www.auvsi.org www.onr.navy.mil Final Rules for the 5 th Annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition July 31 st August 4 th, 2002 San Diego, California GOAL The goals of this competition are to challenge a new generation of engineers to design and build autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) capable of performing realistic missions in the underwater environment, and to foster ties between young engineers and the organizations developing AUV technologies. Event Due Date Intent to Compete Form and Payment Due April 30, 2002 Journal Paper, Website and Resumes Due July 15, 2002 Teams Check-in Onsite Wednesday, July 31, 2002 Safety Inspections and In-water Practice Time Thursday, August 1, 2002 Static Judging and In-water Practice Time Friday, August 2, 2002 Qualifying Runs Saturday, August 3, 2002 Qualifying Runs (a.m.) / Finals (p.m.) Sunday, August 4, 2002 Awards Party (evening) Sunday, August 4, 2002 Weather Day (if needed) Monday, August 5, 2002 POINTS OF CONTACT: Logistics / Administrative: Daryl Davidson, AUVSI davidson@auvsi.org 703-920-2720 Staci Butler, AUVSI butler@auvsi.org 703-920-2720 Rules / Technical Issues: Dr. Jim Bales bales@mit.edu 617-253-6178 MISSION 1
1. The complete mission objectives are for a self-propelled AUV to leave the starting point in the arena (Figures 1-3), pass through the validation gate, locate a series of man-made objects, and determine the depth of the top surface of each object in the arena. Man-made objects: There will be 17 man-made objects placed on the bottom of the arena. The top surface of each object will be a foamed-pvc panel (Figure 4). The top face of each panel will show a unique bar code as described in Figure 5. The objects will be distributed in two concentric circular clusters of different diameters with one object located at the center of the arena as shown in Figure 2. The tops of all objects will be white with black bars. Pingers: The object in the center of arena will carry an acoustic pinger operating at a frequency of 27kHz and will ping at a rate of one ping every 0.5 to 4 seconds. Bar codes: The bar code consists of a frame, a start bit, 6 data bits, a stop bit, and a frame. Each frame is composed of two line-pairs, where each line-pair is a 0.75-inchwide black stripe followed by a 0.75-inch-wide white stripe (see Figure 5). Each of the 8 bits is 2.25 inches wide. A "1" is denoted by a 1.5-inch-wide black stripe and a 0.75- inch-wide white space. A "0" is denoted by a 0.75-inch-wide black stripe and a 1.5-inchwide white space. The most significant bit is always preceded by a start bit of value "0" and the least significant bit is always followed by a stop bit of value "1". The least significant bit will be used as a parity bit, and we will use even parity. That is, counting the parity bit but not the start and stop bits, the total number of data bits of value one will be an even number. For example, the number "9" would be encoded as shown in Figure 5. The bars in the bar codes of all circumferential objects will be aligned radially to the centers. The bar code of each circumferential object is to be read left to right as seen by an observer in the center of the arena facing that object. The bars of the center object will be parallel to the short axis of the arena, and will read from left to right as viewed by an observer standing at the launching site facing the center object. Time limit: The mission must be completed within 20 minutes of operations. Points are awarded (Table 1) for accomplishing parts of the mission in any order after passing through the validation gate. 2. The vehicle must operate autonomously, with no control, guidance, or communication from a person or any off-board computer (including the GPS constellation). 3. Teams must submit a journal paper and a website for evaluation by the judges. The requirements for the journal paper are listed below. 4. There will be a preliminary round in which all teams will compete. After the preliminary round, the judges will tally the scores. The scores will be the sum of all points earned at that point in time. 2
The judges have the discretion to select the number of teams entering the finals as they deem appropriate. Teams will be accepted into the finals in rank order from the preliminary round. We anticipate three to five teams competing in the finals. For teams that do not compete in the finals round, their final standing in the competition will be their standing at the end of the preliminary round. For teams that compete in the finals round, each team's score will be the sum of the points earned for the web site, the journal article, the static judging, and the finals round. Any penalties assessed for exceeding the size and weight constraints will be assessed here as well. The team with the greatest number of points will be declared the winner. In the case of a tie, the entry that completes the mission in the least time will win. 5. Each team will have 35 minutes on the dock. The first 10 minutes constitute the preparation period. During this time, the entry may not be deployed in the water. The 20-minute-long performance period immediately follows. Upon recovery of the vehicle to the dock, the team has 5 minutes to upload the depths of the objects. Preparation period: A team may waive a portion of the 10-minute-long preparation period and start the 20-minute-long performance period. Once the performance period starts, the team