2027 AIHEC Student Conference

Drone Racing

AIHEC Drone Racing Competition Objectives:

The AIHEC Drone Racing Simulator Competition introduces students to drone flight and technology without requiring prior experience. Students will gain exposure to skills applicable to aviation, robotics, engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, and emerging technology fields. More specifically, students will learn fundamental flight concepts, practice piloting skills, and navigate standardized racing courses on the VelociDrone FPV Racing Simulator using RadioMaster controllers for the most realistic experience. Like other esports, recognizing drone racing as a legitimate and meaningful form of student engagement also strengthens school pride and community connections across TCUs.

AIHEC Drone Racing Competition Rules:

• Pilots must represent no more than one Tribal College or University.

• Pilots must have a MultiGP Pilot Account to log into the racing software during the competition.

• Every team or individual must have an adult who is employed by the team’s academic institution, following the same exceptions outlined in the “Team/Institution relationship” section, who will act as the institution’s official liaison. They may solicit assistance or volunteers from their community as needed, but only the official school liaison is recognized by AIHEC Drone Racing Simulator Competition for the purposes of communication, discipline, and transmission of student data.

• The specific VelociDrone track and drone configuration will be announced to participants before the competition so they have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the simulator.

• Pilots will receive a 30-minute qualifying session to practice and record their best times. The qualifying stage allows pilots to become familiar with the controller, learn the track, adjust to FPV flight, practice throttle control, learn gate placement, and develop a racing strategy.

  • Qualifying Rules

  • Each competitor will:

  • Be assigned a 30-minute qualifying session.

  • Receive access to one of the 10 simulator stations.

  • Complete as many practice and qualifying attempts as possible during their allotted time.

  • Have their fastest three-lap time recorded.

  • Be ranked against all other competitors based on their best three-lap time.

  • The fastest qualifying time will receive the highest seed, with subsequent competitors seeded in order based on their recorded three-lap times.

• Following qualifying, competitors will be placed into a double-loss elimination bracket based on their qualifying results. The number of competitors assigned to each heat will depend on the total number of students who qualify. The basic advancement structure will be:

  • Top half of the heat: Advance on the championship side of the bracket.

  • Bottom half of the heat: Receive their first strike and move to the consolation/elimination side of the bracket.

  • A competitor's second loss eliminates them from the competition.

This creates a fast-moving tournament while giving competitors a second opportunity to remain in contention after an initial loss.

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The double-loss format is designed to balance competitive intensity with an opportunity for competitors to recover from a single poor performance.

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Each competitor begins the elimination portion of the competition with zero losses.​

Championship Side: Competitors who finish in the advancing positions of their heats remain on the championship side of the bracket.​

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Consolation Side: Competitors who finish in the non-advancing positions receive their first loss and move to the consolation side of the bracket. Competitors who lose again on the consolation side are eliminated.

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This process continues until the field is reduced to the final group of competitors.

• Once the competition reaches the final eight pilots, the tournament will transition into a Chase the Ace format. Rather than continuing through a traditional elimination bracket, all eight finalists will compete against one another. The winner of each final heat will earn a championship win. The competition will continue until one pilot finishes first twice. The first pilot to earn two first-place finishes will be crowned the champion.

• Competition Format: The primary competition format will crown an individual AIHEC Drone Racing Simulator Champion.

  • Competitors will be ranked based on:

  • Qualifying performance

  • Elimination bracket results

  • Chase the Ace final performance

The qualifying results will primarily be used to establish the initial tournament seeding, while performance during the elimination rounds and finals will determine final competition placement.

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The competition can also be structured to recognize team performance in addition to individual performance. If AIHEC would like to incorporate a team championship, MultiGP can assign points to each competitor based on how many pilots they defeat during the competition. For example: 1 point = each competitor defeated. Those points can then be added together for all competitors representing the same team.

• Pilots will be supplied with:

  • Software for racing, registering pilots, and timing and scoring.

  • Network access sufficient to compete and engage with the game engine.

  • A scoreboard identifying current team scores and rankings.

  • A room of at least 1,000 sqft for up to 10 laptop stations and approximately 3-4 feet of clearance between stations where possible.

  •  At least four 15-amp power outlets.

  • All computing equipment, including laptops, controllers, headphones, other input devices, and associated cables.

• Pilots are not allowed to sabotage each other during this competition. Unsportsmanlike behavior, cheating, or harassment will result in disqualification.