Official Competition
Details, Rules and Format
The 17TH Annual
Intelligent
Ground Vehicle Competition
(IGVC)
June 5TH
- 8TH, 2009
In memory of Paul
Lescoe
Student
Teams are Invited to Display Their Vehicles at The Association for Unmanned
Vehicle Systems International’s Unmanned Systems North America 2009
Symposium & Exhibition Held at Washington Convention Center
in
January
9, 2009 Version
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I Competition InformatioN
I.1 Team
entries
I.2 VEHICLE CONFIGURATION
I.3 Payloads
I.4 Qualification
I.5 INDEMNIFICATION
AND INSURANCE
II AUTONOMOUS CHALLENGE
II.1 OBJECTIVE
II.2 VEHICLE
CONTROL
II.3 OBSTACLE
COURSE
II.4 COMPETITION
PROCEDURES
II.5 Practice
Course
II.6 Traffic
Violation Laws
II.7 HOW COMPETITION
WILL BE JUDGED
II.8 GROUNDS
FOR DISQUALIFICATION
III DESIGN COMPETITION
III.1 Objective
III.2 Written
Report
III.3 Oral
Presentation
III.4
Examination of the Vehicle
III.5 Final
Scoring
IV
NAVIGATION CHALLENGE
IV.1 Objective
IV.2 On-Board
Sensors
IV.3 GPS
Course
IV.4 The
Run Procedure and Scoring
IV.5 Run
Termination
V JAUS Challenge
v.1 Technical
Overview
v.2 Communications
protocols
v.3 JAUS
Specific Data
V.4 Application
and transport Level Discovery
v.5 Messaging
Protocols
v.6 The
Common Operating Picture
VI AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
vI.1 Autonomous Challenge
vI.2 Design Competition
vI.3 Navigation
Challenge
VI.4 JAUS
Challenge
vI.5 ROOKiE
OF THE YEAR AWARD
vI.6 GRAND
AWARD
VI.7 Publication
and Recognition
I.1 TEAM ENTRIES
Teams may be comprised of undergraduate and
graduate students, and must be supervised by at least one faculty
advisor. Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged (
Team sponsors are
encouraged. Sponsors' participation will be limited to hardware donation
and/or funding support. Sponsors logos may be placed on the vehicle and
may be displayed inside of the team maintenance area. Teams should
encourage sponsor attendance at the IGVC.
Schools are encouraged to
have more than one entry; but are limited to a maximum of three per school, and
each vehicle must have a separate team of students and a distinct design report. Each entry must be based on a different
chassis and software and must be documented by a separate application form and
design report, submitted
in accordance with all deadlines. All
entries must have a team name and each application form must be TYPED and accompanied with a $250.00
non-refundable registration fee made payable to
C/O Dr. Ka C. Cheok
102G SEB
SECS-ESE Dept.
If y
I.2 VEHICLE CONFIGURATION
The competition is designed for a small
semi-rugged outdoor vehicle. Vehicle
chassis can be fabricated from scratch or commercially bought. Entries must conform to the following
specifications:
- Design: Must be a ground vehicle (propelled by
direct mechanical contact to the ground such as wheels, tracks, pods, etc
or hovercraft).
- Length: Minimum length three feet, maximum length
seven feet.
- Width: Minimum width two feet, maximum width five
feet.
- Height: Not to exceed 6 feet (excluding emergency
stop antenna).
- Propulsion: Vehicle power must be generated
onboard. Fuel storage or running of
internal combustion engines and fuel cells are not permitted in the team
maintenance area (tent/building).
- Speed: For safety, a maximum vehicle speed of
five miles per h
- Mechanical
E-stop location: The E-stop
button must be a push to stop, red in color and a minimum of one inch in
diameter. It must
be easy to identify and activate safely, even if the vehicle is
moving. It must be located in the center rear of
vehicle at least two feet from ground, not to exceed four feet above
ground. Vehicle
E-stops must be hardware based and not controlled through software. Activating the E-Stop must bring the
vehicle to a quick and complete stop.
- Wireless E-Stop: The wireless E-Stop must be effective for
a minimum of 50 feet. Vehicle
E-stops must be hardware based and not controlled through software. Activating the E-Stop must bring the
vehicle to a quick and complete stop.
During the competition performance events (Autonomous Challenge and
Navigation Challenge) the wireless E-stop will be held by the Judges.
- Payload: Each vehicle
will be required to carry a 20-pound payload. The shape and size is
approximately that of an 18" x 8" x 8" cinder block. Refer
to section I.3 Payload.
- Apriori Data: The intent is
to compete without apriori or memorized data. Course position data should not be
mapped/stored. This is difficult to
enforce, each team is expected to comply with the intent. Both the Autonomous Challenge and
Navigation Challenge courses will be changed after each heat and between
runs to negate any memorization or course familiarization techniques.
