I am helping an undergraduate team with their Teknofest Fighter UAV Competition. The most difficult technical challenge is autonomously detecting and following other fixed-wing UAVs in the air. Teams must use a single stationary camera—no gimbals are allowed [Specification 6.1].
My first piece of advice to the team was to set realistic expectations and define intermediate success metrics, so that regardless of the final outcome, they can feel good about their progress. Last year's winning team was established in 2017 and reused a UAV they had been improving since 2020, which shows that having a realistic chance of winning requires several years of preparation.The domains in which you need to be knowledgeable include:
- Image processing, object tracking
- Airplane aerodynamics
- Mechanics
- Guidance and navigation for autonomous take-off, flight, waypoint navigation, target tracking, landing
- Embedded software development for UAV avionics, real-time operating systems
- Ground station software development
- Telecommunications for telemetry and commands from ground station
- System identification
- Manufacturing and system integration
- Use of simulation tools (e.g., ArduPilot SITL, Gazebo)
- Public relations and marketing to acquire necessary resources (~$5,000)
- Ground testing of individual components and the integrated system
- Manual flight of the UAV for system identification maneuvers
- Autonomous UAV flight testing
Mastering all of these domains is beyond the capability of any undergraduate team. Fortunately, systems like Pixhawk Cube Orange and PX4 Autopilot handle autonomous flight, NVIDIA Jetson series can handle object detection, and ready-made airframes like the X-UAV Talon reduce the production burden. This allows the team to focus on tracking the target UAV in the video feed and generating appropriate guidance commands for their own UAV to follow it.
In light of all the above, here are my suggested success metrics:
- Pass the Technical Qualification Form
- Learn how to use ArduPilot SITL with Gazebo
- Pass the Critical Design Report
- Obtain monetary/component sponsorship
- Ground test all components
- Submit System Identification and Flight Evidence Video
- Qualify as a finalist
- Participate in the competition and complete at least one mission
- Win a prize in the competition
- Win first place