The finalist field has been set for the FPV Drone Tracking Competition held as part of TEKNOFEST 2026. According to an Anadolu Agency report published on August 16, 20 teams comprising 166 students will compete in Sivrihisar, a district of Eskişehir. Participants will use software and FPV drones they developed to autonomously follow a moving target drone.
What is the competition task?
TEKNOFEST’s official competition page describes the event as a technology contest designed to evaluate image-based perception, decision-making and dynamic target-tracking capabilities. The task involves more than keeping an aircraft in the air. Teams must identify the target from visual data, follow its movement and control their aircraft according to that information. Software, camera input, control algorithms and the drone’s physical performance therefore form one connected system.
The program reported by Anadolu Agency says the teams’ systems will be tested against a moving target drone. The autonomous-tracking requirement means the aircraft must rely on its own perception and decision processes instead of continuous manual direction. The official page also provides 2026 documents including an information file, a registration-format supplement, a preliminary design report template and a critical design report template. Those materials show that teams are evaluated through a documented engineering process as well as their field performance.
How many teams reached this stage?
Anadolu Agency reported on August 16 that 20 teams and 166 students would take part in Sivrihisar. These figures describe the finalist field for the competition. TEKNOFEST’s official page says applications are closed and also lists the 2026 prize amounts. The winning team is due to receive 300,000 Turkish liras, the runner-up 250,000 liras and the third-place team 200,000 liras.
The official competition page links to the 2026 rules and technical materials. A separate TEKNOFEST announcement dated May 4 records that preliminary design report results had been released. Together, these sources confirm that the competition has moved through application, reporting and selection stages before the field tests. The finalist flights will be the practical evaluation of work developed over several months.
Why combine FPV with autonomous tracking?
FPV refers to the use of a camera feed during flight and tracking. In this event, the image is important not only as a view for an operator but also as data used by software to detect a target and maintain the pursuit. A March report by TRT Haber said the contest was intended to test image-based perception, decision-making and dynamic target tracking in a realistic task environment.
That structure separates the event from a conventional speed race. Success depends on several linked steps: seeing the target, processing visual information, producing a tracking decision and directing the drone safely. The report templates published by TEKNOFEST also require teams to explain their technical method rather than presenting only a finished flight.
What happens next?
The finalist teams will demonstrate their systems in the Sivrihisar tasks. TEKNOFEST’s official competition and announcement pages are the primary places to follow verified results and the names of the winning teams. The confirmed information currently shows that 166 students across 20 teams are in the finalist field, the task centers on autonomously tracking a moving target drone, and official prize amounts have been set for the top three teams.
