Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

Questions about rules interpretation should be directed to: millennialvision.llc @ gmail.com

Q: What will the arena be like?

A: The Official Rules describe the arena's simulated building. The rooms in this building are modular to allow rearrangement of the rooms and corridores between runs (at the discretion of the Judges) to prevent systems from "memorizing" the layout. The arena will be assembled on the floor of the University of Puerto Rico's coliseum in Mayagüez. This building has stadium seating on the sides and is air conditioned. It has a high ceiling with steel girders and a metal roof. The walls are concrete with steel rebar. The following picture shows one corner of the coliseum at UPRM:

 

Q: What campus facilities are available?

A: The campus has a nearby cafeteria, parking for rental cars behind the coliseum, and WiFi internet access in the coliseum. Work space is also available. Power throughout Puerto Rico is 100 VAC, 60 Hz.

Q: Will the opening through which the vehicles must enter be exactly 1 square meter?

A: The opening may be as small as 1 square meter (and no smaller), however as in the 4th Mission, the opening can be larger. The Judges can modify the opening size from run to run at their discretion. Plan for a minimum of 1 square meter, knowing that it may be larger (see Official Rules).

Q: Are navigational aids allowed to detect sound?

A: Yes, they can be bidirectional, but be sure to account for attenuation due to walls.

Q: Can the navigational aids move around?

A: Yes.  If they were to move, remember that navigation aids may be located anywhere in a 3

meter perimeter (maximum) bounding the outside of the arena and must stay in that are, otherwise the run would be terminated (disqualified).

Q: Can the navigational aids be used as communication relays? i.e., can the aerial robot send to the navigational aid, and that relay it back to the "mothership"?

A: Yes.  The rules do not preclude that, but you must then make them comply with the transmission rules (6dBm attenuation, distance, etc.).

Q: How is the roof covered? What effect will this have on the propogation of communication signals, and sound?

A: The roof of the simulated building in the arena will not be covered.  There will be an altitude ceiling above which your entry will be disqualified (for that run).  The simulated building ceiling is omitted to enhance viewing of the event.  How that affects acoustic propagation and RF is unknown.

As shown in the photograph above, the actual ceiling of the coliseum is metal and is high above the arena's simulated building's "ceiling".

Q: Will there only be one source of sound, the control panel, and one set of blinking lights, or will there be distractions as well?

A: Definitely distractions, but none with the identical signature of your target (there will not be two identical blue lights, etc.).  Your target will be unique.

Q: Does the aerial robot have to transmit to a station at 100m, or will our mothership's receiving station be just outside the arena?

Just outside the arena.  You must show that your system COULD reach the mothership had we put it at maximum range.  Due to the fact that we are doing this indoors, we probably won't have a clear 100m beyond the arena to place the mothership (base station) receiver, so your team will have to show the Judges that based on your transmitter's ERP, you could go that far... in fact, we could set up a test range that is 100m outside to verify this, but the plan was to have you demonstrate it analytically.

Q: What will the lighting conditions for the arena be like (sun-light, flourescently lit)?

A: Lighting is as shown in the coliseum picture above. The lighting is good (not dim). In addition, lighting is augmented by that which comes in through some very large windows at either end of the coliseum.

Q: Do the two navigational aids that we will use need to follow the same wireless requirements as the vehicle when they are only talking to the base station for calculation purposes? (ex. They must transmit 100 m.)

A: The Official Rules state: "...one clear picture of a specific target gauge (monochrome or color, still or
video, real time or stored rebroadcast) must be relayed by means of a radio frequency (RF) signal
with sufficient power to be received at a distance of 100 meters with a loss of 6 dBm (to account for
attenuation by the structure) into an antenna with aperture no greater than 1 meter."

The reason for this requirement is to simulate the fact that your vehicle flying around inside the building would have to transmit to the mothership somewhere outside the building so the motherhship could relay the transmission (Pictures and mapping info) back to a distant point 3 km away (as per the 4th Mission). So the mothership is assumed to be no more than 100m distant from the vehicle inside the building, and the transmissions from inside the building must overcome 6 dBm of "building attenuation".

