The UAV Challenge - Outback Rescue, often referred to as simply the UAV Outback Challenge or UAV Challenge, began in 2007 and has been held every year since. The event is aimed at promoting the civilian use of unmanned aerial vehicles and the development of low-cost systems that could be used for search and rescue missions.[1] The event is a cooperative effort between the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (a partnership between CSIRO and Queensland University of Technology) and the Queensland State Government. From 2007 to 2009 the event was also co-organised with Boeing Defence Australia. There is a thorough scoring system with a clear emphasis on safety, capability and technical excellence.[2] The format of the Challenge changed in 2011 with the Search and Rescue Challenge moving to a two-year long event meaning the next Kingaroy event will take place in 2012.
The event is one of the largest robotics challenges in the world and one of the highest stakes UAV challenges, with $50,000 on offer to the winner of the Search and Rescue segment of the Challenge. The Search and Rescue Challenge takes place in Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia at the airport.
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The Search and Rescue Challenge is open for worldwide participation by universities and hobbyists.
'Outback Joe' is lost in the Australian outback and in need of assistance. Teams must develop a platform to accurately pinpoint the simulated target and accurately deliver an emergency package via an airdrop. The mission area is nearly 2 km from the airport and is approximately 4 km x 6 km. Teams must not fly greater than 1500 ft above ground level (AGL).
The overall mission requirements are targeted towards safety, excellence of the platform and innovation. There are a number of milestones leading up to the challenge dates.
This challenge is open to Australian high school students. The objective is to create a future generation of aerospace professionals with a focus on UAVs.
An airframe has to be built and the mission is executed by two persons who will not communicate during the mission and will have technological targeting solutions in place:
Other team members are permitted and many teams have roles for a team manager, media manager and safety manager.
In 2009 and 2010 a Robot Airborne Delivery Challenge was also held in parallel to the main Airborne Delivery Challenge. The Robot competition was dropped in 2011 in favor of bonus points for autonomous payload dropping in the Airborne Delivery Challenge.
It was reported, just prior to the 2011 event, that the UAV Challenge had inspired nineteen year old Chelsea Redman to become an aerospace engineer.[3]
Outback Joe is the target of the Search and Rescue and Airborne Delivery Challenges. Joe is a mysterious local bushwalker that tends to get lost near Kingaroy airport every September. He is represented by a 50 kg mannequin dressed in jeans, a work shirt, work boots and the iconic Australian hat, the Akubra. In 2010, Outback Joe was spotted from the aircraft of the University of North Dakota team lying next to his broken down "ute". Teams, spectators (at the event and remote) and media keep up-to-date with UAV Challenge activities by following outback_joe on Twitter and Outback Joe on Facebook.
The UAV Challenge was conceived in late 2005 by Rodney Walker (QUT), Jonathan Roberts (CSIRO) and George Curran (CSIRO). Their idea was to create an annual event that would help develop young people's enthusiasm and skills in the UAV industry and help educate the general public on the potential roles of UAVs in non-military situations. Rod Walker, a Professor at Queensland University of Technology, passed away in October 2011, aged 42.[4]
The 2012 event will be held at Kingaroy and will follow a similar format to the 2010 competition with both a Search and Rescue and Airborne Delivery Challenge. The 2012 Search and Rescue competition actually began in 2011 when the competition became 18 months in duration.
On 16 March 2011, the UAV Challenge organizers announced major changes to the format of the Challenges.[5] Stated changes included a new longer format Search and Rescue Challenge that results in an event at Kingaroy being held every two years instead of every year (as was done from 2007 to 2010) and the development of Australian State Championships for the Airborne Delivery Challenge. The organizers were quoted as saying that they believe this will lead to "more participants competing with a very high standard of UAV capability".
For the first time, the event was not held at Kingaroy. Instead an Airborne Delivery Challenge (High-School teams) championship was held at Calvert Radio Aero Modellers Society flying field (approximately 25 km west of Ipswich, Queensland) between September 27 and 28[6].
| Airborne Delivery Challenge | Prize | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| First place | AU$8,000.00 | Calamvale Lightning |
| Second place | AU$4,000.00 | MUROC Masters |
| Third place | AU$2,000.00 | Aviation High Team Spectrum |
| Airmanship award | T-shirt and Mars Bar | Jordan Tonges (Aviation High Le Phoenix) |
In 2011 the UAV Challenge was organised by ARCAA (QUT and CSIRO) and AUVS-Australia. It was sponsored by Queensland Government, had the assistance of Ipswich City Council, and technical staff from Boeing, UAS Pacific and Skills Queensland.
