What was accomplished

●       The SIYI A8 mini gimbal camera was mounted and wired on last year's drone, with its video feed integrated into the ground station display.

●       The buzzer and LED indicator kit were installed and configured to provide clear audible and visual status signals (arming state, GPS lock, battery warnings) to the ground crew.

●       A full bench validation of the entire avionics stack was carried out — flight controller, GPS, telemetry, RC link, companion computer, camera, and indicators — confirming all systems function together correctly.

Challenges and solutions

The main challenge was electrical noise from the gimbal's motors interfering with the video signal quality. This was resolved by adding shielded cabling for the gimbal's power and video lines, separating them from the high-current motor wiring.

Next steps plan

Transfer the fully validated avionics stack from the testbed drone into the new competition airframe.