FAI E-Drone Racing World Cup

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Rules

 

The World Cup events planned for the present year 2025  may be organised by using:

- the EreaDrone simulator with the event management system (EMS) developed by EreaStudio,

- or the VelociDrone simulator with the open-source RotorHazard race timing and event management system.

    PILOT Equipment

    All pilots may fly from home ('Remote' piloting) with their own computer just taking care to be aware for the schedule of the time zone differences, and to have an internet connection stable enough.

    The EreaDrone simulator is available on Windows operating system, and the Velocidrone simulator on Windows or MacOS

    The equipment required to participate is as follows:

    - Windows or MacOS computer with a video monitor.

    - Game controller (e.g. Xbox), or radio transmitter (FrSky or RadioMaster,…) which may be identified as a controller by the computer.

    Note: The use of a FPV google headset is not required due to the difficulty of setting up properly such a device on a computer but it may be used if the pilot prefers it

    The minimum and recommended specifications for the computer are available on the following webpages:

    - https://ereadrone.com/play#specs for the EreaDrone simulator.

    - https://velocidrone.com/shop for the VelociDrone simulator

    CHARACTERISTICS OF THE Drone racer

    The characteristics that will be available in the simulator for the event concerned may depend on the racing circuit. The characteristics concern, but not only, the mass, dimensions, motorisation (KV, latency), propeller (diameter, pitch), battery voltage, air drag, rotation inertia, and ground effect.

    It will not be possible for the pilots to edit characteristics to better fit their style of flying.

    The characteristics of the drone racer will be announced before the beginning of the event.

    CHARACTERISTICS OF A Racing circuit

    The racing circuit is defined with a 3D flight path including a start line, obstacles to be crossed or avoided, and a Start-Finish line.

    The racing circuit is defined with a 3D flight path including a start line, obstacles to be crossed or avoided, and a Start-Finish line. It may be an open circuit to be flown once or a closed circuit with several laps to be completed. The racing circuit can be set up in every environment: urban, mountain, woodland, park, stadium, carpark, harbour, castle, etc.

    The recommended total distance to complete in a race is 2 to 3 km representing a flight time between 60 to 90 seconds for the fastest pilots. In case of a closed circuit, the number of laps to complete will be determined consequently.

    How to register for an event

    A license for the simulator concerned is necessary to participate to an event:  key Steam EreaDrone for the EreaDrone simulator and basic VelociDrone License for the EreaDrone simulator. Both can be purchased on the website of the simulator concerned.

    A period of time before the beginning of the event will be defined for the registration to participate in the event.

    Note: Information regarding dates for the event (practice flight period, qualification stage period, days planned for the competition) will be published before the beginning of the registration period.

    The registration will be done on the EreaDrone website for the events run on that simulator.

    ORGANISATION OF A WORLD CUP event

    Practice flight session

    Before the beginning of each event, a practice flight session will be planned. Only the pilots registered to participate in the event may participate to the practice flight session. The possibility for each pilot to practice will be limited to a predefined cumulative time (e.g. 30 minutes), or to a maximum number of laps of the circuit that can be completed (e.g. 10 or 20 depending on the circuit).

    Information for the practice flight session will be available at the registration for the event.

    Qualification stage

    The event will begin with a qualification stage to select the pilots for the competition itself.

    Flights for the qualification stage are called 'asynchronous' considering every pilot will fly alone without being impacted by the other pilots flying at the same moment.

    A period of time (e.g.7 days) will be defined for the qualification stage. During that period, each pilot will be authorised a maximum number of attempts (e.g. 12) to register times to complete a predefined number of consecutive laps. The pilots may do their attempts whenever during the allocated period, on different days, and at any time of each day.

    The ranking for the qualification stage will be calculated by considering for each pilot their fastest registered time.

    The qualification current ranking will be accessible once the qualification stage will start. The registered qualification times will be published when the qualification stage period of time will be finished. Every pilot will get possibility to access the qualification times registered for the other pilots after he/she will have proceeded with at least half of the maximum number of attempts defined.

    Competition

    In each race, the pilots will fly together at the same time with the possibility to see the other drones. All races will be run on the number of laps corresponding to the predefined number of laps stated for the qualification stage.

    In each race, first crossing the finish line will be first placed, and so on. Pilot(s) who did not finish (DNF) will be placed after those who finish, and considering if necessary, the distance completed (number of laps and part of the last lap completed). If applicable, disqualified pilot(s) will be placed at the end before pilot(s) who did not start (DNS).

    First part of the competition

    The first part of the competition concerns the preliminary rounds for which all races will be run with 8 pilots per race.

    Depending the number of pilots ranked in the qualification stage, two scenarios will be considered for this first part of the competition:
     
            Scenario A = 128 pilots selected from the qualification stage - First part with two rounds (24 races in total)
                       or
            Scenario B = 64 pilots selected from the qualification stage - First part with one round (8 races in total)
     

    For both scenarios, the 4 best placed in each race will be qualified for the next round, and the other pilots will be eliminated. The composition of the races for the first round is defined considering the qualification stage ranking.

    Note: See the Annex of the rules' document for the composition of the races for the first round and the bracket for the first part of the competition in each scenario.

    Second part of the competition

    The second part of the competition concerns the 32 pilots qualified from the first part of the competition.

    Note: Second part of every e-Drone Racing World Cup competition will stand on a different day from the first part, and will be as much as possible livestreamed with an English language commentator.

    All races will be run with 4 pilots per race. So, this part will include 1/8th finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals (16 races in total). The 2 best-placed pilots will be qualified for the next round, and the other pilots will be eliminated.

    Note: See the Annex of the rules' document for the bracket of the second part of the competition.

    Final classification for the event

    The final classification for the event will be calculated as follows:

    -  1st to 4th places according to the final race results

    - 5th to 8th places according to the small final race results.

    - After each round, the eliminated pilots will be placed according to the qualifying stage ranking. Nevertheless, the pilots who managed to get a scoring time will be placed in front of those who did not finish (DNF), those eventually disqualified (DISQ) being placed after, and those who did not start (DNS) placed at the end.

    - The pilots not selected for the competition will be placed according to their ranking in the qualifying stage.

    WORLD CUP RANKING

    Allocation of points for an event

    The points allocated to pilots will depend on the number (N) of pilots who have effectively flown in the qualification stage. In addition, a bonus in points will be awarded as follows to the eight (8) best-placed pilots in the event. Points allocated to each pilot depend on the placing in the event of the concerned pilot.

    In the situation of a tie for any placing in an event, the pilots with that placing will share the points that would have been awarded to the places covered had the tie been resolved (round up the score to the nearest whole number of points).

    Note: See the rules' document for the details for the points allocated.

    World Cup classification

    The World Cup ranking will be determined by considering the points obtained by each pilot in the World Cup events in which he/she participated.

    The total World Cup score of the pilot is the sum of its best three event results (numbers of points).

    The winner of the World Cup is the pilot with the greatest total score for the concerned year, and so on for the ranking.

    In the situation of a tie for first, second or third place of the World Cup ranking, placing will be determined by taking into account for the pilots in question, their best fourth result. If this does not break the tied pilots, then the placing will be determined by considering the sum of the points that they obtained in each of the three events considered for their World Cup score multiplied by the number of pilots who have flown in the event concerned; the winner is the one with the greatest total thus calculated.