I.3 Payload
The
payload must be securely mounted on the vehicle. If the payload falls off the vehicle during a
run, the run will be terminated. The
payload specifications are as follows: 18
inches long, 8 inches wide, 8 inches high and a weight of 20 pounds.
I.4 QUALIFICATION
All vehicles must pass Qualification
to receive standard award money in the Design Competition and compete in the
performance events (Autonomous Challenge and Navigation Challenge). To complete Qualification the vehicle must
pass/perform the following eight criteria.
- Length: The vehicle will be measured to ensure
that it is over the minimum of three feet long and under the maximum of seven
feet long.
- Width: The vehicle
will be measured to ensure that it is over the minimum of two feet wide
and under the maximum of five feet wide.
- Height: The vehicle
will be measured to ensure that it does not to exceed six feet high; this excludes
emergency stop antennas.
- Mechanical E-stop: The mechanical E-stop will be checked for
location to ensure it is located on the center rear of vehicle a minimum
of two feet high and a maximum of four feet high and for functionality.
- Wireless E-Stop: The wireless E-Stop will be checked to
ensure that it is effective for a minimum of 50 feet. During the performance events the
wireless E-stop will be held by the Judges.
- Max Speed: The vehicle will have to drive at full
speed over a prescribed distance where its speed will be determined. The vehicle must not exceed the maximum
speed of five miles per hour. No change
to maximum speed control hardware is allowed after qualification. If the vehicle completes a performance
event at a speed faster then the one it passed Qualification at, that run
will not be counted.
- Lane Following: The vehicle must demonstrate that it can
detect and follow lanes.
- Obstacle Avoidance: The vehicle must demonstrate that it can
detect and avoid obstacles.
- Waypoint Navigation: Vehicle must
prove it can find a path to a single 2 meter navigation waypoint.
During the Qualification the
vehicle must be put in autonomous mode to verify the mechanical and wireless
E-stops and to verify lane following and obstacle avoidance. The vehicle software can be reconfigured for
waypoint navigation qualification. For
the max speed run the vehicle may be in autonomous mode or joystick/remote
controlled. Judges will not qualify
vehicles that fail to meet these requirements. Teams may fine tune their vehicles and
resubmit for Qualification. There
is no penalty for not qualifying the first time. Vehicles that are judged to
be unsafe will not be allowed to compete.
In
the event of any conflict, the judges’ decision will be final.
I.5 INDEMNIFICATION
AND INSURANCE
Teams will be
required to sign an application form prior to February 28, 2009. Along with the application form, there will be
a Waivers of Claims that will need to be signed by each individual who will be
participating at the competition.
Additionally, the Team's sponsoring
institution will also be required to supply AUVSI with a Certificate of
Insurance at the time the Application Form is submitted. The certificate is to
show commercial general liability coverage in an amount not less than $1
million.
NOTE: The IGVC Committee and Officials will try to adhere to
the above official competition details, rules and format as much as possible.
However, it reserves the right to change or modify the competition where deemed
necessary for preserving fairness of the competition. Modifications, if any,
will be announced prior to the competition as early as possible.
II AUTONOMOUS CHALLENGE COMPETITION
All teams must pass Qualification to participate in this event.
II.1 OBJECTIVE
A fully autonomous unmanned ground robotic
vehicle must negotiate around an outdoor obstacle course under a prescribed
time while staying within the 5 mph speed limit, and avoiding the obstacles on
the track.
Judges will rank the entries that complete
the course based on shortest adjusted time taken. In the event that a vehicle
does not finish the course, the judges will rank the entry based on longest
adjusted distance traveled. Adjusted time and distance are the net scores given
by judges after taking penalties, incurred from obstacle collisions, pothole
hits, and boundary crossings, into consideration.
Vehicles must be unmanned and autonomous.
They must compete based on their ability to perceive the course environment and
avoid obstacles. Vehicles cannot be remotely controlled by a human
operator during competition. All computational power, sensing and control
equipment must be carried on board the vehicle.
The course will be laid out on
grass, pavement, simulated pavement, or any combination, over an area of
approximately 60 to 120 yards long, by 40 to 60 yards wide and be 700 to 800 feet
in length. This distance is identified
so teams can set their maximum speed to complete the course pending no prior
violations resulting in run termination.
The course boundaries will be designated by continuous or dashed white
and/or yellow lane markers (lines) approximately three inches wide, painted on
the ground. Track width will be approximately ten feet wide with a
turning radius not less then five feet. Alternating side-to-side dashes will be
15-20 feet long, with 10-15 feet separation.
Expect natural or artificial inclines with
gradients not to exceed 15%, sand pit (sand depth 2 - 3 inches) and randomly
placed obstacles along the course. The course will become more difficult to
navigate autonomously as vehicle progresses. The sand pit may be
simulated with a light beige canvas tarp covering the entire width of the track
for ten feet.
Obstacles on the course will consist of various
colors (white, orange, brown, green, black, etc.) 5-gallon pails, construction
drums, cones, pedestals and barricades that are used on roadways and highways. Natural obstacles such as trees or shrubs and
man made obstacles such as light post or street signs could also appear on the
course. The placement of the obstacles
may be randomized from left, right, and center placements prior to every run.
