Rules and Discipline of the Playing Field of the IEEE & Freescale Smart Car Competition
All racing teams should use the car model suite designated and purchased by the organizing committee of the event, with a microcontroller from Freescale Semiconductor as the core control unit. They should design the control scheme and racing car system themselves, including sensor signal collection and processing, drive motor, rudder control and control algorithm software development. Teams are expected to carry out car production and participate in the racing competition at the designated place and date. Placement/ranking in the competition of each racing team will be determined based on their technical report, quality of production and shortest time taken (which is calculated based on best of two laps) by each racing car to finish the racing on the designated racing track.
Equity and fairness will be ensured as much as possible on the condition of actual feasibility. The organizing committee will invite independent judges to supervise the racing on site and rank all participating teams. The organizing committee of the event has stipulated the following racing rules for the competition.
- I. Requirements on Equipment
- 1. Car model designated by the organizing committee should be used. Refer to annex 1 for details and requirements on reengineering;
- 2. Microcontroller (single core) from Freescale Semiconductor should be used as the only microcontroller. MC9S12DG128 microcontroller is recommended. Refer to Annex 2 for related details and requirements on use of other electronic devices
- 3. Miscellaneous
- If any component of the car model that is not allowed to change is damaged, then replacement part of the same model should be used;
- After reengineering, dimensions of the car model should not exceed 250mm (W) x 400mm (L).
- II. Stipulations Related with Racing Track
- 1. Refer to Annex 3 for basic parameters of the racing track (excluding number of corners, location and overall layout);
- 2. Actual layout of the racing track will be published on the competition day. Participants are allowed to test on the racing track prior to commissioning.
- III. Referee and Technical Judgment
Workers of the organizing committee of the event, including workers from technical judgment and referee, should not participate in coaching or training for any specific racing team (except for microcontroller training) and should not disclose any information that might compromise fairness of the competition.
- IV. Racing Rules of the Competition
- Rules for Preliminary Round
- i. There will be two racing rounds in the competition: preliminary round and final round.
- ii. The racing order will be determined by drawing lots on the day of competition.
- iii. In the preliminary round, each racing team will race for two laps on the racing track. Time will be calculated when the racing car leaves the starting line. After running for two laps, racing cars should stop within the racing track in 3 meters after the starting line. Otherwise, a 1 second penalty will be added to the racing score of the car.
- iv. Shortest time taken of the two laps in the preliminary round will be used as the final score of the racing car. Time will be calculated using an electronic timer and displayed on an electronic display in real time.
- v. Based on number of participating teams and the scores of each team in the preliminary round, the organizing committee of the event will select certain percentage of racing teams to participate the final round.
- vi. The technical judgment group will perform on-site technical inspection for all the winning cars eligible for the final round. Racing car in the finals that are not compliant with related equipment requirements (article 1 of the rule) will be disqualified and replaced by the next car;
- vii. List of finalists will be submitted by the referee group to the organizing committee of the event for approval and announcement.
- viii. After preliminary, car model will be kept by the organizing committee in designated area.
- Rules for Final Round
- i. The racing teams eligible for the final round will be ordered based on their scores in preliminary; teams will compete in reverse order of their scores in preliminary.
- ii. The entire final round will occur on a same racing track as the preliminary round but in reverse direction.
- iii. Each finalist can only compete for one time. Each racing car will run for two laps on the racing track. Time will be calculated when the racing car leaves the starting line. After running for two laps, racing cars should stop within the racing track in 3 meters after the starting line. Otherwise, a 1 second penalty will be added to the racing score of the car.
- iv. The shortest time taken to run a single lap will be taken as the final score of the racing car. Time will be calculated using an electronic timer and displayed on an electronic display in real time.
- v. Score in the preliminary will not be included in score of the final; instead, it is used only to determine racing order in final. For racing teams that were not selected to participate in the final, their rank will remain the same as in preliminary round.
- Rules for Racing Procedure
Referee will direct all the racing teams enter the playing field in accordance with the racing order. There should be only one team on the playing field at any given time.
After being called by the referee, each racing team should designate a member to take their racing car to the playing field and place it in the starting area of the racing track. After the referee announces starting of the racing, the racing car should leave the starting area within 30 seconds and run for two laps continuously. Time will be calculated by the sensors on both sides of the starting line. When the racing car finishes the racing (2 laps), a member of the corresponding team should take the racing car away from the playing field.
Upon successful completion of the competition, a computer rating system will calculate and display the best score for a single lap.
- Rules for Fouls and Failure
During the racing, the on-site referee will judge whether the racing car left the racing track according to applicable rules. After the racing car runs out of the track for the first two times, the referee should pick the car model up and hand it to the player to start the racing again from the starting area and score of the current lap will be considered invalid. Alternatively, the player can also give up the racing after his/her car runs out of the track.
