Competitions’ Rulebook for IMAV 2025

The IMAV competitions are divided into indoor and outdoor categories. Both categories present challenges that seek to push the boundaries of the technology of micro air vehicles. Competitors are expected to present novel hardware and software designs, including aerodynamic designs, a novel set of sensors, and exemplar capabilities such as flight endurance, agile flight, autonomous flight, intelligent behavior, and swarming coordination. In addition, two special challenges are introduced this year, one for each category. For indoors, the Noise-Free Challenge, and for outdoors, it is the Surveillance Challenge. Teams who address these challenges more effectively will receive a special award. 

This year, the competition theme is “Search and Rescue.” This is motivated by the fact that Mexico sits at the boundary of three tectonic plates, causing frequent seismic activity. In September of 1985 and September 2017, strong earthquakes caused severe damage to the capital, Mexico City, and some neighboring cities. In the aftermath, buildings collapsed, trapping people and creating disaster zones whose access became difficult to bring aid. 

Inspired by the scenario described above, IMAV 2025 presents a series of challenges in which micro air vehicles play a vital role in victim search, rapid access, aerial assessment of disaster zones, and the delivery of aid.

Therefore, teams are expected to present novel ideas, prototypes, and solutions aiming at paving the way for the next generation of micro air vehicles that can be deployed in real disaster scenarios such as the ones mentioned before. 

Notice: To clarify some questions and points that have been raised by interested teams, the rule book is being updated. Please, make sure you download the latest version.

In this section, a summary of updates will be provided to make sure teams are aware of these changes.

• May 19th: Mission 4 of the outdoor competition has been changed. It is called “Load and Release”
• May 19th: Special Surveillance Challenge of the outdoor competition has been updated to define the size of the aircraft to be used in this challenge.
• May 19th: The container for the outdoor’s mission 4 should have a minimum volume of 0.5 litres.
• May 19th: Top views and GPS locations of the outdoor competition have been added, indicating take-off and flight zones, as well as work areas.
• May 20th: MAV’s size for the indoor competition has been defined.
• June 3rd: Maximum Power Limit for Frequency band for 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz have been updated to 1 W and 4 W, respectively.
• August 27th: The diameter of the square gate tube has been added, with a diameter of 38.1 mm (1.5″). Mission 1 of the indoor competition.
• September 19th: The diameter of the poles is 30 cm and their height is 2.7 metres. Indoor competition.
• October 2nd: Clarification added on take-off and landing: manual triggering is allowed, but piloting is not.
• October 2nd: Gate sizes and bases were redefined to ensure total height is always 2 m (for 1.5 m, 1 m, and 0.5 m square gates).
• October 2nd: Real images of the black boxes and poles included.
• October 2nd: Changes to the metric evaluation of the Indoors Special Challenge have been made.
• October 2nd: Pool dimensions updated: circular pool with a diameter of 3 m and a height of 0.76 m.
• October 20th: Black boxes dimensions updated: 57 cm x 78 cm x 36 cm.
• October 27th: Added the parameters with which the sound pressure level of the sound is measured in Indoor Mission 3.