Now it is further assumed that the mothership could have previously deposited up to two navigational aids somewhere outside the building before sending its subvehicle into the building. As such, the vehicle inside the building could be up to 100 m from the navigation aides as well. So the subvehicle could have to receive signals from the navigation aides at a distance of up to 100m. The base station simulates the electronics onboard the mothership. So the navigation aids would be no farther away from the mothership (base station) than 100 m depending upon where they were placed around the building. Consider that one or both of the navigation aids could be on the opposite side of the building from the mother ship (base station) and would therefore be 100 m distant AND would be transmitting THROUGH the building, therefore needing to overcome the 6 dBm loss created by the attenuation of the building itself.

Q: Can we use 802.11 with the navigational aids?

A: Yes, you can definitely use 802.11 for the navigation aids. You don't have to use JAUS protocols for the navigation aids.

Q: Are the navigational aids allowed to rotate to pick up a signal?

A: Yes. They can rotate, be static arrays, active, passive.

Q: Could you give us a more detail about the blue LED? For instance, the size (5mm?), the intensity, and if it will be your standard shade of blue, so that we may purchase one that is the same for testing.

A: It could be as small as a standard 5mm LED or larger (you wouldn't know). We are not sure what "standard" shades of blue are, but it would be similar to the blue LEDs used on police cars (although not necessarily as intense). It will be the ONLY blue LED illumination, so if your filters are slightly off, you shouldn't see anything else like it. Note that other kinds of light (white light) will contain some blue components, but nowhere near as intense as the pure blue of the blue LED.

Q: How accurate must the vehicle position and obstacle position need to be?

A: a) you must be accurate enough NOT to be running into obstacles, b) your mapping accuracy should reflect your flight accuracy... so if your obstacle detection system has a resolution of 15cm, then one would expect that your mapping would be no better (or else you would be using that information for obstacle avoidance). It could be that multiple passes in an area might result in a refined accuracy (having looked at an object from several different angles). That could result in higher resolution (we think that is really what you are talking about here, not accuracy-- there is a difference).

Q: Under “General Rules Governing Entries”, what do you mean by commercial radio control equipment? Can we use a standard 900 MHz spy-cam to a TV-tuner without using spread spectrum?

A: Commercial Radio Control equipment would be like Futaba R/C systems. 900 MHz cameras are OK too. Just make note of the fact that your system must be robust enough to survive the electromagnetic RFI environment of the arena. Spread spectrum devices have immunity to getting stepped on by other transmitters in the area. We are not having as stringent a "radio impound" to assure minimal interference as we have in the past, and instead are specifying that the teams must make their radio or IR or "whatever" links bullet-proof.

Q: Will a compass work inside the building?

A: We don't know. It will probably work, but we don't know what offsets it might have due to influences caused by the coliseum. In the real-world scenario, one would not be able to get into the nuclear reactor plant to measure the accuracy of a magnetometer and it is doubtful that anyone would have run magnetometer tests in advance and published them.

Q: What kind of mapping data will we need to relay back to the base station via JAUS? (exact coordinates, distance from walls, etc.)

A: The rules list items to be noted and the format in which to describe them (your vehicle's status and course relative to the starting point in Cartesian coordinates, for example. Also significant obstacles that you detected to avoid and of course the target). See the MISSION CRITICAL ELEMENTS section of the Rules. You are not doing a detailed map of the interior, but rather showing a successful path from the entry point to the target. If you were to provide a detailed map of the interior, that might impress the Judges however.

Q: Will the audible tone coming from the gauge be of a certain frequency
and will it be constant or in intervals?

A: Read the Official Rules carefully. Nowhere does it state that the gauge will emit a tone.

Q: Is there a designated area that we will launch from-- is there a platform?

A: Yes, there is a designated area. No, there is no platform. You must simply launch from that area (somehow).

Q: Are we given the exact location of the window in relation to the launch area?

A: NO

Q: How many windows are there on the face of the building with the target window?

A: Only the target window.

Q: Are there other lights or colors on the control panel besides the blue LED's?

A: Yes, very possibly. This could change from run to run.

Q: Is the weight of the vehicle (1.5 kg) per vehicle or total weight of the vehicles?

A: Per vehicle.

Q: What are the dimensions of the control panel?

A: Unknown to you.

Q: Can the outside navigational aids be signal repeaters?

