brush up on your drone glossary

With drones now rapidly becoming mainstream, it's easy to get one. You can choose from an entire range and once you bring home a drone with all the excitement, it's time to get it up and flying. So, here are some common terms to bring you up to speed.

Almost-Ready-to-Fly (ARF) A partially built drone that needs extra assembly before it is ready to fly

Altitude Hold Maintaining height in flight mode

Autonomous A pre-programmed flight mode for a drone with no live input from pilot

Bind Connecting a controller to the drone so it can pick up signals

Build A completed, usually DIY, drone built from parts or a kit

CAA Civil Aviation Authority

Camera Drone A drone with a camera attached

Drone A popularized term for all unmanned aerial vehicles

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

First Person View (FPV) Viewing the drone’s flight via a camera mount to goggles or a monitor, usually for racing

Flight Controller Controls the movement of the drone

Gimbal Mount that steadies the camera’s movement relative to the ground

Gyroscope Device to allow the drone to maintain its level

IAA Irish Aviation Authority

Line of Sight (LOS) Maintaining visual contact with your drone at all times: a legal requirement

Lithium Polymer (Li-Po) Battery Powerful, popular energy source for UAVs and RC aircraft

Multirotor A drone with several motors, or propellers

Nanocopter An exceptionally small drone

Payload The amount of weight a drone can lift, aside from its own weight and batteries

PFCO Permission for Commercial Operations - the certification required to fly for work in UK; similar regulations exist in other countries too

Pitch Front/back movement or tilt

Propeller The rotating motor that the blades are fitted to

Quadcopter A drone with four motors, or propellers

Ready-to-Fly (RTF) A drone supplied with all parts, ready to go from the box

Receiver Device that receives signals from the transmitter and sends them to the flight controller

Return-to-Home (RTH) A failsafe GPS option

Roll Rotation left or right without other movement

Transmitter The control device that sends pilot commands to the drone’s receiver

Tricopter A drone with three motors, or propellers

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

YAW Rotation around a central point

This is a preliminary vocabulary. More on drones at Drone Magazine.

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