A brief introduction to drones

Unmanned aerial vehicle is abbreviated as "UAV", and the English abbreviation is "UAV".

Drones tend to be better suited for tasks that are too "dumb, dirty or dangerous" than manned aircraft. UAVs can be divided into military and civilian according to the application field. In terms of military use, UAVs are divided into reconnaissance aircraft and target aircraft. In terms of civil use, drones + industrial applications are the real needs of drones; in aerial photography, agriculture, plant protection, miniature selfies, express transportation, disaster rescue, observation of wildlife, monitoring of infectious diseases, surveying and mapping, news reporting, power inspection , disaster relief, film and television shooting, manufacturing romance and other fields have greatly expanded the use of drones themselves, and developed countries are also actively expanding industry applications and developing drone technology.

Model classification

With the rapid development of UAV-related technologies at home and abroad, UAV systems have a wide variety of types and distinctive features, resulting in great differences in size, quality, range, flight time, flight altitude, flight speed, and tasks. Due to the diversity of drones, there are different classification methods for different considerations:

According to the configuration of the flight platform, UAVs can be divided into fixed-wing UAVs, rotary-wing UAVs, unmanned airships, parachute UAVs, and flapping-wing UAVs.

According to the classification of use, UAVs can be divided into military UAVs and civilian UAVs. Military UAVs can be divided into reconnaissance UAVs, decoy UAVs, electronic countermeasure UAVs, communication relay UAVs, unmanned fighter jets and target drones; civilian UAVs can be divided into inspection/surveillance UAVs drones, agricultural drones, meteorological drones, exploration drones, and surveying and mapping drones.

According to the scale classification (civil aviation regulations), UAVs can be divided into micro UAVs, light UAVs, small UAVs and large UAVs. Micro UAVs refer to UAVs with an air mass less than or equal to 7kg, and a light drone with a mass greater than 7kg, but less than or equal to 116kg, and the calibrated airspeed is less than 100km/h (55nmile/h) in full-horsepower level flight. The ceiling is less than 3000m. Small unmanned aerial vehicles refer to unmanned aerial vehicles with an empty weight of less than or equal to 5700kg, excluding micro and light unmanned aerial vehicles. Large UAVs refer to UAVs with an empty weight greater than 5700kg.

According to the activity radius, UAVs can be divided into ultra-short-range UAVs, short-range UAVs, short-range UAVs,

Mid-range UAVs and long-range UAVs. The ultra-short-range UAV activity radius is within 15km, the short-range UAV activity radius is between 15-50km, the short-range UAV activity radius is between 50-200km, and the medium-range UAV activity radius is 200-800km In between, the long-range UAV activity radius is greater than 800km.

According to the task height, UAVs can be divided into ultra-low-altitude UAVs, low-altitude UAVs, medium-altitude UAVs,

High-altitude drones and ultra-high-altitude drones. The mission height of ultra-low-altitude UAVs is generally between 0 and 100m, the mission height of low-altitude UAVs is generally between 100 and 1000m, the mission height of mid-altitude UAVs is generally between 1000 and 7000m, and the mission height of high-altitude UAVs is generally between 1000 and 7000m. Between 7,000 and 18,000m, the mission height of ultra-high-altitude UAVs is generally greater than 18,000m.

Technical Features

Capture high-resolution images

UAV can collect high-resolution images, which not only makes up for the shortcomings of satellite remote sensing that often cannot obtain images due to cloud cover, but also solves the problems of long revisit cycle and untimely emergency response of traditional satellite remote sensing.

Unmanned combat aircraft

UAV system consists of aircraft platform system, information acquisition system and ground control system. The first generation was dominated by reconnaissance aircraft, and some drones were already armed. The military envisions more roles for drones, initially bombing and ground attack, air-to-air combat, and the last field for pilots. Armed drones are called unmanned combat aircraft (UCAVs).

Launch and recovery

A new generation of UAVs can be launched and recovered from a variety of platforms, such as from ground vehicles, ships, aircraft, suborbital vehicles and satellites. The ground operator can check its programming through the computer and change the course of the drone as needed. And some other more advanced technical equipment, such as advanced eavesdropping devices, radar penetrating leaves, micro spectrometer equipment providing chemical capabilities, etc., will also be installed on the drones.

Work process

(1) Start interface: quickly realize the planning of tasks, enter the task monitoring interface, and realize the rapid and automatic filing of aerial photography tasks. The functions are divided to realize the specific and stable operation of the software.

(2) Pre-flight inspection: In order to ensure the safety of the mission, the flight control software is used for automatic detection before takeoff to ensure that the GPS, compass, airspeed tube and its pitch and roll of the aircraft are in good condition, so as to avoid the occurrence of dangerous situations during aerial photography. .

(3) Flight mission planning: Plan flight missions in three modes: regional aerial photography, navigation, and hybrid.

(4) Flight monitoring: Real-time grasp of the aircraft's attitude, orientation, airspeed, position, battery voltage, real-time wind speed and direction, mission time and other important states, so as to facilitate the operator to judge the feasibility of the mission in real time and further ensure the safety of the mission.

(5) Image stitching: After the aerial photography task is completed, the navigation aerial images are used for image stitching of the research area.