Scoring

Teams will be judged in four different areas with a total of 162 points available. Some specific points will be announced in advanced while others will only be announced the morning of the competition. Teams should be flexible in the design and implementation of their drone platform to accommodate variations to these tasks and points.
*All competition rules and scoring are subject to change before final review the morning of the competition.


FAA RULES AND NAVIGATION (PRIOR TO AND DAY OF COMPETITION) - 20 POINTS

Teams will be assessed on their knowledge of FAA regulations and their ability to navigate the drone through a variety of tasks. These will include:

Points and Task

  • 4 Points:  FAA knowledge test (answering FAA regulation question in the "pit" area right before flight)
  • 4 Points: Fly to 3 m, hover, and return to ground within target area
  • 4 Points: Fly to 3 m, move horizontally to target and return to launch area
  • 8 Points: Fly through an obstacle and return safely to launch site
  • -3 Points: Drone crash that requires human assistance to correct (applied only once)
     

FAA knowledge will be tested both by the submission of the FAA TRUST Certificates and a knowledge test administers in the “pit” area right before each team’s flight time. Teams will be asked four questions and given 1 point for each correct answer. These questions will be derived from the FAA’s Rules for Recreational Flyers (see https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/). 

Multiple attempts can be made to successfully complete each navigation tasks, but each task can only be completed once. A judge will notify a team when a task is successfully completed.

A “crash” is any situation, e.g. caught in arena net, flipped drone, broken propeller, that requires human assistance to return drone into a state where it can fly again. Rough landings in arena space that do not require human intervention to regain controlled flight do not count as a crash. Repeated crashes may count against a team if controlled flight is regained in between crashes.

 

RECONNAISSANCE: OBSERVATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS (DAY OF COMPETITION) - 100 POINTS

Teams will be assessed on the number of successful reconnaissance tasks that are completed within the allotted time. Multiple tasks can be completed during any individual flight. These include:

Points and Task

  • 5 Points: Successful communication from sensor microcontroller to base
  • 5 Points: Successful demonstration of three operating sensors (reporting valid values to the ground control station)
  • 10 Points: : Land at a target location and read the ambient temperature
  • 15 Points: Land at a center location, measure the distance to a first target object with the LIDAR module, turn 180° in place, measure the distance to a second target object, and add the two values in the code
    • A judge will watch the output from the base to ensure that the values were not added by hand. Partial credit may be given for adding values by hand.
    • Partial credit (8 points) will be given for accurately measuring the distance to only one target.
  • 15 Points: Land on a platform and read an RFID tag.
  • 20 Points: Transmit a given digit over IR to a target receiver.
  • 30 Points: Land on a platform and read the color with a spectrometer, then convert the raw wavelengths back into a Hex color code or an RGB color code

All measurements must be reported on the “Mission Reconnaissance” form and turned in within the allotted time after flight time. Judges may award partial credit for measurements that are close to correct values.

If a drone crashes and becomes inoperable, teams may elect to cancel the rest of their flight time and “walk” the drone around the competition arena to make their measurements for half credit. All measurements must still be sent to the operator in the base area via Bluetooth. Note that not all measurements are eligible for “walked” drone credit.
 

MISSION PLANNING (SUBMITTED PRIOR TO COMPETITION DAY) - 20 POINTS

This is a written component of the competition (submitted by 5pm April 1, 2024). Points would be awarded in several areas:

  • Lunar Navigation, Communication, and Propulsion
  • High Score: 6 Points
  • Thorough assessment of propulsion options and control/navigation systems; feasibility on Lunar surface.
  • Medium Score: 4 Points
  • Most areas addressed; some gaps
  • Low Score: 2 Points
  • Some areas addressed but moderate gaps in technologies assessed
    Sensor Options and Review
  • High Score: 6 Points
  • Thorough assessment of possible sensor array and how it may be useful on the Lunar surface
  • Medium Score: 4 Points
  • Most areas addressed, some gaps
  • Low Score: 2 Points
  • Some areas addressed but moderate gaps in technologies assessed​​
    Assessment, Conclusions
  • High Score: 4 Points
  • Effective overall assessment of using UAV systems as part of the moon mission
  • Medium Score: 3 Points
  • Some overall assessment of UAV feasibility; gaps in coverage
  • Low Score: 2 Points
  • Lack of overall assessment of UAV feasibility on Lunar surface
    Sources and Bibliography
  • High Score: 4 Points
  • At least 10 sources, used appropriately in text, correctly formatted bibliography
  • Medium Score: 3 Points
  • At least 7 sources, mostly used appropriately in text, bibliography has some formatting mistakes
  • Low Score: 2 Points
  • At least 4 sources, only some used appropriately in text, bibliography incomplete or substantial formatting issues.​
APPLICATION DESIGN (SUBMITTED PRIOR TO COMPETITION DAY) - 22 POINTS
  • (6 Points) Look and feel of base station app
  • (8 Points) Codebase (submitted by 5pm April 1, 2025)
    • (2 Points) Best practices in codebase organization
    • (3 Points) Code originality
    • (1 Point) Code elegance
    • (2 Points) Good use of source control
  • (8 Points) Drone construction
    • (3 Points) Artistic expression
    • (5 Points) Intelligent engineering

Panoramic View of campus