A: The intent was that these things be navigational aids, but signal repeaters would also be OK. Nonetheless, you would have to stay within the limits of "how many" and "where they could be dropped" (the dropping, of course, is simulated... a person can place them "as if" your mothership had done it).

Q: What kind of objects are in the way?

A: The arena set up document that helps you build a similar arena at your location specifies some of the obstacles to be found inside the building.

Q: Is the target gauge analog or digital, and what are the size of the numbers?

A: It can be either. You will know it by the solid blue LED beneath. The size of the gauge is listed in the Rules. The numbers may vary in size depending upon which gauge is selected by the Judges from run to run. In terms of camera resolution (which we assume is the reason for the question), the numbers (and this is not a promise) will probably be around 18 pt font size, but your stand-off observation distance will enter into that design parameter as well. If your gauge is analog, the Judges may only be looking for the dial/needle angle (1 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 75% of full scale, etc.) or if it is digital, they will want to read a value directly.

Q: Is is it permissible to use the "mothership" as a reference for localization?

A: Yes. So that means that you can have the (simulated) mothership and two dropped references (all being within the stated boundaries).

Q: It appears that if multiple vehicles are flying and one of them lands (intentionally or otherwise) in the competition area the attempt may continue as long as the "final functional vehicle" is still operating (flying). Is that a correct interpretation?

A: If multiple vehicles are operating simultaneously and the others "fail", the attempt will continue until the last one "fails" or "succeeds". Other rules may pre-empt this however. For example, were one of the vehicles to leave the arena (or in the opinion of the Judge, is about the leave the arena), then the run would be terminated even if other vehicles in your swarm were still fully functional and operating correctly. Air vehicles may land and takeoff autonomously within the arena if desired.

Q: Does coming to rest on an obstacle (intentionally or otherwise) constitute "landing", or is it only the ground that counts?

Avoiding all obstacles without collision (B) is worth 500 "Effectiveness Measures" points, but if you intentionally "attach" to an obstacle, that would constitute landing (and hence, not be considered a collision). Note however, this is the International "Aerial" Robotics Competition, so something that flies briefly and then performs the majority of the mission by climbing or walking/rolling around, would not constitute an aerial vehicle. Vehicles which land periodically (and autonomously) to reset gyro references and then take off again would be acceptable. Once in the vicinity of the target, a vehicle might also land and scan from a stable platform to get the pictures given that there are no occluding obstacles between the vehicle landing point and the target.

Q: If a particular vehicle from a swarm lands (on the ground or on an obstacle), is that vehicle prohibited from continuing in the attempt? For instance, if a group of vehicles work together alternately flying and landing, would this violate the rules?

A: That would be cooperative behavior and would be acceptable. Multiple vehicles could "leap frog" into the target area (so long as the "leaping" was by flight and not crawling/rolling/hopping). Individual vehicles could also go in and act as "bread crumb beacons" for subsequent vehicles to reference so long as a) they fly into the arena throught the entry portal, b) the weight of each air vehicle does not exceed 1.50 kg, and c) they are fully autonomous.

Q: Under the current rules, would it be permissible then for a single vehicle to drop multiple "bread crumb" beacons for other vehicles to follow?

A: Dropping things inside the (simulated) building should be perfectly acceptable during a given run, but they could not stay there from run to run.  They would have to be redropped.  Also, the rules would exclude any "vehicle" from being dropped (that is, anything with the ability to move around).  Anything dropped should just be a marker (if passive) or beacon (if active). Anything dropped can not damage the floor (e.g., it can not be like a "dart" to stick in place, or a paint marker), it must be something that can be freely picked up without leaving a trace.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION:

Q: How do we get to the UPRM campus once we arrive in Puerto Rico?

A: For periodically updated details, see: http://www.me.uprm.edu/sleonardi/fly2uprm.htm

Q: Where can we stay once we arrive at UPRM?

A: For a periodically updated list of accommodations, see: http://www.me.uprm.edu/sleonardi/places.htm

Q: Where can we get parts/materials locally?

A: For a periodically updated list, see: http://www.me.uprm.edu/sleonardi/hobby.htm (note that there are many places around Puerto Rico and especially in San Juan where you can buy supplies, but the location listed here are those which are closest to the UPRM campus)