the different drone between UAV and RC aircraft or toy airplane

Nowadays no matter UAV , rc aircraft,toy airplane,are all called drone by the public , and this make the lines between them becoming more and more blur...... The UAV was first developed after the World War 1 , but it was generally used in military after the World War 2. Recent years , UAV has showed its possibility for commercial and civil use. While DJI becomes more and more popular in UAV area,

the technology of UAV for civil use turn to be more and more mature and common . UAV , rc aircaft and toy airplane can be found in every shopping center. But nowadays no matter UAV , model airplane or toy airplane are all called UAV by the public , and this make the lines between them becoming more and more blur , as a practitioner or a hobbyist can you come out with the different drone between UAV , RC airplane and toy airplane in accurate?

The differences between UAV and rc aircraft

First , let's talk about the differences between UAV and rc aircraft.
Let's start from definition , flight control system , Auto-Control , constituent , purpose and administration to organize the differences between UAV and model airplane , in order to fundamentally distinguish.

The differences of definition

Currently , the definition of rc aircraft is that the model airplane must be in your horizon. People's horizon should under 500 meters. It means that while people standing here and look at the model , this distance can not exceed 500 meters and the relative height can not exceed 120 meters. It is a kind of unmanned air craft that heavier than air , has limited in size and has or no power plant and should fly in horizon. That is what we call model airplane.

UAV is totally different , it is a kind of unmanned air craft that use radio remote control equipment or its own program to control. It can fly without remote , people can control it through computer , ground station or ground circuit. UAV can fly thousands of kilometers away and now it can stay in air for 48 hours that means 2 days , it can fly so far in that situation. UAV can fly for a long distance , that is also a notable feature of it , which model airplane can not do it.

The differences of flight control system

The only difference is that whether has navigation flight system and whether can autonomous flight. Popular to say , UAV use its complicated central flight control system to connect with ground control parameters , in order to control its stance and maneuvering achieve autonomous flight.

Though model airplane is also unmanned , but it need to fly in manipulator's horizon and let manipulator to control its maneuvering and regulate its stance.
That's means UAV flies with its "brain" , the "brain" maybe limited by A.I. , not as smart as human's brain. But model airplane's "brain" is always on the ground , in manipulator's hands.

The differences of Auto-Control

In Auto-Control , UAV can deal with many various situation intelligent , complete the mission as required , confirm the mission after data fusion with the ground station and take the next step as required. While most model airplane's Auto-Control only can achieve auto return after lose control.

The difference of constituent

UAV is more complicated than model airplane in constituent. Rc aircraft is composed by flying platform , power system and the rocker in horizon. It is mainly for ornamental of the public , pursuit of out looking or elegance of flying , do not need high technology.

UAV's system is composed by flying platform , power system , Flight control navigation system , link system , mission system and ground station. It is mainly for accomplish some special missions , pursued the ability to complete the task and high technology. Some upscale model airplanes and some low end UAVs do not have too many differences in flying platform , power system.

The differences of use

UAV is more used to carry out some missions that out of horizon , nowadays is mainly used in military and special civil , its biggest mission radius is thousands of kilometers. It can control itself through airborne navigation flight control system. Through link system upload control order and download task information.

Model airplane usually flies in horizon , its control radius is less than 800 meters , manipulator should staring at the plane , use the remote to control the model , there has none equipment on the airplane. Lots of UAV system have the same ability as model airplane , manipulator can control UAV in horizon.

The differences of Security Management

In our country , rc aircraft is managed by Air Sports Management Center , which belongs to National Sports Commission. Civil UAVs are managed by Civil Aviation Authority and military UAVs are managed by military.

The differences between rc aircraft and toy airplane

The differences of participatory

The differences between model airplane and toy airplane is that toys are "dead" , but models are "alive". The reason for toys are "dead" is that toys usually only use its original accessories and almost do not have any choices , if it is broken , people can only buy original accessories , it is also difficult to find.
But rc aircraft is totally different , for example if my television is broken , I can buy whatever size of TV as I want , because all of them are in common use , if I think the old one do not have enough power , I can change it into a bigger one in common use. After all , if you buy a toy , it will always look the same. If you buy a model , you can do whatever you want on it.

