Drones and their uses

Drone is the fixed name of unmanned aerial vehicles. The equipment also has alternative names: drone, copter, UAV. All of them characterize devices that are able to move in the air on their own. Modern drones differ in the way they fly and its range, payload weight and other characteristics. The combination of practical properties in one device makes its use effective in various activities, from military operations to firefighting.

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What is a drone?

A drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is able to autonomously move in the air and does not require direct piloting. The devices are controlled by a remote control or on-board computer. The first prototypes of drones appeared at the end of the 19th century and were developed for military purposes. Fully autonomous drones began to be produced in the second half of the 20th century, regularly improving the mechanism of their work.

Modern UAVs differ in characteristics. Nevertheless, the operation of any drone is based on the basic principles:

• the ability to move independently in the air;
• the ability to maintain a given altitude and flight speed;
• moving an additional load of different masses;
• the possibility of installing additional equipment on the device for recording data and transmitting information to the operator in real time;

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Types of drones

Drones are classified according to different criteria: purpose of use, flight range, payload mass, basic mechanism, etc.

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There are two types of drones according to technical characteristics:

• aircraft;
• helicopter.

The principle of separation is clear from the name. Aircraft models are based on load-bearing wings, which provide the drone with a high, long flight of a large radius. Helicopter (or copter) type drones are equipped with propellers. Depending on the number of screws, copters are divided into:

• the tricopter is equipped with 3 propellers;
• quadcopter with 4 screws;
• hexacopter with 6 screws;
• Octocopter with 8 screws.

Drones are also divided based on the purpose of use. There are various classification options available. Allocate:

• military drones;
• civilian drones

Military drones are the progenitors of all modern drones. They are used in combat. The devices are distinguished by high technical characteristics: they are able to independently land, fly long distances, perform assigned tactical tasks, and withstand heavy loads.

Civilian drones have found application in various areas: geodetic work, security, emergency situations.

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Purpose/uses of drones

The use of drones is constantly expanding. UAVs outperform classical manned aviation in terms of a combination of indicators, which attracts the attention of not only the military, but also civil services.

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Modern UAVs are used in the following activities:

geodetic works (cartography, creation of 3D models of objects and relief);

security patrol (we are talking about search and rescue operations in the forest, water bodies, in hard-to-reach areas);

emergencies (fires, other cataclysms, during which drones help identify sources of danger and provide assistance in their elimination);

day-to-day monitoring of various services (for example, monitoring the state of the forest, the density of vegetation, the spread of pests);

combat operations (engineers continue to work on improving the technical characteristics of military drones, which are actively used in combat operations).