OUTDOOR COMPETITION

Due to the large numbers of entries received for the outdoor competition and the outdoor challenges (treasure hunt challenge, drone team parade), we are obliged to limit each team to a 15-min time slot (instead of 25 minutes as previously scheduled) for the outdoor competition, 5 minutes for the treasure hunt challenge and 5 minutes for the drone team parade.

1. Automatic take-off
   1. a take-off is considered automatic as long as the safety pilot does not transmit any commands (except mission start signal)
   2. the MAV can be hand-launched.
   3. points are awarded for every MAV that performs at least one other mission element during its flight, except precision landing (taking off and landing is not enough to count as a valid mission flight)
2. Flight performance
   1. fly as many laps as possible in the competition slot around 2 poles during a single flight (landing in the middle would reset the number of laps)
   2. begins when crossing the “start” line; only laps that have been completed count in the final score
   3. the MAV must land before the end of the allotted time to be valid
   4. flight altitude is only limited by the boundaries of the flight zone
3. Mapping
   1. produce the map of the blue area on the map below, which include a small house and several storage places
   2. the garage of the house and one storage are opened and can be inspected as well
4. Target detection and recognition
   1. search and identify targets (hazardous materials or missing people) outside and inside the house’s garage or the storage places (storages are numbered S1, S2 and S3 as shown on the map below, not all of them have targets in front, only one storage is opened)
   2. targets can be located on the map produced by the team (see previous mission element) or a rough map provided by the organizers
5. Cooperative carrying
   1. at least 2 drones should carry a weight over a distance of 50 meters
   2. attaching the MAVs to the weight can be done by team members, no autonomous grasping are required
   3. 2 objects of different weight can be chosen by the teams
6. Precision landing
   1. a landing will be classified as one of the following: a field landing, a normal landing, or a precision landing
   2. the size and place of each landing zone (normal/precision) depends of the type of MAV (fixed-wing, VTOL)
   3. in case of rough landing, the team will be asked to demonstrate the airworthiness of the vehicle
   4. extra points are awarded if the MAV is able to take-off again (fly higher than 5m) after staying still 10 seconds on the ground and without any operator intervention
   5. all MAVs must land within the time slot, otherwise all mission elements since last take-off will be discarded for this MAV

The doors of the storage is about 3.5 x 3.5 meters. As an old military shelter, the walls are very thick and could make communication difficult while attempting to fly inside.

Special challenges

Treasure hunt challenge

In this outdoor challenge, the goal is to find hand-made objects which are not visible using a video camera. More precisely, 4 disks will be placed horizontally on the grass within a 15×15-meter square area. Each disk is 40-cm diameter and 4-cm thick. It will be painted with camouflage-colour so as to be almost impossible to detect through a video camera. Three disks will be made of foam and one disk will be made of steel (40 kg). The objective is to locate the maximum number of disks by providing (X,Y) coordinates in meters with respect to the lower left corner of the square area. A maximum of 4 locations will be provided per team. Each correct location provides 1 point. “Correct location” means that the X,Y coordinates are provided with an uncertainty of less than 30 cm. Identification of the metallic disk provides 3 points.

The challenge will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• flight autonomy
• autonomous calculation of locations
• duration of the hunt
• efficiency of the path planning

Drone team parade trophy

In this challenge, the goal is to have a patrol of  UAVs (fixed-wing, rotorcraft or mixed) flying in a formation so as to demonstrate their coordination and flight accuracy skills.

This challenge will be evaluated according to the following criteria :

• accuracy of the formation shape and number of UAVs involved
• accuracy of the path followed by the UAVs
• aesthetic qualities of the formation
• elapsed time necessary to reach the formation configuration