Potholes will be two feet in diameter
and two inches in depth will be placed on the course. Simulated potholes
are two feet diameter white circles, and may also be used on the course
(Course width will be adjusted here to insure minimum passage width).
There will be a minimum of six feet
clearance, minimum passage width, between the line and the obstacles, i.e. if
the obstacle is in the middle of the course then on either side of the obstacle
will be six feet of driving space. Or if the obstacle is closer to one side of
the lane then the other side of the obstacle must have at least six feet of
driving space for the vehicles.
Also in the event will be complex barrel
arrangements with switchbacks and center islands. These will be adjusted for
location between runs. Direction of the
obstacle course may also be changed between heats.
Examples of Obstacle Configurations on the Autonomous Course
Drawing needs changes we don’t do traps need switch backs and center
& side islands
- The competition
will take place in the event of light rain or drizzle but not in heavy
rain or lightning.
- Each qualified
team will have the up to two runs (time permitting) in each of three heats.
- Judges/officials
will assign a designated starting order. Teams will setup on-deck in that
order. Failure to be on-deck will place you at the end of the order for
the run and may forfeit you final (second) run in a heat based on heat
time completion.
- No
team participant is allowed on the c
- At the
designated on-deck time, the competing team will be asked to prepare their
vehicle for an attempt. On-deck teams start in the order they arrive in
the starting area unless they give way to another team.
- The Starting
Official will call teams to the starting line. The Starting Officials’ direction is
final; the Starting Official may alter the order to enhance the
competition flow of entries (e.g. slower vehicles may be grouped together
to allow the running of two vehicles on the course simultaneously).
- A team will have
one minute in the starting point to prep the vehicle for the judge to
start the vehicle.
- The judge will
start the vehicle by a one touch motion; i.e. hitting the enter key of a
keyboard, a left mouse click, lifting the e-stop up, flipping a toggle
switch, etc.
- An attempt will
be declared valid when a designated judge gives the start signal at the
designated competing time. An attempt will continue until one of the
following occurs:
- The vehicle
finishes the course.
- The vehicle was
E-Stopped by a judge’s call.
- The team
E-Stops the vehicle.
- Five minutes
have passed after the vehicle run has started.
- The vehicle has
not started after one minute after moving to the start line or at the
judges’ discretion.
- Teams will
ready the vehicle for start and advice the IGVC Judge to push one button
to start the vehicle, the vehicle must be ready for a judges start
command in one minute.
- An official
will carry the E-Stop.
- Time for each
heat will be strictly observed.
- Tactile sensors
will not be allowed.
- Actual potholes (two
feet in diameter and two inches deep) or simulated potholes (two feet
diameter top soil circle) will introduced on the course.
- Each
vehicle will be given 5 minutes per attempt to complete the c
- Each
vehicle must navigate the course by remaining inside the course
boundaries and navigating around course obstacles. For the following
Traffic Violations, the appropriate ticket will be issued and deducted
from the overall distance or time score.
Refer to section II.5 Traffic Violation Laws.
II.5 Practice Course
All teams that have Qualified will
be given six tokens. Each token
represent one opportunity to use the Autonomous Challenge Practice Course. The course will be open daily for use from
the time a team Qualifies till the start of the third heat of the Autonomous
Challenge. The course will be run like
the Autonomous Challenge with the same rules and similar obstacles. One token allows a maximum of six minutes (one
minute at the start point and five minutes for the run) on the Autonomous
Challenge Practice Course. In that time
you must position your vehicle at the start, prep the vehicle for the judge to
start, and can continue to run as long as you do not break any of the rules of
the Autonomous Challenge. If so, your
run and remaining time will be ended.
All teams will still have unlimited access to the regular practice
fields.
|
|
Traffic Violations |
Ticket Value |
E-Stop |
Measurement |
|
1 |
Leave the Course/Scene |
-
10 Feet |
Yes |
Yes |
|
2 |
Crash/Obstacle Displacement |
-
10 Feet |
Yes |
Yes |
|
3 |
Careless Driving |
- 5
Feet |
No |
No |
|
4 |
Sideswipe/Obstacle Touch |
-
5 Feet |
No |
No |
|
5 |
Student's Choice E-Stop |
-
5 Feet |
Yes |
Yes |
|
6 |
Judge's Choice E-Stop |
0
Feet |
Yes |
Yes |
|
7 |
Potholes |
-
5 Feet |
No |
No |
|
8 |
Blocking Traffic |
-
5 Feet |
Yes |
Yes |
|
9 |
Loss of Payload |
0
Feet |
Yes |
Yes |
- Leave
the scene\course:
All portions of the vehicle cross
the boundary. The overall distance
will be measured from the starting line to the furthest point where the
final part of the vehicle crossed the boundary outside edge.