The differences of internal structure

From the internal structure , toy axis's ESC , receiver and flight control system are all combined together , all use coreless motor and also do not have the problem of radiating. The advantage for this integrated board is cheap and small in size , the disadvantage is that if one place is broken , then it should be changed into a new one. But because of the expensive cost of model airplane and the need of diy and radiating , so there do not have many integrated board model (except some miniature model craft) , are generally independent devices connected to each other , such as 2s 7.4v lipo battery, easy to use,and if don't have electricity,just replace a battery at any time.

The differences of environment

Model usually can fit outdoor fly and it can be controlled in bad weather. But toy can only fly with breeze or without wind such as indoor environment.
Source: http://www.genstattu.com/blog/the-different-drone-between-uav-and-rc-aircraft-or-toy-airplane/

Why the Consumer UAV So Popular?

The history of UAV can be traced back to last century. But recently, with the release of consumer UAV, it is not merely for the upper-class but becomes an affordable "toy" for all the public. The popularity of UAV should be attributed to the joy and operability. When you turn on the aerial photograph mode, you could observe the surroundings through FPV (First Person View), which is a totally new shooting perspective and full of fun. Besides, it is easy to operate and control, especially for the green-hand.
The design of multi-rotor, flying with four or more rotors, is massively adapted into the consumer UAVs, which is the simplest mechanical structure among the three types of aircrafts andis motivated by the motor,and relatively the UAV battery is light weight and long flight time. It has the obvious advantages of simple machinery, being able of taking off and landing vertically. However, the multi-rotor has the comparatively short flight time and less payload.

The quadcopters and multi-rotor UAVS gain the most market, which are lightweight, agile, safe, easy to operate, able to hover in the air and other strengths. The multi-rotor UAVs gradually turned the toy plane into the pragmatic aircraft for aerial photograph. You could see the synchronous picture as long as you connect the UAV with Wifi. Similarly, in the actual flight, you could watch the UAV or the screen. Apart from aerial photograph, the UAVs have been applied in express delivery, disaster relief, patrol, providing network and other fields.

What is the difference between consumer UAV and professional UAV for aerial photograph?

The consumer UAVs commonly have the affordable prices for ordinary people, varying from one hundred to thousand dollars, light weight and operability. For most consumers, the main purpose of consumer UAVs is entertainment. Conversely, to operate the aerial photograph UAVs, people should experience the professional training. Another advantage, especially important for the green hand, for UAVs is that it does not need to assemble by own, which means that we could fly as soon as we buy it.
The aerial photograph is the main function of the consumer UAVs, but it still has great disparity with the professional aerial photograph UAV from the image quality, flight duration, the ability of withstanding bad weather, high-speed of image transmission and other perspective. The professional one could load with professional digital camera, whose image is more clear and has higher pixel. Naturally, the professional one has higher price, from ten thousand to hundred thousand dollars.

In a word, due to the easiness of operate and no need to assemble, the green-hand can control it skillfully after a few practices. And it has a lot of designs of one-touch operation, such as return and land automatically. Also, the price is much affordable for ordinary players.

Why we cannot buy the cheap drone?

It is undoubted that all the UAV fans want to have an own UAV, but the equipment of well-known and mega brand has the price of thousands dollar, which is not affordable for most of players. Therefore, some people will buy the cheaper UAVs, maybe tens of dollars. But is it wise to buy such drones?

To answer such question, the first thing we should clarify is whether we need a better fly experience. The experience depends on multiple factors, and the safety is the most crucial thing. We should choose those qualified products to guarantee safety; however, the cheap UAVs commonly do not have the function GPS stability, resulting in the difficulty in controlling and the instability. When the emergency happens, it cannot hover in time and is likely to cause danger. At the same time, the cheaper UAVs do not have stable holder, which can rotate, so that it could not shoot the steady images. Furthermore, the difficulty for fly improves without the function of image transmission. (It is impossible to see the picture.) Consequently, choosing a safe and stable drone, no matter the price, is wise for all the UAV fans.

Is the multi-rotor UAV easy to operate?

