Drone Based Search and Rescue Challenge in Kansas, USA


This will be my fourth drone based SAR challenge and a first time hosting it in Kansas. Seeing as this is the place for drone nuts I wanted to invite anyone that would like to attend. Below is the general description of the event as well as links to the contest rules. I highly encourage those with any experience level to make plans to attend!

For those of you that have been with NTDUG for a long time I’d like to offer up a throwback! With September 4th as the primary date and September 11th as a backup date I’d like to present a drone based Search and Rescue Challenge about 8 hours north of Dallas, TX. The location has been cleared by the Jayhawk Model Master’s RC club (and will be a fully sanctioned event) as well as the Army Core of Engineers for this use.

There is also a two day training course that NTDUG will be hosting in the DFW area as soon as the practice field has been approved! A separate meetup event will be made for the SAR training course but will not be required for entry in this SAR Challenge.

The event is free but due to the fact that this is a sanctioned AMA airfield only the Pilot In Charge (the person directly controlling the drone) will need to purchase a trial membership with the AMA at cost of approximately $20. Those who already have an AMA membership are good to go!

Individuals, colleges, companies, family teams or just a bunch of bros are welcome to participate!

Tentative Schedule is a follows:

• Sept 4th, 2021 and a backup date of Sept 11, 2021
• Event Officials arrive at 8AM
• Teams may arrive at the field no earlier than 8:30AM but may NOT unload/use/inspect equipment until after Team Briefings are concluded
• 9AM - 9:30AM Team Briefings/Group Photo
• 9:30AM – 10AM Ground Control Station Setup Begins and Ends
• 10AM – 10:30AM Flight testing/debugging allowed for all field, NO ACTIVE PAYLOADS at this time.
• 10:30AM – 12:30PM will be Flight Operations
• 12:30PM to 1PM will be lunch break/demos
• 1PM – 4PM will be Flight Operations possible extension for additional flights may occur
• 4PM – 5PM Final Image Analysis Reports must be turned in
• 5PM – 5:30PM Jayhawk Model Master’s SAR Challenge tallies are taken
• 5:30PM The winners are announced and a photo of all teams is retaken
• 5:30PM+ Field cleanup (all help for this is welcome)
As with all schedules there will be delays and unforeseen problems. All reasonable attempts will be made to keep the schedule.

A full description of contest rules are located at:

The link to the location’s hosting club website is:
http://jayhawkmodelmasters.com/

Please note that contest rules may change but if they do they will be updated via the link above and noted below.

Anyone may attend but teams must fill out the Entry Form located in the JMM SAR CHALLENGE word doc linked above. Please send the form to thearcdragon@yahoo.com.

For any questions or suggestions please feel free to call/text me at 980-333-2301 anytime!

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Hello,

There are 15 objects to find across the field, can you be a little specific about these objects (car or toothpick …) and are there any type of method to find them (I mean, remotely operated camera or fully autonomous object detection) ?

The objects will be mannequin parts, (torso, leg etc.) along with camping equipment type of objects (to be determined) as well as some painted 2x2 plywood pieces. The objects have not been set yet but will be along those lines. Most will be easy to spot but a few of the harder ones (like we used rope once) will be much harder to identify.

As far as detection/identification goes, nothing is off the table!

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Rules state you must specify field at the beginning of your flight time. Does this mean you pick whether you are attempting the advanced vs beginner field and cannot attempt both. What makes the advanced field so advanced - just the larger size?

Can you swap batteries during your flight time?

Yes, you must pick the field you are attempting. The advanced field is larger with more difficult terrain. The grass is taller and there are trees on the perimeter. There may also be some wildlife out there. The object that will be there will also be closer to real world objects which can be very difficult to see.

You can swap batteries or do as many sorties within your flight time as you wish.

Sounds good. So should the maximum points available through finding be updated to 30 points then? Since you can’t find all 15 targets due to their spread between both fields.

The current setup is that there are 5 objects in the beginners side and 10 on the advanced side, points are awarded for (basically) how well you identify and locate the objects. So, a perfect point allocation for a given object is 3 points so yes, 45 points is incorrect. It should be 35, 30 from the perfect finds in the advanced field along with the closest golf ball challenge.

Corrected, thanks!

Sounds good! Looks interesting.

Events and competitions are really a great way to advance everyone’s ability to use the system and for the developers to better understand what areas need work. Best of luck!

P.S. I added an image to the top of the post just to make it a bit more attractive when viewed from ardupilot.org. thanks!

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Looks great Mackay! TY!

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