- Crash: The overall
distance will be measured from the starting line to the collision point
with the obstacle.
- Careless
Driving:
Crossing the boundary while at least some part of the vehicle remains in
bounds.
- E-Stop: The overall
distance will be measured from the starting line to the front of the
vehicle or where the final/furthest remaining part of vehicle if stopped,
crossed the boundary outside edge.
- Obstacle
Displacement:
Defined as displacing permanently the obstacle from its original position.
Rocking/Tilting an obstacle with no permanent displacement is not
considered obstacle displacement. Rocking/Tilting is a – 5 feet ticket
value.
- Actual
and Simulated Potholes: Hitting or crossing potholes will result in –
5 feet ticket value for each pothole hit or crossed and render run
ineligible for standard prize money.
- Blocking
Traffic:
Vehicles stopping on course for over one minute will be stopped and
measured.
II.7 HOW COMPETITION WILL BE JUDGED
- A team of judges
and officials will determine compliance with all rules.
- Designated
competition judges will determine the official times, distances and ticket
deductions of each entry. At the
end of the competition, those vehicles crossing the finish line will be
scored on the time taken to complete the course minus any ticket
deductions. Ticket values will be assessed in seconds (one foot =
one second) if the vehicle completes the course within the five minute run
time.
- The team with
the adjusted shortest time will be declared the winner.
- In the event
that no vehicle completes the course, the score will be based on the
distance traveled by the vehicle minus the ticket deductions. The team
with the adjusted longest distance will be declared the winner.
- For standard award
money consideration, entry must exhibit sufficient degree of autonom
II.8 GROUNDS FOR
DISQUALIFICATION
- Judges will
disqualify any vehicle which appears to be a safety hazard or violate the
safety requirements during the competition.
- Intentional
interference with another competitor's vehicle and/or data link will
result in disqualification of the offending contestant's entry.
- Damaging the
course or deliberate movement of the obstacles or running over the
obstacles may result in disqualification.
- Actions designed
to damage or destroy an opponent's vehicle are not in the spirit of the
competition and will result in disqualification of the offending
contestant's entry.
III. DESIGN COMPETITION
All teams must participate in the Design Competition.
III.1 Objective
Although the ability of the vehicles to
negotiate the competition courses is the ultimate measure of product quality,
the officials are also interested in the design strategy and process that
engineering teams follow to produce their vehicles. Design judging will be by a panel of expert
judges and will be conducted separate from and without regard to vehicle
performance on the test course. Judging will be based on a written report, an
oral presentation and examination of the vehicle.
Design innovation is a primary objective
of this competition and will be given increased attention by the judges. Two forms of innovation will be judged: First
will be a technology (hardware or software) that is new to this competition;
and Second will be a substantial subsystem or software upgrade to a vehicle
previously entered in the competition.
In both cases the innovation needs to be documented, as an innovation, clearly
in the written report and emphasized in the oral presentation. Either, or both,
forms of innovation will be included in the judges’ consideration.
The report should not exceed 15 letter-sized pages, including
graphic material and all appendices, but not including the title page. Line spacing must be at least 1.5, with at
least a 10 point font (12 is preferred). Each vehicle must have a distinct and complete
report of its own (a report cannot cover more than one vehicle). Participants are required to submit four hard
copies of the report and an electronic copy on a CD; failure to submit either
of these will result in disqualification. All reports, both for new vehicles and for
earlier vehicles
with design changes, must include a statement signed by the faculty advisor
certifying that the engineering design in the vehicle (original or changes) by
the current student team has been significant and equivalent to what might be
awarded credit in a senior design course. Everything must be mailed so
as to arrive by May 18, 2009,
addressed to:
Bernard
Theisen
Written reports arriving after that
date will lose 10 points in scoring for each business day late, electronic
copies arriving after that date will lose 5 points in scoring for each business
day late. Teams are encouraged to submit reports even several weeks
early to avoid the last minute rush of preparing vehicles for the competition,
and there will be no penalty for last minute changes in the vehicle from the
design reported. The electronic copy of
the report will be posted on the competition's web site in PDF format after the
completion of the competition.
The paper should present the conceptual design of the vehicle
and its components. Especially important to highlight are any unique innovative
aspects of the design and the intelligence aspects of the vehicle. Also
included must be descriptions of:
|
electronics |
design planning
process |
|
electrical system |
signal processing |
|
actuators |
plan for path
following |
|
software strategy |
(both solid &
dashed lines) |
|
sensors |
plan for control
decisions |
|
computers |
system
integration plan |
Design
of the lane following and obstacle detection/avoidance systems must be
specifically described. Also, the system used for waypoint navigation should be
detailed.