loses any unused time in the preparation period. Performance period: Once the officials signal the start of the performance period, the team captain may ask to have the entry deployed into the water and released to perform the mission. Only tournament officials may deploy and recover the vehicle. The time required to deploy and/or recover does not count against the 20-minute limit. This is to prevent unsafe actions in an attempt to speed the deployment and recovery processes. Multiple runs: A team may attempt multiple runs during the 20-minute performance period. Once a team has the officials re-deploy their vehicle, all points earned in previous runs are lost. (See rule 6) Ending a run and retrieving a vehicle: At any time while a vehicle is running, the team captain can request the end of the run and the retrieval of the vehicle. Only officials may retrieve a vehicle and return it to the dock. The clock for the performance period stops when the official touches the vehicle to recover it. Once the vehicle is safely on the dock, the clock for the performance period resumes. Reporting depths: After the vehicle is recovered at the end of the mission, each team has 5 minutes to recover the data from the vehicle, post-process as they see fit, and hand the data (or recite the data) to the judges. If a team takes more than 5 minutes, then the points scored for the depths of the objects will be reduced by 3% for each minute after the first 5. No points for determining the depths of objects will be awarded if it takes more than 30 minutes to report the results. Example: A team takes 10 minutes to report their results. For reporting the depths of the objects, the team receives 85% of the points they would have received if they had 3
reported the same data after 5 minutes (as 10 minutes minus the 5-minute grace period is 5, times 3-percent-per-minute is a 15% penalty). Each team will have the 5-minute grace period undisturbed on the dock to recover their data. After 5 minutes, they will need to clear the dock for the next team. 6. If a vehicle experiences a significant interference from a piece of equipment, line, cable, or diver deployed in support of the competition, the team captain may ask at that time to abort the run. The clock will stopped, the vehicle will be returned to the dock, and the judges will add back to the clock their best estimate of the time used in that run up to the point of interference. Points may not be earned for a run that is aborted due to interference. It is as if the run never occurred. In particular, if the team had earned some points in the run that immediately preceded the run with interference, the points earned during that preceding run would be restored. If the team captain does not make this request in a timely manner (as determined by the technical director or his designee), then the option is lost. Interference with a gate, pinger, or man-made object does not qualify for this option. 7. The mission ends when any of the following occur: All objectives have been achieved. The 20-minute performance period ends. The judges order the end of the mission. The team captain requests the end of the mission. The vehicle breaches the surface. ARENA Site: Our hosts are the SPAWAR TRANSDEC facility in San Diego California, www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/. The arena is shown in Figures 1-3. Objects: There will be 17 man-made objects placed on the bottom of the arena. There will be a bar code on the top of each object, encoding that object s unique ID number. Each object (Figure 4) will be mounted 1 4 feet above the bottom. The foamed PVC top of each object will be approximately 2 feet by 1 foot (Figures 4 and 5). Eight objects will be placed in a circle inside the deep portion of the arena. The radius of the circle will be approximately 20 feet. Eight more objects will be in a circle that is concentric to the circle and is 10 feet inside of the outer edge of acoustic trap (Figure 2). One object, bearing a pinger, will be placed in the center of the arena. The officials may deploy small floats on the surface near the locations of the objects to help people to see the location the vehicle is seeking. Starting point: Each entry will be launched from the starting point, whose tentative location is indicated on the arena plan. 4
Validation gate: A gate (Figure 6) will be placed approximately 10 20 feet from the starting point. An entry must pass through the gate before any other performance points may be awarded. OFFICIAL RULES, SUBMISSIONS, AND FEES The official source for all information concerning rules, interpretations, and information updates for the 2002 International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition is the World Wide Web home page at: http://www.auvsi.org/competitions/water.cfm. An Intent to Compete form, is available on the website, and the entry fee are due no later than April 30, 2002. The submission must be in English and is not considered official until the entry fee of five hundred U.S. dollars ($500) has been received by AUVSI. As the competition format cannot handle an unlimited number of entries, the organizers reserve the right to limit the total number of entries that are allowed to compete by declaring the competition closed to new entries before the due date above. As with all official information, this announcement (should it be necessary) will appear on the official website. VEHICLES 1. Each team may enter one vehicle into the competition. The competition officials will physically inspect each entry. The officials may disqualify any entry that they deem to pose an unreasonable safety hazard. The officials will confer with representatives of the host facility, and any entries that, in the opinions of the officials or of the representatives of the host facilities, pose an unreasonable risk to the integrity of the host facility will be disqualified. The AUVSI and the host organization, their employees and agents, as well as the organizing committee, are in no way liable for any injury or damage caused by any entry, or by the disqualification of an entry. 