Any of the following conditions will be considered as running out of the track for one time:
- The racing team fails to enter the playing field and prepare for the racing in 1 minute and 30 seconds after being called by the referee;
- The racing car fails to leave the starting area within 30 seconds after beginning of the racing;
Any of the following conditions will be considered as failure in the racing:
- The racing car fails to finish 2 laps within 5 minutes after leaving the starting area;
- The racing car runs out of the track for more than two times;
- The player touches the racing car after beginning of the racing without consent of the referee;
- The racing car fails to pass the technical inspection before actual racing.
- No score will be given for a failed team.
- V. Forbidden Behaviors
- No auxiliary lighting equipment or other auxiliary sensors are allowed around the racing track;
- After entering the playing field, players cannot modify any hardware and software except for changing battery;
- Only referee and 1 player are allowed in the playing field at any given time;
- Any behavior that might interfere with movement of the racing car is not allowed;
- No plagiarism is allowed in design of the car model, hardware and software. Different teams from the same university must be clearly different.
- VI. Event Organization Description
- 1. Before commence of normal racing, each racing team is allowed to test the racing environment on site. The test racing track is same as the actual racing track.
- 2. Before actual competition, all car models will be collected and placed in a same area by the organizing committee until end of the competition. In this course, racing teams are not allowed to modify software and hardware of the car model.
- 3. During the racing, technical group of the organizing committee will perform technical inspection for all car models participating in the competition. In the event of any violations, the organizing committee is entitled to cancel qualification of the corresponding team.
- VII. Miscellaneous
- 1. Racing qualification will be cancelled for any other cheating behavior during the competition;
- 2. The rules should be interpreted by the organizing committee of the event.
Annex 1: Requirements on Smart Car Model
- 1. It is not allowed to change structure of the chassis, distance between wheels, radius of wheel and tire;
- 2. It is not allowed to use drive motor of other model or change transmission ratio of drive motor;
- 3. It is not allowed to reengineer ball bearing;
- 4. It is not allowed to change rudder; however, connection component on output axis of the rudder;
- 5. It is not allowed to change drive motor and battery, the car model has to be powered by the DC motor and battery of the car model itself;
- 6. To ensure smooth running of the car model, additional circuit and sensor can be installed. It is allowed to open holes or install auxiliary racks on the chassis.
Annex 2: Requirements on Circuit Device and Control & Drive Circuit
- 1. The core control module can use the HCS12 module provided by the organizing committee. Alternatively, individual racing team can build their own control circuit board using 8-bit and 16-bit microcontroller (single core, e.g. MC9S12X series are not allowed) chip from Freescale. Only one microcontroller model can be used in circuit board of each car model. Up to 2 8-bit microcontrollers can be used in each car. On the contrary, only 1 16-bit microcontroller can be used in each car. 8-bit and 16-bit microcontrollers cannot be used simultaneously in a same car model;
- 2. No auxiliary processor or other programmable device is allowed besides the above microcontroller;
- 3. Number of servo should not exceed 3;
- 4. Number of sensor should not exceed 16 (infrared sensor receiving unit considered as 1 sensor, transmitting unit is not calculated, CCD sensor calculated as 1 sensor);
- 5. DC power supply should use the battery provided by the organizing committee of the event;
- 6. DC-DC boost circuit cannot be used to power drive motor and rudder directly;
- 7. Total capacitance of all capacitors should not exceed 2000 uF; the highest charging voltage of capacitors should not exceed 25 V.
Optional parameters:
- 1. Development software can be CodeWarrior commissioning software or selected separately;
- 2. Development and commissioning hardware can use the BDM tools provided by the organizing committee of the event or can be selected separately;
- 3. Type and quantity of components used for circuit (sensor, various signal processing chip, interface chip and power device, etc.) can be selected freely by individual racing team.
Annex 3: Basic Parameters of the Racing Track (excluding number of corners, location and overall layout)
- 1. Surface of the racing track will use white base plate. Width of the racing track should not be less than 600mm. Specific specification for material used for surface of the racing track will be provided on web site of the event (refer to Illustration A);
- 2. Surface of the racing track is white, with continuous black line (25mm wide) drawn in the middle as the pilot line (refer to Illustration A);
- 3. The minimum bending radius of the racing track should not be less than 500mm (refer to Illustration B);
- 4. The racing track can intersect with a crossing angle of 90° (refer to Illustration C);
- 5. Slope of less than or equal to 15° is allowed in straight section of the racing track, including upslope and down slope (refer to Illustration D);
- 6. There is a starting area of 1000mm long in the racing track, as shown in illustration E. In addition, there is a black starting line 100mm long at both side of the starting point. Start time and end time should be determined when front part of the racing car passes the starting line (refer to Illustration E).