Components acquired
ready-made must be identified, but their internal components need not be
described in detail. The steps followed during the design process should be
described along with any use of Computer-Aided Design. How considerations of
safety, reliability, and durability were addressed in the design process should
be specifically described, as well as problems encountered in the design
process and how they were overcome. The
analysis leading to the predicted performance of the vehicle should be
documented, specifically:
·
Speed
·
Ramp
climbing ability
·
Reaction
times
·
·
Distance
at which obstacles are detected
·
How
the vehicle deals with complex obstacles including switchbacks and center
islands dead ends, traps, and potholes
·
Accuracy
of arrival at navigation waypoints
·
Comparison
of these predictions with actual trial data is desirable.
Although cost itself
is not a factor in judging (these are considered research vehicles), the report
should include a cost estimate (not counting student labor) for the final product
if it were to be duplicated. A breakdown of the cost by component is helpful.
The
team organization and the names of all members of the design team, with
academic department and class, should be included along with an estimate of the
project's total number of person-hours expended.
Vehicles
that have been entered in IGVC in earlier years and have not had significant
changes in design are ineligible in either the design or performance events.
Vehicles that have been changed significantly in design (hardware or software)
from an earlier year are eligible, but will require a completely new design
report (15 pages or less) treating both the old and new features, thus
describing the complete vehicle as if it were all new.
|
Judges will score
the written reports as follows: |
Maximum Points |
|
1. Conduct of the design process and team
organization
(including decision-making & software development) |
50 |
|
2. Completeness of
the documentation |
50 |
|
3. Quality of
documentation (English, grammar, and style) |
50 |
|
4. Effective
innovation represented in the design (as described above) |
250 |
|
5. Description of
electronic design* |
100 |
|
6. Description of
software strategy* |
100 |
|
7. Description of
systems integration* |
100 |
|
*Descriptions to
include:
lane following, obstacle detection/ avoidance, and waypoint navigation (GPS
or other) |
|
|
8. Efficient use of
power and materials |
50 |
|
9. Attention given
to safety, reliability, and durability |
50 |
|
Total |
800 |
The
technical talk should relate the highlights of the written report described
above and include any updates of the design since the written report. Audio or
video tape presentations of the text are not allowed, but graphic aids may be
presented by video tape, slide projection, computer projection, overhead
transparencies, or easel charts. The presentation must be made by one or more
student members of the team to the judges and other interested members of the
audience and should last not more than 10 minutes. A penalty of 5 points will be
assessed for each minute or fraction thereof over 11 minutes. After the
presentation, judges only may ask questions for up to 5 minutes. The audience
should be considered as a senior management group of generally knowledgeable
engineers upon whom the project is dependent for funding and the team is
dependent for their employment. Scoring will be as follows:
|
Judges
will score the oral presentations as follows: |
Maximum Points |
|
1.Clear and
understandable explanation of the innovations |
50 |
|
2.
Logical organization of the talk
|
25 |
|
3. Effective use of
graphic aids |
25 |
|
4. Articulation |
20 |
|
5. Demonstrated
simulation of vehicle control in performance events |
10 |
|
6. Response to
questions |
10 |
|
7. Salesmanship |
10 |
|
Total |
150 |
Effective
use of graphic aids includes not blocking the view of the screen by the
presenter and simple enough graphics that are large enough to read (block
diagrams rather than detailed circuit diagrams). Articulation refers to the
clarity and loudness of speaking. Response to questions means short answers
that address only the question. Salesmanship refers to the enthusiasm and pride
exhibited (why this vehicle is the best).
Participants are responsible for providing
their own visual aids and related equipment (the vehicle itself may be
displayed). A computer-connected projector and VHS VCR player will be made
available. Projectors may also be
supplied by the participants.
III.4 Examination of the
Vehicle
The
vehicle must be present and will be examined by the judges preferably
immediately after the oral presentation or at another convenient time the time
during the competition. Software is not included in this judging. Judging will
be as follows:
|
Judges will score the vehicle examinations
as follows: |
Maximum Points |
|
1. Packaging
neatness, efficient use of space |
20 |
|
2. Serviceability |
20 |
|
3. Ruggedness |
20 |
|
4. Safety |
20 |
|
5. Degree of
original content in the vehicle (as opposed to ready-made) |
50 |
|
6. Style (overall
appearance) |
20 |
|
Total |
150 |
The
number of points awarded by the individual judges will be averaged for each of
the 21 judging areas above, and these results will be offered to each participating
team for their edification. The total of the average scores over all 22 areas
(max 1100) will be used to determine the award winners.
When two teams of judges are used (due to a large number of
entries) each judging team will determine the top three winners in their group,
and the resulting six contestants will participate in a runoff of oral
presentations and vehicle examinations judged by all judges. Those results will be combined with the
original written report scores to determine the final winner.
All teams must pass Qualification to participate in this event.
Navigation
is a practice that is thousands of years old. It is used on land by
hikers and soldiers, on the sea by sailors, and in the air by pilots.
Procedures have continuously improved from line-of-sight to moss on trees to
dead reckoning to celestial observation to use of the Global Positioning System
(GPS). The challenge in this event is for a vehicle to autonomously travel
from a starting point to a number of target destinations (waypoints or
landmarks) and return to home base, given only the coordinates of the targets in
latitude and longitude.
