Purdue University

• Date: October 31, 2025
• Time: 1:30 p.m.
• Location: Online
• Registration: Teams Link *This registration is for the first informational session. Registration for the competition opens on October 31, 2025.

The Autonomous Fixed-Wing UAS Pylon Racing Competition is an inaugural event that challenges teams to design, simulate, and flight-test fixed-wing UAS guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) schemes for safe and fast pylon courses. Hosted by Purdue University’s Center on Artificial Intelligence for Digital, Autonomous, and Augmented Aviation (AIDA³), Purdue UAS Research and Test Facility (PURT), and the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing (RCAC), this competition will take place in two phases.

• Phase 1—Digital Twin: Teams will develop an ROS2 GNC autonomy package to run in our simulation environment.
• Phase 2—Physical Flight: Finalists will be selected from participants in Phase 1. The finalists will then run their ROS2 GNC autonomy on the Sport Cub S2UAS at PURT. Winning teams will receive a prize.

Teams are tasked with developing an autonomous guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) stack for fixed-wing UASs to complete a predefined pylon course quickly and safely — while respecting flight-envelope and safety constraints. Participants will explore nonlinear dynamics and aerodynamic constraints in fixed-wing aerial robotics, thereby advancing the understanding of challenges in simulation-to-real deployment of autonomous flight systems.

Information Session 1:

This information session aims to guide participants through the process of running and using the simulator, explain the tasks, and address any questions. To register for the first information session, please visit: Teams Link

To learn more about the competition, please visit the associated website: Autonomous Fixed-Wing UAS Pylon Racing

For those who are not yet ready to commit, but would like to keep apprised of the event and any associated information, please register your interest here: Interest Form