2021–22 CITRIS Aviation Prize - CITRIS and the Banatao Institute

The inaugural CITRIS Aviation Prize challenged student teams to design, develop and demonstrate a long-distance, fully autonomous flight with a small UAV. This competition was open to all students at the four CITRIS campuses at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz.

The recipients of the first CITRIS Aviation Prize were announced in January 2022, and the winning team offered a CITRIS Research Exchange seminar, as well as a successful demonstration, later that year.

Overview

The 2021–22 CITRIS Aviation Prize, created in collaboration with the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC Berkeley, challenged student teams to design, develop and demonstrate an autonomous flight of at least 115 miles within a circuit of at least 5 miles in circumference with a small UAV, in full compliance with FAA Part 107 rules. This competition was open to all students at the four CITRIS campuses at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz.

The Competition

There were two phases in the competition:

In the design phase, we invited proposals that described in detail the implementation, including the aircraft, additional hardware and software, concept of operations, project budget (up to $25,000), and the proposed route of the demonstration flight. The best proposal was recognized with the first CITRIS Aviation Prize, including a $2,000 cash award to the winning team.
In the demonstration phase, the winning team, with support from aviation-focused faculty, students and staff from all four CITRIS campuses, demonstrated the actual flight, on a budget not exceeding $25,000. (Academic credit was offered for participation in the final project.)

Teams were instructed to consult the UC Drone Map as a planning resource.

How To Register

Team registration closed Oct. 31, 2021.

How To Win

To win, the teams were asked to create a proposal for a fully autonomous flight with a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The flight was required to be at least 115-mile long and flown within a circuit of at least 5 miles in circumference. It was required to include an environmental survey, and to be completed with a 45-minute reserve energy. The entire operation was required to be in compliance with FAA Part 107 rules, and to be completed on a project budget of $25,000 or less.

Proposals addressed these challenge goals:

Perform the entire flight autonomously, including takeoff, routing, targeted environmental survey, and landing.
Provide for autonomous obstacle avoidance and emergency landing capability, with automatic selection of a safe emergency landing spot.
Maintain visual line of sight (VLOS) throughout the mission, incorporating at least three control points, at least one of which should be mobile, and provide a safe procedure for switching control points mid-flight.
Incorporate 4/5G connectivity in addition to direct telemetry between the control points and the aircraft.
Show that the entire flight will be compliant for Operations Over People under FAA rules. Provide a safety management plan, including a risk matrix and risk mitigations.
Approximately mid-way through the flight, perform an environmental survey of a 200-acre plot (see detail below).

Proposals could not exceed 10 pages, including map(s) of the proposed flight and budget, and were submitted in PDF format. They were evaluated on how well they addressed the criteria above, the feasibility of the budget, and on the complexity of the route and survey proposed. Teams representing multiple CITRIS campuses were also encouraged.

Members of non-selected teams were offered an opportunity to apply to participate in the demonstration and implementation of the winning proposal in the spring.

Background Information

UAV Selection/Design
While students were free to propose their own UAV design for this competition, they were instructed to also consider commercially available aircraft and components that could fit the budget and requirements.

Route Selection and Visual Line of Sight
While the goal was to perform a fully autonomous flight, in order to maintain compliance with 14 CFR 107, the drone had to remain within visual line of sight of a Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) throughout the entirety of the flight. However, there was no restriction on the number of RPICs that could be used during flight operation. In addition, RPICs were not required to remain at a static location – a RPIC could operate from a moving vehicle in a sparsely populated area (14 CFR 107.25). In their proposals, teams were asked to propose a specific route along a circuit of at least 5 miles in circumference, keeping in mind that the total flight was required to be at least 115 miles, and to include an environmental survey (see below). Teams were asked to indicate where RPICs could be set up along with an assumed safe visual line of sight range of 2/3rds of a mile. Given that teams needed to provide for at least one mobile control point, they were asked to note that a RPIC could be a passenger in a boat or an off-road vehicle. The complexity, special features and challenges of the proposed route were taken into account during the evaluation of the proposals.

4/5G Connectivity
The future of unmanned aircraft includes a completely connected traffic management system. This project was intended to build toward it by incorporating 4/5G connectivity into the VTOL platform. The connectivity was required to provide a live video feed and telemetry information, as well as command/control functionality. Teams were asked to consider the role of cybersecurity to ensure a secure connection throughout the flight operation.

Operations Over People
Future flight operations will require authorizations to fly over people. New regulations (14 CFR 107 Subpart D) introduced the necessary requirements to fly over people for four different categories. Only Category 2 will allow for a Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS) to operate over any number of people without an airworthiness certificate.

Category 2 compliance requires that the UAS:
— Will not cause injury to a human being that is equivalent to or greater than the severity of injury caused by a transfer of 11 foot-pounds of kinetic energy upon impact from a rigid object;
—Does not contain any exposed rotating parts that would lacerate human skin upon impact with a human being; and
—Does not contain any safety defects.

A solution could incorporate a parachute recovery system or other means of reducing energy on impact. Measures to stop or shroud spinning propellers could also be considered.

Autonomous Emergency Landing System
To ensure fully autonomous operation, teams were asked to also consider the possibility of an emergency landing. To this end, their UAVs were expected to be able to autonomously detect a safe landing location with computer vision in the event of an emergency, and land at the best reachable emergency landing location. To ensure functionality during the demonstration flight, teams were asked to develop a safety system testing methodology.

Perform an Environmental Survey
Students were asked to select a target area of approximately 200 acres, and approximately mid-way through their flight perform a photographic survey capturing photographs or other sensor data in their chosen target area. This was meant to demonstrate that their platforms were able to carry a useful sensor payload and that it would be capable of autonomously performing tasks beyond navigation. Students could feel free to specify the kind of survey they wanted to perform and to possibly include sensors other than a camera. The complexity, challenges and usefulness of the proposed survey also played a role in the evaluation of the proposals.