It
is expected that most contestants will use Differential GPS, but
non-differential GPS is allowed as well as dead reckoning with compasses,
gyros, and wheel odometers. Vision systems and/or sonar and laser
rangefinders may be used for obstacle detection. There are a number of
handheld GPS systems that connect to laptop computers available on the market
for under $200. Garmin, SkyMap/GPS, and
Magellan are some; Earthmate even has one for Macintosh. These may not be convenient to integrate in
vehicle control programs. However, differential GPS units are available
from Hemisphere GPS, Trimble, Thales, Magellan, Garmin, NovAtel, and Starlink
(and possibly others). Differential correction signals are available in
the
The
map in the figure below shows a typical course for the Navigation
Challenge. This is a practice map for use by teams during development of
their vehicle. Coordinates for the actual navigation course
waypoints will be given to the contestants on June 6, 2009 in degrees
latitude and longitude, but no XY map will be provided. There will be three starting boxes that serve
also as waypoints. (To locate the course
perimeter, the southwestern corner of the course will be 10 meters west and 30
meters south of the westernmost starting box. The course is oriented to true
north.)
The competition c
The course will be divided into two areas by a fence with a 2
meter wide opening located somewhere along it (no coordinates are provided).
The opening will be randomly relocated along the fence at the start of each
run. Waypoints south of the fence (the
Valley) will have 4 meter
diameter circles or squares around them, and waypoints north of the fence (the
No
team participant is allowed on the c
2009 Practice Map for the Navigation Course
IV.4 RUN PROCEDURE AND SCORING
It
is intended that each team will be allowed up to three tries on the course, the
trial with the best performance being used for scoring. Starting times will be
first-come-first-served, except that teams up for their first trial will have
priority over those wanting a second or third trial, and teams up for a second
trial will have priority over those wanting a third trial. (It is unlikely that
there will be time in the day for all registered teams to get three tries.)
Vehicles will park in one of the three starting boxes selected by
the judges and have 5 minutes for final adjustments before starting. Judges
will ensure that the vehicle uses a different starting box for each run. Vehicles may seek the waypoints in any order,
and the vehicle actually reaching the most waypoints (counting also the
Start/Finish boxes) in the allotted six minute run time will be the
winner. But the vehicle must finish in the same box in which it
started. If two or more vehicles reach
the same number of waypoints, the vehicle doing so in the least time will be
declared the leader. If two or more vehicles reach the same number of
waypoints while stopped by the six-minute rule, they will be declared tied and
will share any awards.
If a vehicle fails to come within two meters of a target in the
southern area of the course or one meter in the northern area, it will not be
judged to have reached that target. In order to qualify for standard award
money a vehicle must reach at least six waypoints (not counting the finish
box).
All runs will be
terminated by an E-stop (by the students or the judges) signaled by a judge’s
whistle or bell, either:
- When
the vehicle arrives back at the original starting point or enters that
starting box any time after first leaving it.
- If any part of
the vehicle leaves the perimeter of the field
- If the
vehicle strikes any obstacle.
- If
six minutes have elapsed since the start of the run (220 meters in six
minutes is 1.4 miles
per hour).
- In all cases the
judges' call will be final.
V. JAUS Challenge
Participation in the JAUS Challenge is recommended.
V.1 Technical Overview
Each
entry will interface with the Judge’s COP providing information as specified
below. The general approach to the JAUS
interface will be to respond to a periodic status and position requests from
the COP. This requires the support of
the JAUS Transport Specification (AS5669, revision 1) and the JAUS Core Service
Set (AS5710). The JAUS Transport
Specification will specify the Ethernet (JUDP) and serial (JSerial) protocols. The Core services required for the
competition include the discovery, access control, and management
services. The JAUS Mobility Service Set
(AS6009) or JSS-Mobility defines the messaging to be used for position
communications and status messaging.
V.2 Communications
Protocols
The
teams will implement a communications link between their system and the COP.
This link can employ either 802.3 or RS-232 protocols. In either case, if Radio Frequency (RF) other
than 802.11b/g is employed in the data link, it is the responsibility of the
student teams to provide the proper radio set and cables for a complete 2-way
link between their system and the COP.
The interface can be implemented at any point in the student team’s
system including the control station or mobility platform.
For teams using Ethernet
communications, the Internet Protocol (IP) address to be used will be provided
at the competition. For planning
purposes, this address will be in the range of 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.200. The Judge’s COP will have both hard-wire and
802.11b/g capabilities. All teams will
be provided an IP address to be used during the competition. Even for those teams using the JSerial
protocol, the last octet of the IP address is significant, as it will also be
used in the team’s JAUS Identifier or JAUS ID.
The port number for all JAUS traffic shall be 3794.
