Integration + compliance · what must be true to ship

AI integration plan.

Compliance checklist mapped to AIGP rules (VADR-TS-002, supersedes -001 · 2026-04-19 update), submission pipeline, risk matrix, 8-week timeline. Every row is a "must be true" gate for a valid submission — not a nice-to-have.

Compliance
21 gates · 3 open
see §01
Submission
python submit_check.py package
9 validator checks
Timeline
Now → VQ1 (May) → VQ2 (Jul) → Physical (Sep)
~8 weeks to VQ1
Risk
Observation-swap landmine · sim-to-real gap
see §03

§ 01Compliance gates

#RequirementSourceStatus
1Code in PythonRules §1OK
2No human interaction during runsRules §3 · 2026-04-19OK · deterministic + learned policies only
3Runs on Windows2026-04-19 updateOK · smoke on Win11
4Active internet during runs (anti-cheat)2026-04-19 updateOK · no offline-only deps
5No GPS · no absolute positioning usage2026-04-19 updateOK · audit: no NED in runtime code
6No depth sensor usage2026-04-19 updateOK
7Outputs are Throttle/Roll/Pitch/Yaw2026-04-19 updateOK · ControlCmd schema matches
8Run ≤ 8 minRules §5OK · race.max_time_s = 480
9No input() / keyboard reads in runtimeRules §3OK · audited
10Code reviewable (pinned deps, reproducible)Rules §7PARTIAL · need reproduce.sh
11No third-party services called at runtimeRules §7OK · local inference only
12Weights ship with submissionRules §2PARTIAL · packager needs --include-weights
13No imitation learning from human demosRules §3 (inferred)OK
14Detector handles <10 gates (VQ1)2026-04-19 updateOK
15Detector handles <20 gates + distractors (VQ2)2026-04-19 updateOPEN · needs sim-frame fine-tune
16PPO observation matches real sim surface2026-04-19 updatePARTIAL · stub in place, needs real YOLO wiring
17Gate ordering without privileged map2026-04-19 updateOK · target-gate tracker
18No team-shared accounts (one team per participant)2026-04-19 updateOK · organizational
19No full-time founding-partner employees2026-04-19 updateOK · confirm team roster
20Multiple parallel sim instances work in training2026-04-19 updateOPEN · SubprocVecEnv wrapper
21On-drone compute fits Jetson Orin NX class (Physical)Rules §6OPEN · TensorRT INT8 export
Three open items gate a VQ2-valid submission: (15) sim-frame fine-tune, (16) real detector in PPO env, (20) parallel sim wrapper, (21) Orin INT8 TRT. Items 10 + 12 are submission-package hygiene. All else green.

§ 02Three-tier training strategy

TierScopeDatasetOutput
Tier 1 · Pre-simAPEX Phase 1 + 2 on existing data. VQ1 pilot ready.dataset_gates_mega (2.7K) + hard negatives (1K) + synthetic (future)Submission-ready detector for Day 1 of VQ1
Tier 2 · Post-VQ1Fine-tune on captured sim frames. Train PPO with detector_telemetry obs.+6K VQ1-sim frames + continuous capturePPO policy transferable to real AIGP sim
Tier 3 · Sim-to-realResidual dynamics model from real flight data. Adapt detector to real imagery.~30 min DIY rig flight · real FPVPolicy that transfers to Physical Qualifier

§ 03Risk matrix

RiskLikelihoodImpactMitigation
Privileged-obs PPO in submissionMediumHIGH--observation-mode=detector_telemetry default · submit_check warns
Detector overfits synthetic data, fails on real simHighHIGHSim-day capture + fine-tune on Day 1 · continuous capture loop
Anti-cheat handshake breaks trainingMediumMEDIUMTest parallel-instance handshake in first sim access
Sim-to-real fails at PhysicalMediumHIGH30 min real-flight data + residual dynamics in Aug · DIY rig testing
Compute over budget on Orin NXLowMEDIUMINT8 TRT export · budget verified at 10 ms · P2 pruning pass
Rule change mid-competitionMediumMEDIUMModular stack · component replacement <1 day · monitor forum
Team-eligibility audit surpriseLowCRITConfirm every participant once · single-team rule understood
PPO policy non-deterministic at submit timeLowMEDIUMDeterministic inference flag · seed fixed · smoke on 100 repeats

§ 04Submission pipeline

Train
train_apex.py
Export
ONNX · weights
Validate
submit_check
Benchmark
proxy SimDrone
Package
submission.zip
Submit
DCL portal

§ 05Eight-week timeline

WeekFocusDeliverable
W1 (now)Theme refresh · strategy docs up · sim package watchDocs complete · VQ1 pilot smoke-tested
W2–3VQ1 sim access · telemetry adapter · first completion100% gate-clear on VQ1 course
W3–4Sim-frame capture · detector fine-tune · submit VQ1VQ1 submission locked
W4–5PPO observation swap · parallel envs · Phase 3 trainingPPO policy beats PID on VQ1 course
W5–6VQ2 opens · PPO tuning · adversarial detectorMultiple scored VQ2 attempts
W6–7VQ2 submissions · chaos testing · hero runTop-30 seed for Physical
W7–8VQ2 cutoff · DIY rig real-flight captureReal-flight dataset >15 min

§ 06References across the stack

Winning Playbook

STRATEGY

Master strategy: effort budget, reliability math, sim-to-real, data pipeline moat, anti-patterns.

APEX Pipeline

TRAINING

Three-phase training · observation-swap details · research foundations.

Submission Guide

GUIDE

Validation, benchmark, package, 9-check submission list.

Architecture

CORE

End-to-end pipeline, component file map, comms surface.

AI-INTEGRATION · v2.0 2026-04-21 · ← Index