

Some professional and lightweight racing drones are the fastest commercial drones available. On the flip side, the SKEYE Nano 2 Camera Drone is considered one of the smallest camera drones and measures only 4 cm diagonally and 2.2 cm high. In 2018, China tested an unmanned transport drone, the Feihong-98 (FH-98), which can carry a payload of 1.5 tons and a takeoff weight of 5.25 tons!īoeing also tested the world’s largest prototype octocopter drone in 2018 which weighs 747 pounds (340 kg), is 15 feet long (4.5 meters) and 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide! Some drones now would be considered huge. With the ongoing development of autonomous, delivery, and commercial drones, the size and weight of drones are increasing. Generally speaking, racing drones, micro/mini drones, and toy drones measure less than 30 cm in length and weigh around 500 grams or less. For the more affordable recreational and racing drones, the range is generally short (100-200 meters) while the larger and more expensive aerial (2 km) and long-distance drones (10 km) have a substantial range. Other factors that can potentially affect the range include weather, battery life, and the transmission/signal power between the receiver and controller, among others. The maximum flight time impacts the amount of distance or range that the drone can cover. Racing drones and toy drones only offer 5 to 10 minutes of flying time while top-end commercial and camera drones can last between 30 and 45 minutes (or even longer). Flight time and rangeĭrones are mostly designed– or restricted– to fly for limited periods of time, although some tethered drones can fly for much longer periods. However, they are mainly used for professional applications. Sources: Parrot, PowerVisionĭrones are able to serve professional, commercial, and hobby purposes. These are typically toy drones, however.įind the cheapest drone for photography, racing, underwater or other categories with our drone comparison engine.įrom top to bottom: Parrot Mambo multi-rotor drone, Parrot Disco fixed-wing drone, PowerVision PowerRay underwater drone. The cheapest drones can be found for under $20 USD. Phantom DJI drone series (around around $800 to $1,250).

#Multirotor drone definition series
Other names used for them include: remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), remotely operated aircraft (ROA), unmanned aircraft system (UAS), and unmanned aircraft (UA) to describe aircraft without a flight crew.įrom popular culture– with references such as the dystopian Black Mirror TV series and the “swarm of drone bees” episode– to the well-publicized military use of drones (mostly fixed-wing UAVs), we can see that drones profit an ever-expanding range of applications.

There is also an increasing amount of terminology surrounding drones. The term now also encompasses underwater UAVs as well as drones that are autonomous and AI-powered, or even self-flying drones. However, this is no longer entirely true, as the technology has evolved for drones. The popular consensus is that drones are unmanned flying aircraft controlled by a human drone pilot. Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), come in many shapes and sizes and serve a growing number of purposes and industries.
