What was accomplished

●       The RFD900x telemetry radio pair was configured and bench-tested, establishing a reliable MAVLink telemetry link between the drone and the ground station.

●       The RadioMaster TX16S MkII transmitter was bound to the onboard long-range RC receiver, and all control channels were verified in Mission Planner's radio calibration screen.

●       An outdoor range test was conducted on last year's drone, confirming stable telemetry and control signal well beyond the expected competition operating range.

Challenges and solutions

The main challenge was intermittent telemetry dropouts at longer range during initial testing. The team resolved this by adjusting the RFD900x's air data rate and transmit power settings, and repositioning the ground station antenna for a clearer line of sight, which eliminated the dropouts in follow-up tests.

Media

Next steps plan

Continue tuning the AI detection model, focusing on improving accuracy and reducing false positives from the previous baseline.