Advanced Robotics Foundation (ARF)

Advanced Robotics Foundation (ARF)

Official Letter

Fuji Chuo Building 6F, 2-1-7 Shintomi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
URL https://arf.or.jp E-mail ifac23competition@arf.or.jp

Call for Teams at the World Drone Competition
co-sponsored by IFAC WC 2023 and ARF
Research and development of unmanned aerial vehicles are being carried out all over the world, and they areused not only for industrial purposes but also for disaster response and are useful for saving lives. The coretechnologies of UAV are the control system, and it can be understood that the academic field of automatic
control IFAC World Congress 2023 and the industrial field of control application UAV have the strongest
relationship. Therefore, we will hold a world drone competition during the IFAC world congress 2023 period.
We have planned a competition to compete for the world’s most advanced UAV systems, propulsion systems,control systems, communication systems, ground control station systems, and their integrated technologies,
as well as advanced technologies for disaster response and emergency goods transportation use cases. We
invite many teams from all over the world to participate, regardless of whether they participate in IFAC WC
2023 or not. The excellent team will be handed a certificate of honor by IFAC WC 2023, and the prize moneyof victory will be awarded by ARF.

◆Co-sponsoredIFAC WC 2023 and ARF*
*ARF: Advanced Robotics Foundation founded in 2019, Japan◆Date
July 11st~13rd, 2023 (During the IFAC World Congress 2023)◆Location
Large area of Tokyo Bay
Between Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture and Futtsu City, Chiba Prefecture◆Mission Theme
Long-distance flights by unmanned aerial vehicle for disaster response and logistics

The area of Tokyo Bay between Yokohama city and Chiba city is one of the most overcrowded sea traffic are as in the world
with about 500 ships a day and is also near Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport), where airplanes take-off and land
overcrowded schedules.
1Mission Summary
The mission is to survey the disaster area and to support the victims immediately after the large-scaledisaster occurred in Futtsu City, and includes the following three missions.
(1) Survey and report on the entire disaster area.
(2) Identifying and delivering relief supplies that are needed by disaster victims.
(3) Deliver rare medicines to patients with intractable diseases as soon as possible.

◆Mission Scenario
Since a disaster has occurred near Futtsuminato Park, the drone rescue teams immediately dispatch
from Hakkeijima, Yokohama City on the opposite shore, and will deliver therapeutic drugs from
Yokohama City University Hospital to patients with intractable diseases hospitalized in Futtsu City
Hospital.

Then, the disaster occurrence situation and damage situation are surveyed andinvestigated in detail, and the image and movies are transmitted to the Disaster Response
Headquarters at the takeoff point. In addition, neighboring residents are evacuating to a facility near
Futtsuminato Park, and the letters drawn on the ground are identified by aerial photography, and therelief supplies requested by the disaster victims are recognized. Only one aircraft will be used, and it
will make a round trip of about 16 km one way from Hakkeijima to Futtsuminato Park, but it will
return without refueling or recharging the battery without landing from takeoff to landing. The
therapeutic drug delivery location is a specified location in Futtsuminato Park, and the location shouldbe searched from the air and the therapeutic drug will be dropped from the air at this specified location.
However, in order to avoid collision with vegetation such as trees, the GNSS altitude must bemaintained at 30m or more even when dropped.

◆Competition evaluation points
1 Compete on the accuracy of disaster occurrence surveys and damage surveys.
2 Compete on the accuracy of the relief supplies requested by the victims.
3 Compete for speed as a disaster response mission.
4 Compete for the accuracy of dropping the medicine to the designated delivery location.

◆Requirements
・As shown in the reference photo, the takeoff area is a road in the park, so it is a little difficult to glide,
therefore the aircraft must be capable of taking off with a VTOL or STOL type.
・Use one aircraft for the purpose of "information gathering equipped with a camera".
・Use an aircraft capable of long-distance flight of about 40km round trip or more.
- Welcome the original aircraft. It is also possible to use purchased aircraft, including imported products,
but the condition for participation is that originality should be recognized in either the aircraft itself,
peripheral equipment, or the operation method.
・Flight at BVLOS level 3 after takeoff. It is also subject to review whether the aircraft is sure to avoid
overflight of the large ships over 300 tons.

2

・English letters are written on the ground for the relief supplies requested by the victims.
・Has a function that can transport a small box of about 300g of therapeutic medicine and drop it accurately
at a designated place in Futtsuminato Park. The command to drop is a radio communication from thebase station in Hakkeijima, Yokohama City.
・Telemetry communication, image transmission, etc. are assumed to be transmitted to the base station via
LTE communication of mobile phones and Internet line connection.
・In addition, since details related to wireless communication such as telemetry communication and imagetransmission must comply with Japanese domestic radio law, a webinar briefing will be held for theparticipating teams. We also offer individual consultations.
Competition Schedule
Phase

PeriodDescription

Application

October-December 2022

Information will be publicly announced on the IFAC
WC 2023 and ARF websites on October 1, andapplications will be accepted.

Document reviewJanuary 2023

Teams that pass the screening process will beannounced at the end of January 2023.

Preliminary review byFebruary - March 2023

ARF will conduct a preliminary review and advice on

ARF of flight permit

the flight permit application to be submitted to theapplications

MLIT.

Formal Review by theApril-June 2023

*Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

Teams that pass the above preliminary review will be

MLIT of flight permit

announced as competition entrants and will submit aapplications

formal application to MLIT to obtain a flight permit.

Competition

July, 2023Selected teams will compete in the development andoperation of drones at Tokyo Bay.

◆Appendix3

Take-off and Landing area at Hakkeijima, Yokohama city

Destination (Area surrounded by red lines) :4

Futtsuminato Park, Futtsu city