Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) are remote controlled unmanned aerial vehicles of very small sizes. They have the potential to revolutionize our sensing and information gathering capacities in environmental monitoring and homeland security areas. Present surveillance assets possess limited or no capabilities of information gathering inside confined spaces, very low altitude flight and hovering. Micro Aerial Vehicles of wing spans of 15 cm or less and flight speeds of about 30-60 km/hr, and or long range, are of interest to military and civilian applications. The MAVs are expected to be autonomous or semi-autonomous and measure less than 150 cm in length and be very light-weight. Due to the MAV's small size, flight regime and modes of operation, they would be able to fly in urban settings, inside buildings, tunnels and caves, maintain forward and hovering flight, maneuver in constrained environments and “perch” until needed. To achieve this, significant scientific advancements are required to address the challenges in the unsteady aerodynamics, fluid-structure interactions, flight mechanics, guidance and control.

The rapidly evolving field of MAV design demands novel innovations and design ideas. This brings us to our inaugural MAV event Pankh, which adages yet another exciting feature to this burgeoning Pragyan brand. The problem statement follows in the next section and it aims to test MAVs for their typical capabilities, as described above. Strategy is a prime to achieving success, or so they say.

Registration are now closed.

It is needless to say that the problem can be tackled from an infinite number of angles - endless possibilities for innovation, every ounce of which will be suitably rewarded. The event will be held in two stages.

The constraints of the first problem are:

1. The vehicle must take off from an elevated and confined platform and reach the first check-line in time interval t1, then to next check-line in the exact opposite direction in time interval t2, and back to the same platform (from where it started) in time interval t3.
2. The team must aim to minimize the sum of t1, t2 and t3. In case of a tie, teams with minimum t1 will score most points. If the deadlock persists, t2 and finally, t3 (in that order) would be taken into account to break the tie. 
3. The structure of arena is portrayed in the picture given. The check-lines are virtual lines with sensing devices which will detect the presence of MAV’s when they touch the lines and hence corresponding times would be noted.

Top View

Front View

All dimensions are in "ft"

• No dimension of the MAV should exceed 30 cm (including the wing span). That is, it should be so sized so as to fit in a sphere with 30 cm diameter.
• No weight restriction, but, needless to say, the lighter it is, the better it is.
• The vehicle can either be manually controlled or automated.
• The starting platform is a 50 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm cube with one of the sides and the top open. The MAV should take off and land without touching / damaging the platform boundaries. Failure to do so would result in a deduction in points proportional to the magnitude of the violation.
• Height of both the check lines is the same and equal to 35 ft.
• Distance between the check lines is 156 ft.
• Height of the platform is 3 ft from the ground and it is a 1.64 x 1.64 x 1.64 ft cube.
• A margin of 1 m (3.28 ft) is given after both check lines as maneuvering room for the MAV.
• The landing should be smooth and must not overshoot the platform. Suitable points shall be deducted for crash / impact landing.
• The platform would be vertically below the second check-line.
• Effects of wind turbulence and sunlight within the arena will be kept as low as possible.
• External power supply for testing will be provided at the arena.
• ONLY ONE dry run before the final runs will be allowed at the arena.
• Two trials will be given to each team and best of the two shall be taken for the final evaluation.

Any relevant and feasible hardware requirements MUST be intimated to us by 30th January, 2010.

Rana Md Jamal
+919345874038

Prateek Khasgiwala
+919994647162

Siddhartha Mukherjee
+919843578046