Objective: Each team aims to complete as many laps as possible within a given heat. The team with the highest lap count at the end of a heat is declared the winner.
Team Composition: Each team consists of two pilots: one actively flying the drone (flying pilot) and one assisting from the pit (pitting pilot).
Duration and Mid-Heat Swap: Each heat lasts for 30 minutes. At the 15-minute mark, the flying and pitting pilots must switch roles.
Concurrent Teams: Three teams compete simultaneously, each using drones with specifically assigned channels and colors for easy identification.
Mid-Heat Procedure: After 15 minutes, all flying pilots must navigate their drones through the designated Pit Gate and land in their team’s Pit Area for a pilot swap and/or battery change.
Landing Protocol:Drones coming in for a battery change or pilot swap must avoid flying through the Start Gate and instead, directly land in the designated Pit Area. After the battery change and/or pilot swap the pilot flying must take off and pass through the start gate to have the lap recognised by the timing system
Drone Identification: Each team’s drones must be equipped with LEDs on at least two arms, with the capability to change colors as per the team’s assigned channel and color.
Safety Feature: Drones must have the Betaflight ‘paralyze’ function enabled and configured to immediately disable the drone in case of a crash, allowing the other drone to take off.
Pit Area Safety: Teams are responsible for maintaining safety within their Pit Areas.
Referee Duties: Each team will have a referee to ensure all laps are valid, landings occur within the designated area, and takeoffs only proceed after the pitting pilot’s audible confirmation. Any deviations result in a foul and a one-lap penalty. refree must keep track of the fouls.
Channel and Color Assignments: Teams are assigned specific channels and colors (e.g., R1-red, R5-green, R8-blue) for their drones.
Pit Areas: There are three Pit Areas, each marked by red, green, and blue, positioned to minimize interference from nearby landing drones.
Winning Criteria: The team with the most laps after 30 minutes wins. Second place goes to the team with the next highest lap count, and so on.
Timing Inclusions: The 30-minute timer includes pit stops and pilot swaps. The timer only stops for safety reasons as determined by the race director.
Race Start Preparation: At the start of the race, all batteries, goggles and radios must be placed on a table, and drones positioned beside them on a table in the designated Pit Area.
Battery Charging Limit: Teams may charge batteries at a maximum rate of 2C.
Referee Selection: The referee will be a student from the hosting institution.
Transmitter Power: All Video Transmitters (VTxs) must be set to a power level of 25mW to ensure fair and safe racing conditions.