These Questions outline the clarifications we are hoping to receive regarding the conops. Questions are to be directed to the Competition Chief Judge, Mark Espenant (mark.espenant@gmail.com)
Task 1
Does the 30km distance include the distance to reroute around the restricted airspace?
Once the airspace is announced as restricted, is this the case for the remainder of the flight, or only until the next waypoint?
Do we know how many waypoints will be associated with the restricted airspace?
Do we need to reroute to another waypoint, or can we follow the edge of restricted areas?
Is there an altitude associated with the waypoints?
Can the barbies be loaded via a removable top section, or can the aircraft be temporary disassembly (provided there is a realistic entrance elsewhere) to load the barbies?
What will the barbies be wearing (could their outfits impact our seating designs)?
Does "Route tracking (from ‘on route’ to diversion)" refer to the autonomous flight of the aircraft from waypoint to waypoint?
Will multi-action autonomous flight still earn full points (a sequence of buttons/switches need to be pressed before an autonomous action begins) or would it need to be entirely autonomous from the moment the aircraft was armed?
Are realism points pro-rated, or is it there a hard limit for how much we have to do to get 100% realism points.
Task 2
Can the route be optimized such that multiple pickups are completed before drop-offs (think bus instead of taxi)
What is the maximum number of passengers per route? (can it be more than 6?)
Can batteries be replaced on aircraft if we are not on the original take-off point?
Are the same landing pads being used for both tasks?
Can a negative score be achieved?
General Questions
What are the shape / dimensions of the landing pads. 32” size is mentioned, but it is not clear if this is a diameter, radius or some other (non circular) measure. (is there an amazon link we can reference?)
When landing, do we need to land directly on the pad, or can we land outside the pad and taxi on to complete the landing
What types of obstacles might be near pads?
Do we need to take off from the landing pads as well (can we expect any sort of runway)?
Are points for various sections all or nothing (e.g. part marks for realism or semi-autonomous flight capabilities)
i.e. autonomy points - autonomous following of most waypoints, but manual intervention required to ensure aircraft does not deviate from route
What is the data format & schema provided to the competitors?
What format will they be in (e.g. named files on a usb stick we plug into our groundstation, recording played into a mic, spoken word, printed QR code that needs to be scanned by a webcam?)
What accommodations are included with team registration fees and individual registration fees? (hotel, food) what would we need to prepare to spend money on at the event?
Can we drive stakes into the ground for our groundstation setup
How much communication will we have with visual observers?
Will we be allowed to supply our own visual observers and be in contact with them.
Will there be power at the flightline?
Will we be needed to provide any sort of data/video logs of either task?
Will we be allowed to use radios to communicate between team members at competition? Are there restricted channels, or are we going to be OK if we use designated frequencies?
What weather conditions will impact the flight schedule (what weather should we design our aircraft to withstand)