The 2010 UAV Challenge took place between September 27 and 29. In the Search and Rescue competition a team from the University of North Dakota became the first in UAV Challenge history to successfully locate Outback Joe, managing to pinpoint his location to within 15 m (from 800 ft AGL).[7] However, they failed to drop a water bottle within 100 m (as required by the rules) and hence did not win the AU$50,000 prize.[8] Team Robota, from Texas, was awarded second place after their aircraft successfully entered the search area but had to abort the mission due to a technical issue.[9] A total of 49 teams entered the Search and Rescue competition with only six flying at the event.
| Challenge | Grand prize | Winners | Encouragement awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search and Rescue Challenge | AU$50,000.00 | (not completed) | University of North Dakota (AU$15,000), Team Robota (AU$5,000) |
| Robot Airborne Delivery Challenge | AU$10,000.00 | (not completed) | - |
| Airborne Delivery Challenge | AU$5,000.00 | Calamvale Hornets | - |
| Documentary challenge | AU$5,000.00 | Latitude 38 UAV | N/A |
In 2010 the UAV Challenge was organised by ARCAA (QUT and CSIRO), Queensland Government and Aviation Development Australia Limited. It was sponsored by Insitu, CASA, Australian Defence Magazine, AUVS-Australia, Boeing, CAE Inc. and South Burnett Regional Council.
The 2009 UAV Challenge was announced in the December/January 2008 issue of Aviation Business Asia Pacific magazine. The 2009 event took place between September 28 and October 1. The combined challenge award funds were AU$70,000.00. In addition to the traditional Search and Rescue Challenge and Airborne Delivery Challenge, there was a new Robot Airborne Delivery Challenge open to high-school students. The two separate documentary challenges of the previous years were combined into a single Documentary Challenge.
2009 was the first year that teams managed to enter the search area. Team Galah suffered an engine shutdown just inside the search area and made an emergency landing less than 100 m from Outback Joe (although they were not aware of this at the time). Team Melbourne UAV were en route to the search area when high wind conditions flipped their aircraft causing it to enter flight termination mode. The airframe was lost due to high impact with the ground.[10]
| Challenge | Grand prize | Winners | Encouragement awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search and Rescue Challenge | AU$50,000.00 | (not completed) | Melbourne UAV (AU$7,500), Team Galah (AU$7,500) |
| Robot Airborne Delivery Challenge | AU$10,000.00 | Look mAh! No Hands!, Brisbane Grammar School | - |
| Airborne Delivery Challenge | AU$5,000.00 | Cloud 9, Aviation High | Wynnum North State High School (AU$500) |
| Documentary challenge | AU$5,000.00 | Melbourne UAV | N/A |
The 2008 UAV Outback Challenge was held between September 22 and 24 and had a combined prize fund of AU$70,000.[11] The prize for completing the Search and Rescue Challenge was increased to AU$50,000. 51 teams from 8 different countries entered with 17 qualifying for the event. As in 2007, teams failed to complete the Search and Rescue mission, with no teams passing stringent flight scrutineering and hence no flights left the airport for the search area.
| Challenge | Grand prize | Winners | Encouragement awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search and Rescue Challenge | AU$50,000.00 | (not completed) | Telemasters (AU$5,000), Missouri S&T UAV Team (AU$3,000), QUT SRUAV 08 (AU$1,000), Missouri S&T UAV Team (AU$500) |
| High School Payload Delivery Challenge | AU$10,000.00 | Mueller College - MUROC Bush Pilots | TSHS Mt Lofty (AU$500) |
| Search and Rescue Documentary Challenge | AU$8,000.00 | Mueller College - MUROC Bush Masters | N/A |
| High School Documentary Challenge | AU$2,000.00 | Brisbane Boys’ College – Bash, Burn and Crash | N/A |
The first event was held between September 24 and 27.[12] It attracted 43 entries from 6 countries.[13] No teams passed flight scrutineering although Team Dionysus from the USA did demonstrate some autonomous flight at the airport. MUROC I, a high school team from Mueller College, won the inaugural Payload Delivery Challenge.
| Challenge | Grand prize | Winners | Encouragement awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search and Rescue Challenge | AU$40,000.00 | (not completed) | Dionysus |
| High School Payload Delivery Challenge | AU$10,000.00 | MUROC I (Mueller College) | N/A |
| Search and Rescue Documentary Challenge | N/A | Dionysus | N/A |
| High School Documentary Challenge | N/A | MUROC Combined | N/A |