Take Xiro explorer, a quadcopter UAV, as an example; it is mainly operated by the rocker. The left rocker can control the height and direction (up or down and rotate). The right one can control the movement of four directions (forward, backward, left and right). The position can be set manually. The rocker of remote-controller is more sensitive, so we should carefully and slightly operate it to fly stably.

Xiro explorer have the function of GPS emergency hover and making a return. After you choose the landing position, only by pressing one button that it can land steadily. Hint: the landing position should be chosen cautiously. On one thing, do not land on the crowd in case of causing injuries; on the other thing, choose the spacious and smooth place to avoid the damage of drones. In a nutshell, it is easy to operate, but to shoot high-quality image, more time given to practice is needed.

What should be noticed to fly UAVs?

Though it is easy to control and operate, we should know more about the safety common sense, and certainly, the basic operation process. To avoid the air crash due to the power-cut, 14.8V Lipo Battery from Gens ACE is strongly recommended, for it has long flight time, easy to assemble and stability. Additionally, setting the prohibited fly areas is required. The flyers should pay attention to the rules and laws, apart from enjoy the drones.

How to Choose Lipo Charger for Lipo Battery

There are various chargers available in the market but I’ll help you to choose a smart charger to charge your RC's battery. And which prevent your battery from overcharging, battery heating, charging losses etc. there are two type of chargers available first one is Non-Programmable chargers, Programmable chargers. There are various parameter we have to know about them before further discussion like charging current, power required by charger, maximum output voltage by charger, its input voltage, max power output by charger, USB connecter etc.

Some things to consider when buying a charger

Cell compatibility

There are maximum and minimum LiPo cell count, the battery charger can handle. For example some battery charger supports up to 6S, some even up to 8S, but they might not be capable of charging 1S LiPo. Make sure you know what cell count the charger supports. Some very cheap lipo chargers will only support 2S or 3S lipos, where the fanciers ones will be able to support the full range from 1S to 6S. Other higher end chargers are also able to balance charge more than one LiPo at the same time.

Charge Current Rate

LiPo batteries are often recommended to be charged at 1C current rate for various reasons, although some more expensive LiPo batteries these days are advertised as fast charging, which can be charged at 2C or even higher. The main reason for charging at lower current is safety, and to prevent the battery gets too hot, which might cause the battery to go “puff” and shorter battery life.

Basically, to charge at 1C, it means if you have a 3s 2200mah LiPo battery, your charge current would be 1 x 2000mA = 2A; But to charge at 2C, the charge current is 2 x 2000mA = 4A.

Charger Power

LiPo Charger Power is measured in Watt which is calculated by multiplying voltage (Volts) and current (Amps). If your charger does not meet the power requirement, you might find it charge your battery at a lower current.

For example, to charge a 3S 2000mAh LiPo at 12.6V at 1C (2A), you will need a charger that are rated for 25.2 watts (= 12.6V x 2A). So it’s clear that if you want to charge at 2C (4A), you will need double of the power which is 50.4W. If we want to charge a 3S 2200mAh battery at 1C we will need to use 12.6V x 2.2A = 27.72W. If we want to charge a 2S 5000mah lipo at 1C we will use 12.6V x 5.1A = 64.26W which is actually a little over the standard power rating for chargers. So we an only charge our 5100mAh battery at 50W/12.6V = 3.6A assuming we have a 50W charger.

How A Good Charger Balances Your LiPo

The core reason you need a compatible LiPo charger is because of how efficiently it can balance your LiPo battery during charging.

1. There is a technical meaning for the word ‘Balancing’. It refers to the act of equalizing the voltage of each cell in a battery pack.
2. Through balancing, you can ensure that each cell making up a LiPo battery discharges the same amount of voltage.
3. A direct consequence of such balancing is a LiPo that performs at its optimum, not to mention safely.
4. There are external stand-alone balancers available on the market but a smart shopper will go for chargers that have built-in balancing capabilities. In these, balancing boards do the ace job of leveling out cell discharge

In addition to keeping things compact (battery and charger in one unit) you simplify the whole charging process with a built-in balancer. Even the price of these particular devices is reasonably lower than a battery and stand-alone charger combo.