Teams may now register for the 2016 High-School Airborne Delivery Challenge. Please check the UAV Challenge High-School page for details.

Hand launch of a UAV at the 2015 high-school UAV Challenge at Calvert, Ipswich.

The UAV Challenge Technical Committee today released an updated version of the competition rules (version 3) for the  2016 UAV Challenge Medical Express competition. This should be the final rules update prior to the Deliverable 2 submission by teams (due 13 April, 2016). A template for the Deliverable 2 compliance statement was also released along with a sample mission boundary file in KMZ format. The Technical Committee wish the teams luck in the run up to the D2 deadline.

The Dalby Model Aero Club (DMAC) – The Base for the 2016 UAV Challenge Medical Express competition

UAV Challenge legend, Andrew Tridgell, who was a member of the CanberraUAV team (winner of the UAV Challenge Outback Rescue in 2012 and 2014) has given a great lecture at linux.conf.au 2016 where he talks in some detail about the UAV Challenge and how he helped create the APM series of open source autopilots. The lecture is well worth a watch. Watch the full video here.

We are please to announce that the rules for the 2016 Airborne Delivery Challenge for high-school age students have now been released. This will be the only high-school competition this year with no Robotic Delivery Challenge. Exciting changes this year include the use of digital shock meters on the dropped payload and a cash prize for the best rookie team! Schools that have not taken part before but are interested are encouraged to contact us to see if we can find local mentors with RC aircraft experience, and UAV Challenge experience, that may be able to assist.

A MUROC UAV flying at the very first Airborne Delivery Challenge in 2007

Did you know that 2016 is the tenth year of the UAV Challenge. Our series of competitions began in 2007 with the first combined UAV Challenge Outback Rescue and Airborne Delivery Challenge event in Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia. Since then over 2,000 team members have attended UAV Challenge events. 2016 will be the biggest year yet for the UAV Challenge with two weeks of competitions in two towns. The high-school Airborne Delivery Challenge will take place from 20 September 2016 in Calvert near Ipswich. Then the following week, the inaugural Medical Express event will take place in Dalby. Make sure that you stay tuned into the action, announcements and progress. Its going to be a great year!

A UAV prepares to take off at the first UAV Challenge Outback Rescue competition in 2007.

A paper by some of the members of the UAV Challenge Technical Committee has been accepted for publication in IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine. You can download a PDF pre-print of the paper here.

This paper describes the story of the UAV Challenge Search and Rescue event from 2007 until it was finally completed in 2014. The paper outlines the competition format, a history of what happened each year and a summary of what the UAV Challenge achieved in that period. Download it now and have a read.

All the official photos from the 2015 UAV Challenge high-school events are now available in full via the UAV Challenge Media page. These photos are kindly hosted by CSIRO. Thanks to photographer Stefan Hrabar from Data61 at CSIRO for his amazing work.

The UAV Challenge Technical Committee today announced that the venue for the 2016 UAV Challenge Medical Express competition will be Dalby, Queensland, Australia. The Base for the event will be the Dalby Model Aero Club (DMAC). A rules update was also launched today, with Version 2 of the rules now available on the Medical Express Page. A full list of changes to the rules can be found on page 5 of v2 of the rules document. Finally, it was announced today, that the date of the Medical Express event has been pushed back by one week (to 27 September 2016), along with the due date of the Deliverable 3. Please see the Medical Express page for further details.

An academic paper in the Journal of Safety Science has just been published the two members of our past and present Technical Committees. It is a landmark paper showing how unmanned aircraft and traditionally piloted aircraft can share the same non-segregated airspace. You can access the paper via our Publications page.

The UAV Challenge organisers are very pleased to pass on the following exciting announcement from our Bronze Sponsor LightWare Optoelectronics

LightWare Optoelectronics is delighted to announce our equipment sponsorship of the 2016 UAV Challenge Medical Express.

“The UAV Challenge plays a fundamental role in advancing UAV technologies.” Says James Portman, CEO of LightWare. “We want to ensure the participating teams have access to the best technology to enable them to succeed in this competition. Of course, there is the fun factor: what is more exciting than playing with a new high tech gadget?”

With over 30 years experience in laser sensor technology, LightWare has developed a range of lightweight laser rangefinder altimeters and collision avoidance sensors for drones. These laser rangefinders interface easily with flight controllers to assist with: AGL altitude maintenance; terrain following; precision hovering; and landing safety.

LightWare is sponsoring one SF10/B laser rangefinder to each of the first twenty teams successfully passing the Deliverable 2 milestone that apply. First-come, first-served: eligible teams must email LightWare directly to claim their rangefinder after May 1st 00:00 UTC.

LightWare wishes all participating teams the best for this challenging event.

Email: info@lightware.co.za Web: www.lightware.co.za Phone: +27 12 942 0408