Use
of the RS-232 serial protocol will be limited to 115Kbps data transfers for
consistency in configurations. Further
the 8-N-1 (eight (8) data bits, no (N) parity bit, and one (1) stop bit)
character framing will be used. The
RS-232 physical interface will be via a standard DB9 connector. AS5669 dictates the detail of the protocol
with regard to transmission of JAUS data.
V.3 JAUS Specific Data
The JAUS ID mentioned above is a critical
piece of data used by a JAUS node to route messages to the correct process or
attached device. As indicated above each
team will be provided an IP address in which the last octet will be used in
their respective JAUS ID. A JAUS ID
consists of three elements, a Subsystem ID, a Node ID and a Component ID. The Subsystem ID uniquely identifies a major
element that is an unmanned system, an unmanned system controller or some other
entity on a network with unmanned systems.
The COP will be a subsystem as will each team’s entry in the
competition. A Node ID is unique within
a subsystem and identifies a processing element on which JAUS Components can be
found. A Component ID is unique within a
Node represents an end-point to and from which JAUS messages are sent and
received.
The last octet of the assigned IP address
will be used as the team’s JAUS Subsystem ID.
So for the team assigned the IP address of 192.168.1.155, the completed
JAUS ID of the position-reporting component might be 155-1-1 where the node and
component are both assigned the IDs of 1.
This is shown in the figure below.
The Node ID and Component ID are discussed further in the JAUS Service
Interface Definition Language standard (AS5684).
EXAMPLE
ENTRY’S IP ADDRESS: 192.168.1.155
EXAMPLE
ENTRY’S JAUS ID: 155-1-1 (Subsystem-Node-Component)
Figure
1, IP and JAUS ID Assignment
V.4 Application and
Transport Level Discovery
For any two elements
in the system to communicate meaningful data there must first be a handshake of
sorts to ensure both sides use the same protocols and are willing participants
in the interaction. There are various
approaches used including broadcast, multicast and a priori arrangements. For the sake of simplicity we will use the
latter. The IP address and JAUS ID of
the Judge’s COP are:
COP IP ADDRESS: 192.168.1.90:3794
COP JAUS ID: 90-1-1 (Subsystem-Node-Component)
Common
Operating Picture IP and JAUS ID Assignment
For the competitions,
the discovery process will occur at the application layer. The student team’s JAUS element will send a
request for identification to the COP once every 5 seconds. The COP will respond with the appropriate informative
message and request identification in return from the team’s JAUS interface. After the identification report from the COP,
the team entry will stop repeating the request.
This transaction will serve as the discovery between the two elements.
Transport
Discovery Using Application Messaging
Note that the team
may select any node and component identifiers for all implemented
services. However, the discovery service
must reside at the JAUS ID that sent the initial periodic Query Identification
message. The discovery protocol will
then resolve the JAUS IDs for the remaining services.
Once the discovery
handshake is completed for the student team’s entry, it will be assumed by the
COP that the protocols identified in the following section are
implemented.
The Discovery service
defined in the AS5710 (JSS-Core) document requires the inheritance of the
Events and Transport service. The Event
Service will not be used in any capacity in the JAUS Challenge for 2009.
V.5 Messaging Protocols
Messages passed
between the COP and the team entries will include relative or absolute
position, orientation, status and state, the details of which are specified by
the competition. The COP will initiate
all requests subsequent to the discovery process described above. A system management component will be
required by all teams. This interface
will implement the messages defined by the Management Service defined in the
JSS-Core. This service inherits the
Access Control, Events and Transport services also defined by the JSS-Core
document. The implementation of the
Access Control interfaces will be necessary to meet the JAUS Challenge
requirements. Therefore the sequence
diagram above can be re-written to show the following transactions for
discovery, access control setup and system control.
Application
Discovery and System Management
Upon receipt of the
“Resume” command by the COP, the team’s entry will commence the execution of
the mission prescribed by the competition organizers. Once the management service has placed the
system in a READY state, the request for position and status reports will
begin. These interactions are described
in the following sequence diagrams.
Position
and Orientation Reporting
For those competitions unable to accommodate
reporting of position and status during the mission execution itself, the above
transaction will occur immediately following the event when communications
between the COP and remote vehicle can be re-established. For those systems, the messaging interactions
are still valid; however they are not tied to the timing of the mission execution
with the exception of ensuring the time contained within each position report
is valid with respect to the vehicle’s clock.
In other words, the position reports must show that the travel occurred
at a reasonable speed and not instantaneously.
V.6 The Common Operating Picture (COP)
The COP will provide
a high level view of the systems in operation that successfully implement the
JAUS protocol as described above. This
software is a simple validation, reporting and recording tool for the Judges to
use while verifying student implementations of the JAUS standard. It provides a graphical display of the
operational area in relative coordinates.
