Design/Build/Fly

Design/Build/Fly, or DBF, is a radio-controlled aircraft competition sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Cessna Aircraft Company, and Raytheon Missile Systems. The competition is intended to challenge the AIAA student branches of each university to design, build, and fly a remote-controlled airplane that can complete specific ground and flight missions. Additionally, the teams are required to submit a comprehensive design report detailing the most important aspects of their designs.
Competition rules vary annually, switching between humanitarian and military themes. Rules typically release in late September, with the final fly-off in April. A mathematical formula outlined in the rules calculates each entry's score, which lately combines design report and performance scores from fly-off missions.

Design aspects

Students are required to keep up with changing technologies and mission requirements as the aerospace industry advances. Recent mission requirements have included increased focus on fuel efficiency, environmental sustainability, and electric propulsion. Additionally, the use of advanced materials and manufacturing techniques has become more prevalent in the competition, as students look for ways to optimize their aircraft performance while keeping costs down.

List of top 5 finishes by university

Rank	University	Top 5	First place
1	Oklahoma State University	13	7
2	University of Southern California	13	4
3	Georgia Institute of Technology	11	2
4	University of California, Irvine	6	1
5	California Polytechnic State University	6	0
6	University of Ljubljana	6	2
7	Virginia Tech	6	0
8	Utah State University	5	2
9	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	5	1
10	University of Texas, Austin	5	0
11	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	4	1
12	San Jose State University	3	2
13	University of California, San Diego	3	1
14	Purdue University	3	0
15	Texas A&M University	3	0
16	University of Colorado Boulder	3	0
17	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach	3	0
18	San Diego State University	2	1
19	Istanbul Technical University	2	0
20	Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza	2	0
21	University of Oklahoma	2	0
22	West Virginia University	2	0
23	Wichita State University	2	0
24	FH Joanneum	2	1
25	University of Washington, Seattle	2	0
26	Clarkson University	1	1
27	Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering	1	1
28	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	1	0
29	Syracuse University	1	0
30	Tel Aviv University	1	0
31	Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute	1	0
32	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	1	0
33	Pennsylvania State University	1	0
34	The City College of New York	1	0
35	University of Central Florida	1	0
36	Ohio State University	1	0
37	RWTH Aachen University	1	1