to vulnerable communities and support more localized food rescue from households and local businesses.

The research team will prototype a wireless sensor platform installed at selected micro-pantries to collect food donations and pick-up data and provide real-time information to community groups, HROs, and local businesses to optimize the distribution of rescued food. The project is the first empirical study to quantitatively analyze micro-pantries’ role in fighting food insecurity and improving equitable access to healthy eating. The research team will (1) perform a geospatial analysis of the existing network of micro-pantries in Seattle, WA; (2) develop and test a novel low-cost sensing system to detect food donations and pick-ups and measure food conditions; (3) develop a food donation training protocol for households and businesses located in proximity to micro-pantries; (4) estimate empirical demand and supply models to distribute rescued food optimally; (5) perform community outreach to document current food waste and food rescue practices. This research will provide a valuable, first-of-its-kind formal study of micro-pantries as a potential solution to food security that seeks to close gaps in traditional food rescue distribution. The results will provide key data to scale up programs that benefit low-income, food-insecure individuals, establishing a proof of concept for new community-based food distribution methods. The team includes experts from the University of Washington on urban distribution systems, sensor systems, and food safety, as well as a community partner working with local HROs to support food rescue and distribution.

This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program’s Track B. Bridging the gap between essential resources and services & community needs and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy.

Leveraging a Connected Network of Unattended Micro-Pantries to Reduce Food Waste and Improve Food Security

Traditional Hunger Relief Organizations (HROs) play a central role in reducing food insecurity. However, they face increasing challenges in equitably distributing rescued food. Vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, physically disabled individuals, and households with children, are often not able to access HROs during limited opening hours. Moreover, HROs often do not rescue food from smaller businesses, such as cafes, restaurants, and households which contribute to 70 percent of food waste in urban areas. Instead, HROs rely mostly on larger supply chains, not directly reducing food waste at a neighborhood level.

This project proposes to pilot a decentralized network of connected, unattended food micro-pantries to provide real-time information on existing demand for rescued food to food donors, collect food donations at a micro-scale level across neighborhoods of the Seattle study area, and monitor food safety. Micro-pantries are an emerging community-driven concept of independent, small, unattended, open-access, and community-run food pantries and fridges that are hosted on public-right-of-way or private properties and maintained by community members and local organizations. The disaggregated network of micro-pantries could support HROs as additional, more accessible and resilient food sources available closer to vulnerable communities and support more localized food rescue from households and local businesses.

The research team will prototype a wireless sensor platform installed at selected micro-pantries to collect food donations and pick-up data and provide real-time information to community groups, HROs, and local businesses to optimize the distribution of rescued food. The project is the first empirical study to quantitatively analyze micro-pantries’ role in fighting food insecurity and improving equitable access to healthy eating. The research team will (1) perform a geospatial analysis of the existing network of micro-pantries in Seattle, WA; (2) develop and test a novel low-cost sensing system to detect food donations and pick-ups and measure food conditions; (3) develop a food donation training protocol for households and businesses located in proximity to micro-pantries; (4) estimate empirical demand and supply models to distribute rescued food optimally; (5) perform community outreach to document current food waste and food rescue practices. This research will provide a valuable, first-of-its-kind formal study of micro-pantries as a potential solution to food security that seeks to close gaps in traditional food rescue distribution. The results will provide key data to scale up programs that benefit low-income, food-insecure individuals, establishing a proof of concept for new community-based food distribution methods. The team includes experts from the University of Washington on urban distribution systems, sensor systems, and food safety, as well as a community partner working with local HROs to support food rescue and distribution.

This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program’s Track B. Bridging the gap between essential resources and services & community needs and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy.

This award reflects NSF’s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation’s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Freight and Bus Lane (FAB) Data Collection and Evaluation Plan (Route 40)

The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) was approached by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to complete a review of proposed evaluation criteria and propose a data collection plan in preparation for the implementation of a Freight and Bus Lane (FAB) Lane in Fall 2024 for King County Metro’s Bus Route 40.

This project would effectively produce the follow-on scope of work for the UFL to complete during the actual implementation (pre/post/post phase). UFL will build on the findings from the Urban Freight Lab’s Freight and Transit Lane Case Study completed in 2019. With the completion of the Route 40 TPMC project in Fall 2024, FAB lanes will be tested as a pilot in select locations and evaluated before permanent installation.