Primitive graphics are loaded in the display to add perspective. Each recorded position is accompanied by a
data entry with speed, orientation and state recorded near the time of the
position report. The COP executable
software will be made available to
VI. AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
All schools are only eligible to win award money once per event (Autonomous Challenge,
Design Competition, Navigation Challenge and JAUS Challenge); if more then one
team from the same school places in the same event, only the highest placing
team will be placed in a standing and receive money for that event.
vI.1 Autonomous Challenge Competition
Autonomous
Competition Standard Awards
Nominal
Award Money
(Short of money barrel)
vI.2 Vehicle Design Competition
Design
Competition Standard Awards
Nominal
Award Money
(Vehicle did not pass Qualification)
vI.3 Navigation Challenge Competition
Navigation
Competition Standard Awards
Nominal
Award Money
(Did not make 7 waypoints)
vi.5 JAUS Challenge
Schools that complete the JAUS Challenge
shall receive an award of $500. Multiple
teams from a school can compete in the JAUS challenge; however, there will only
be one monetary prize per school. All
schools and teams participating in the JAUS Challenge will be individually
recognized on the IGVC website.
vi.5 ROOKiE-OF-THE-YEAR AWARD
The Rookie-of-the-Year Award will be
given out to a team from a new school competing for the first time ever or a
school that has not participated in the last five competitions (for this year
the team would be eligible if they haven’t competed since the ninth IGVC in 2003). To win the Rookie-of-the-Year Award the team
must be the best of the eligible teams competing and perform to the minimum
standards of the following events. In
the Design Competition you must pass Qualification, in the Autonomous Challenge
you must pass the Rookie Barrel and in the Navigation Challenge you must make
three waypoints. The winner of the Rookie-of-the-Year
Award will receive $1,000 in award money; in the case the minimum requirements
are not met the best of the eligible teams competing will receive $500.
vi.6 GRAND
AWARD
The Grand Award trophies will be, presented
to the top three teams that perform the best overall (combined scores per
below), in all three competitions. For
each competition, points will be awarded to each team, below is a breakdown of
the points:
|
Autonomous
Challenge |
Passed
Money Barrel |
Short
of Money Barrel |
|
|
48 |
24 |
|
|
40 |
20 |
|
|
32 |
16 |
|
|
24 |
12 |
|
|
16 |
8 |
|
|
8 |
4 |
|
Design
Competition |
Vehicle
Qualified |
Vehicle
Failed to Qualify |
|
|
24 |
12 |
|
|
20 |
10 |
|
|
16 |
8 |
|
|
12 |
6 |
|
|
8 |
4 |
|
|
4 |
2 |
|
Navigation
Challenge |
Completed
7 Waypoints |
Short
of 7 Waypoints |
|
|
36 |
12 |
|
|
30 |
10 |
|
|
24 |
8 |
|
|
18 |
6 |
|
|
12 |
4 |
|
|
6 |
2 |
|
JAUS
Challenge |
Completed
Demonstration |
Report
Only |
|
Level
4 |
6 |
2 |
vi.7 Publication and Recognition
International
recognition of all participating teams through AUVSI and SAE publications.
Special recognition for the vehicles will be held at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
International’s Unmanned Systems North
America 2009 Symposium & Exhibition Held at Washington
Convention Center in
Washington, DC on August 10TH – 13TH,
2009
All
teams are invited to display the winning vehicles in the AUVSI exhibit halls.
Videotapes
& CDs of the competition event will be distributed to sponsors, media and
the public. All design reports,
articles, videos and pictures will be post on the IGVC website www.igvc.org.
If you
have any questions, please feel free to contact any of the following IGVC
Officials:
IGVC Co-Chairs:
Bill
Agnew Society of
Automotive Engineers agnew26@comcast.net
Ka C Cheok Oakland
University cheok@oakland.edu
Autonomous Challenge
Lead Judges:
Ka
C Cheok Oakland
University cheok@oakland.edu
Design Competition
Lead Judge:
Bill
Agnew Society of
Automotive Engineers agnew26@comcast.net
Navigation Challenge
Lead Judges:
Jeff
Jaczkowski PEO GCS RS JPO jeffrey.jaczkowski@us.army.mil
Chris
Mocnik U.S. Army TARDEC chris.mocnik@us.army.mil
JAUS Challenge Lead
Judge:
Dan
Gehring U.S. Army AMRDEC daniel.g.gehring@us.army.mil
Woody
English DeVivo AST woodyenglish@devivoast.com
Administrative:
Director of
Operations:
Bernard
Theisen U.S. Army TARDEC bernard.theisen@us.army.mil
|
Name |
Years as Editor |
|
Bernard
Theisen |
2006-2009 |
|
Greg
Gill |
2005-2006 |
|
Bernard
Theisen |
2004-2005 |
|
Dan
Maslach |
2003-2004 |
|
Bernard
Theisen |
2001-2003 |
|
Stephen
W. Roberts |
2000-2001 |
|
Scot
Wheelock |
1999-2000 |
|
Geoff
Clark |
1998-1999 |
|
G. Edzko
Smid |
1997-1998 |
|
Candy
McLellan and G. Edzko Smid |
1996-1997 |
|
|
1992-1996 |
IGVC
Rules Editors
January
9, 2009 Version