2. Each entry must operate autonomously during its dive. While carrying out a run, no communication is permitted between the entry and any person or off-board computer. Entries must operate solely on their ability to sense and maneuver in the arena using on-board resources. Vehicles may carry a wireless link to shore-based computers. During a run, no data may be received by any shore-based computer from the vehicle. Once the run is complete, no data may be sent between the vehicle and any shore-based computer until the vehicle is on the dock and the team allowed access to the vehicle. One exception is that a team is allowed to send an end-of-mission, or shutdown signal to a vehicle instructing it to secure its propulsion units, to ensure a safe recovery. 5
3. The mass of each entry must be less than 100 kg. Note that bonus points are awarded to vehicles that are below this limit (Table 1). The entire vehicle must fit within a box that is 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. The judges may, at their discretion, allow a vehicle that exceeds the mass and/or size specifications to compete but will assess such vehicles with a substantial point penalty. These penalties will apply to both the preliminary and finals rounds. 4. All entries must be battery powered. All batteries must be sealed to reduce the hazard from acidic or caustic electrolytes. Batteries may not be charged inside of sealed vessels at any time while on the site of the competition and/or while engaged in the competition. The open circuit voltage of any battery in an entry may not exceed 60 VDC. If a team has any questions or concerns, they are encouraged to contact the organizing committee through the website. 5. No materials (except for compressed air used to blow ballast) may be released by the entry into the waters of the arena. 6. All entries must bear a clearly marked kill switch that a diver can readily activate. This switch must disconnect the batteries from all propulsion components and devices in the AUV. All entries must be buoyant by at least one half of one percent (0.5%) of their mass when they have been shut off through the kill switch. 7. Teams may comprise a combination of students, faculty, industrial partners, or government partners. Students may be undergraduate and/or graduate students. Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged. Members from industry, government agencies, or universities (in the case of faculty) may participate; however full-time students must compose at least 75 percent of each team. Participants must be enrolled at their schools for at least 12 credit hours or more per quarter/semester during winter and spring 2002 to be considered "students." The student members of a joint team must make significant contributions to the development of their entry. Only the student component of each team is eligible for the cash awards. One student member of the team must be designated as the "team captain." Only the team captain may speak for the team during the competition run. 8. No team member is allowed to enter the arena at any time (this includes wading, swimming, and diving as well as floats, boats, etc.). Competition officials will be responsible for recovering lost entries that cannot be safely reached from the starting point. Officials will make all reasonable efforts to recover a lost vehicle but cannot guarantee that they will be able to do so. All teams recognize that by entering the competition, they risk damage to or the loss of their vehicle. The judges, officials, hosts, and sponsors can take no responsibility for such damage or loss. 6
9. The officials will suspend the operation of a vehicle at any time they deem that such action is required by safety or security considerations. Teams may be required to submit technical descriptions of their entries to the officials in advance of the competition, with the goal of identifying potential safety concerns well in advance. When requested, such technical information submitted to the officials will be held in confidence until the end of the competition. 