Objectives

  • Refresh literature review on freight and transit lane studies
  • Meet with key stakeholders from SDOT and Metro to understand data collection tools and methodologies
  • Propose a technical evaluation plan for this pilot that includes data collection and metrics and communication strategies
Chapter

Success Factors for Urban Logistics Pilot Studies

Publication: The Routledge Handbook of Urban Logistics
Publication Date: 2023
Summary:

The last mile of delivery is undergoing major changes, experiencing new demand and new challenges. The rise in urban deliveries amid the societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected urban logistics. The level of understanding is increasing as cities and companies pilot strategies that pave the way for efficient urban freight practices. Parcel lockers, for instance, have been shown to reduce delivery dwell times with such success that Denmark increased its pilot program of 2,000 lockers to 10,000 over the past two years. This chapter focuses on challenges faced during those pilots from technical, managerial and operational perspectives, and offers examples and lessons learned for those who are planning to design and/or run future pilot tests. On-site management proved to be critical for locker operations.

Recommended Citation:
Ranjbari, Andisheh & Goodchild, A & Guzy, E. (2023). Success Factors for Urban Logistics Pilot Studies. 10.4324/9781003241478-27.

Dynamically Managed Curb Space Pilot

Transportation Network Company (TNC) usage in Seattle has been increasing every quarter since 2015 when the City of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) began collecting data. TNC trips exceeded 20 million in 2017, a 46% increase from total reported trips in 2016. This has led to concerns about congestion and pedestrian safety as cars and people take risks to connect at the curb and in the right-of-way. By providing additional curb capacity through increased passenger loading zones and directing customers via in-app messaging, the City may be able to reduce congestion and unsafe vehicle/people movements during peak traffic and late-night hours.

Other cities have attempted to study the impacts of increased usage of passenger loading zones (e.g., San Francisco, Washington D.C.), with varying success, but no standard methodology exists for cities to assess the potential for reallocated curb space and the subsequent impacts of those changes. SDOT is taking a data-driven approach to curb reallocation and traffic network impacts, modeling the work SDOT has done to quantify demand in paid parking areas and set rates accordingly. The main goals of this pilot are three-fold: increase pedestrian safety, minimize congestion impacts on the larger transportation network, and build a scalable methodology for assessment and implementation of curb allocation to accommodate this new mobility service.

The Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center and SDOT will work in collaboration with employers, transit operators, and TNCs to test a variety of strategies to mitigate the traffic impacts of TNC pick-ups on the greater transportation network and improve safety for passengers and drivers. Strategies include increasing the number of passenger loading zones in high-traffic pick-up areas and geofenced pick-up or black-out areas. Curb and street use data will be collected under each alternative and compared to baseline data.

Paper

A Meta-Heuristic Solution Approach to Isolated Evacuation Problems

 
Download PDF  (0.40 MB)
Publication: IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
Volume: 2022 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) INFORMS
Publication Date: 2022
Summary:

This paper provides an approximation method for the optimization of isolated evacuation operations, modeled through the recently introduced Isolated Community Evacuation Problem (ICEP). This routing model optimizes the planning for evacuations of isolated areas, such as islands, mountain valleys, or locations cut off through hostile military action or other hazards that are not accessible by road and require evacuation by a coordinated set of special equipment. Due to its routing structure, the ICEP is NP-complete and does not scale well. The urgent need for decisions during emergencies requires evacuation models to be solved quickly. Therefore, this paper investigates solving this problem using a Biased Random-Key Genetic Algorithm. The paper presents a new decoder specific to the ICEP, that allows to translate in between an instance of the S-ICEP and the BRKGA. This method approximates the global optimum and is suitable for parallel processing. The method is validated through computational experiments.

Authors: Dr. Anne GoodchildFiete Krutein, Linda Ng Boyle (University of Washington Dept. of Industrial & Systems Engineering)
Recommended Citation:
K. F. Krutein, L. N. Boyle and A. Goodchild, "A Meta-Heuristic Solution Approach to Isolated Evacuation Problems," 2022 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC), Singapore, 2022, pp. 2002-2012, doi: 10.1109/WSC57314.2022.10015470.