10. The officials will suspend the competition at any time they deem that it is required by safety or security considerations. JOURNAL PAPER Each team is required to submit a journal paper that describes the design of their entry and the rationale behind their design choices. This paper may be no more than 10 pages long (including all figures, references, and appendices). Additionally, each journal paper must include an abstract of no more than 250 words. The journal paper and abstract must be printed on standard 8.5 11-inch paper, with margins of at least 1 inch on all sides, and all text must be in 12-point or larger font. Each page must bear a footer with the page number and the team name. The journal paper will be evaluated as described below in the section on scoring. The journal paper must be received in electronic format (pdf is preferred) via email. Papers are due July 15, 2002. Teams that do not meet the deadline may be disqualified from the competition. STATIC JUDGING Each entry will be subject to static judging before being allowed to compete. During the static display time, the judges will visit each team. They will evaluate each entry for technical merit, safety, and craftsmanship as described below in the section on scoring. Each team is required to have at least one member attending their entry throughout the static display period (not just during the judges scheduled visit). Teams are encouraged to make a poster describing the entry. The posters can be set up next to the entry during the static display period. Representatives of the press and of other organizations will be encouraged to visit each team during this period and for the duration of the event. Teams are welcome to create videos for their presentation (on tape or CD/DVD), but must make their own provision for displaying them. 7
TEAM WEBSITES Each team is required to create a website for their vehicle entrant and corresponding effort. In the months leading up to the event, the judges may choose to use team websites for additional information. Please keep in mind that team websites must be open to the public. Team websites should be complete and online no later than July 15, 2002. Earlier is better as we ll be promoting the event to media, prospective employers, and others, and using your websites to attract more interest. RESUMES A goal of the event is to foster links between young engineers and the companies, universities, and government agencies involved in AUV development. To advance that goal, we ask each team provide resumes of each team member, with class year and expected graduation date. These resumes (when submitted) will be circulated to our sponsors and to member-organizations of AUVSI. These employers will be considering opportunities for full-time employment and internships and co-op programs. We strongly encourage participation in this program. Electronic versions of team member resumes should be appended to the journal paper. SCORING Entries will be scored on performance measures and subjective measures (Table 1). Technical merit and craftsmanship: These considerations will exclude any components of the design that are or could be (in the judges opinion) commercially available or do not include a significant contribution by team members. In other words, if you use a well-built, well-designed, off-the-shelf computer, your team does not get points for the computer s good technical design. You will get points for selecting a computer that is, in the opinion of the judges, well suited to the engineering needs of the vehicle. Travel and dive fully autonomously: The judges will use their discretion in making their determination. Partial points may be awarded. Determining the depths of the specified objects: Teams may connect a computer to the vehicle to recover this information. They may do so during the performance time or as soon as their vehicle is on the dock and the judges allow them access to the vehicle. Partial points may be awarded at the judges discretion. Unused time: The judges will record the time elapsed between the start of the 20- minute-long period allotted for vehicle performance and the end of the mission. Unused time (in minutes) will be rounded up to the nearest integer greater than or equal to the unused time (e.g., 0m 01s will be rounded to 1 minute; 19m 59s will be rounded to 20 minutes; 5m 00s will be 5 minutes). The points for unused time will only be awarded if the complete mission is accomplished (i.e., if, for each object, at least one point is awarded for determining its depth). 8
Penalty for delays in reporting depths of objects: If a team takes more than 5 minutes to report the depths of objects, then the points scored for the depths of the objects will be reduced by 3% for each minute after the first 5. For the penalty, the elapsed time (in minutes) will be rounded down to the nearest integer less than or equal to the unused time. No points will be awarded for determining the depths of the objects if a team takes more than 30 minutes to report the results. Table 1. Points awarded for the Competition. Performance Measures Max. Points Dry weight less than 100 kg 2 points per kg under 100 Pass through the validation gate autonomously 300 Determine the depths of the specified objects Finish the mission with T minutes (whole or fractional) remaining of the 20 minutes allotted for the task Taking more than 5 minutes to deliver list of depths and corresponding barcodes to the judges 500 per object T 100 Penalty; see text Subjective Measures Max. Points Utility of team website (on or after date TBD) 100 Technical merit (from journal paper) 100 Written style (from journal paper) 100 Technical merit (from static judging) 150 Craftsmanship (from static judging) 150 Team uniform (from static judging) 10 Discretionary points (awarded after static judging) 40 Discretionary points (awarded after last competition run in preliminary round and again in finals round) 200 SEQUENCE OF EVENTS DURING THE COMPETITION: Practice runs: Practice time slots will be scheduled based on standings after the website and journal paper. The team that is in first place will have first choice, etc. Ties will be broken by a coin toss or random draw. The technical director or his designee must approve each entry before it will be allowed into the arena. It is our intent to provide as much practice time in the arena as is practical. As each group completes static judging, its teams will be permitted to start practice runs while teams in the remaining groups are still undergoing static judging. We expect to 9
allow two entries in the arena simultaneously, if they do not interfere with each other. If we feel we can safely accommodate more, we will. We expect that each team should have approximately 2 hours of practice time. Static display period: Each team will receive a visit from the judges during this period for the static judging. Additionally, members of the public, the press, and representatives of other organizations will be encouraged to view the entries and talk with team members. The order for static judging will be determined at the competition. Teams will be grouped into groups of three or four teams each. The judges will visit all the teams in the first group before going to the second group. Typically, judges will spend 10 15 minutes with each team. Thus, each team will have a series of visits from the judges during a scheduled time period (as many teams requested last year). The judges may work together in small groups (as many judges preferred to do last year). Time slots announced for preliminary round competition: Competition time slots will be awarded based on standings after the static judging. The team that is in first place will have first choice, etc. Ties will be broken by a coin toss or random draw. Preliminary round of the competition: Each team will be assigned a time slot. Twenty minutes before the beginning of their time slot, the team may enter the staging area near the launch site. At the beginning of their time slot, the team may move to the launching site on the dock. The first 10 minutes are for preparation. During this time the entry may not be deployed in the water. When the 10-minute limit has expired, the judges will begin a 20-minute clock. These 20 minutes are for vehicle performance. Once this period has begun, the team may ask to have their vehicle placed in the water to begin its mission. Vehicles will be put into and taken out of the water by tournament officials. The time required to do so will not count against the 20-minute limit. After the vehicle has gone into the water, the team may request that it be lifted onto the dock for repairs. Tournament officials will move the vehicle onto the dock, and (when requested) redeploy the AUV into the water. Again, the time required to do so will not count against the 20-minute limit. However, time spent by the team on the dock does count against the 20-minute limit. The mission will continue until all objectives have been achieved or the 20-minute limit has expired or the team captain requests the end of the mission or the judges order the termination of the mission or the vehicle breaches the surface. The judges may order termination of the mission at their discretion. Once the judges order the end of the mission, no further points may be scored. The judges decisions on the termination of the run are final. Finals round of the competition: After the preliminary round, the judges will tally the scores. Teams will be accepted into the finals in rank order from the preliminary round. The judges will select the number of teams entering the finals as they deem appropriate. We anticipate three to five teams competing in the finals. The finals round 10
will be conducted in the same manner as the preliminary round. The judges will announce the order in which teams compete. Of the teams competing in the finals round, the one with the most points after the finals round wins. AWARDS: Cash prizes of at least $10,000 will be awarded at the discretion of the judges. 11
DIAGRAMS: Figure 1: Aerial photo of the facility. The water clarity shown is typical. The bridge structure has no piers or supports in the pond and does not obstruct the water. 12
= Object Bridge across pond - no pilings in wa Bowl - 38' deep at center Gate Tentative Launch Platform Acoustic Trap (Flat bottom, 16' deep) Figure 2: General arrangement of the objects within arena (top view). The inner ring of objects are spaced every 45 in a 20-foot-radius circle, centered on the center of the bowl. The outer ring of objects are at 30 intervals as shown in the Figure. 13
Figure 3: Cross section of arena showing the depth profile. Note that the acoustic trap (the 16-foot-deep section around the perimeter) varies in width around the pond (Fig. 1). Table 2, below, lists the numbers from the Figure for the bowl dimensions. Table 2: Depth of bowl at various radii from its center. Radius 0 22 32 41.5 47.5 52.8 59.5 64.9 69.5 77.4 Depth 38 37 35 34 32 30 27 24 21 15 14
2' 1' 1' to 4' Figure 4: Typical man-made object. The bars of the bar code extend the full onefoot height of the platform. 15
Frame 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 Frame start 16 8 4 2 1 par. stop Figure 5. Bar code. The frames and the values of each of the bits are labeled. Below, the start, stop, and parity bits are labeled and the values of each data bit are shown. Figure 6: Validation gate. It is constructed of 4-inch-diameter white PVC pipe. It is 10 feet wide and each leg is six feet long. It will be buoyant, and will be anchored to the bottom by lines. 16