Starting from sports events to wedding, property tour to environmental documentary, drones are everywhere these days. This multi-functional robot has changed the concept of capturing moments. It is cool to have one, isn’t it? However, if you are unsure about the item you should buy.
Important Factors to Choose the Best Drone
Here is a guide about the types of drones. It will educate about the types, sizes, and functionalities of a drone and make sure that your investment is worth.
- Size
- Aerial Platform
- Abilities
- Range
1. Types of Drones Based on Size
The size of a drone can vary and the different sizes are not only different from measurements, but also from functionalities and performance.
Large Drones
Large drones can be of the size of small aircraft. In the defense areas, this type of drones is widely used to understand the situations of high-risk areas. Large drones generally have powerful cameras to be operated successfully from much above the area.
Medium Drones
The size is smaller than the light aircraft. Two people are needed to carry this drone as it can weigh up to 200kgs.
Small Drones
Small drones are much smaller than the medium drones which don’t exceed 2 meters. These drones have fixed wings. You shouldn’t judge its power by its size as it is a high-powered item that can be thrown into the air to glide away easily with the airflow.
Very Small Drones
A drone can be as small as an insect, like 50 cm in length. This is also called a micro drone or nano drone. For biological warfare, it has a wide use. It is specially designed for enclosed spaces.
2. Types of Drones Based on Range
The range of a drone decides the distance it is capable of flying. There are several options with different ranges including:
Long Range
You can control this range of drone from 650 KM. Surveillance is a popular field of its use. However, it is also used for scientific data collection, including weather report and geological situation of a particular area.
Short Range
The short-range refers to a drone which can be controlled from 150 KM. It is capable of flying up to 12 hours. It is another drone that is popular for surveillance and spying.
Close Range
The powerful battery enables it to fly for 6 hours for a distance of 50 Km. Again, it is used for the defense purpose.
Very Close Range
The ‘toy drones’ are a very close range of drones, which have a range of 5 km. It can fly up to 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on the height.
3. Types of Drones Based on Type of Aerial Platform
All drones don’t follow the same method of flying and here is how they are categorized. Here is the classification of how the drones can manage to stay up in the air:
Multi-Rotor
This type of drones carries several motors which make them stay hours in a stable position in a particular spot. For aerial photography, these drones have huge use.
Single Rotor
The single rotor is there to fly the drone and the small rotor near the tail is there for direction. It is also known as RC helicopter. These are more efficient than multi-rotor drones. It can not only fly high but can stay in one position. Instead of electricity, gas can be used in it.
Fixed Wings
This is another type of drone that has fixed wings. The construction of the drone is similar to the style of airplanes. The main feature of the drone is that it can’t stay at a certain place, but keeps on gliding in the air depending on the energy.
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4. Types of Drones Based on Abilities
A drone is not a mere flying machine, but something much more than that. It is capable of performing several tasks and based on the abilities, the drones can be categorized in these below-mentioned sections:
- Quadcopters: If you judge on the popularity, this is the most popular model of drones. The quadcopter uses 4 rotors fixed at the end of the body. This is designed to be used as a toy and also as a larger drone.
- GPS Drones: This drone has links with the satellite. The use of satellite helps in deciding the direction of flight and determining its return to the owner when the battery is low.
- Trick Drones: These are small, maneuverable and fast. These drones are generally used as toys and it can be used for barrel rolls, flips and entertaining moves in the air. The accessories are not attached to them to enhance the performance.
- Ready-to-Fly Drones: These are the most user-friendly drones, which are simple to fly. You just need to buy the drone, assemble and charge the battery. It is ready to fly!
- Delivery Drones: This is a popular choice for the companies who need to move the inventories from one place to another. Delivery drones can carry items and transport those to the desired place. It can be very useful if large drones can be used as delivery drones.
- Photography Drones: The photography drones are used to capture moments. By attaching a camera to the body, the drone can capture high-quality pictures and videos from a drone’s perspective. These are designed to withstand the weather elements so that it can take pictures in the harsh weather as well.
- Racing Drones: These drones are always lightweight for the fast and agile performance it is specially designed with. It can reach the speed up to 60 miles an hour. This is why it is used in sports events like racing.
- Helicopter Drones: This model is designed to stay up in the air for a longer time in a stable position. It is more like a remote-control helicopter which has the same quality.
- Endurance Drones: This is the best drone for work purpose that can fly far and stay longer. Endurance drone is designed to stay for three consecutive days in the heights of 30,000 ft from the sea level.
- Alternative Powered Drones: Electricity is the common power to charge up to a drone and fly it. Alternative energy is gas power and nitro-fuel. The latter one is used for the faster drones used in the sports events.
Myself Faran, Author and founder of this blog, since my childhood I was so fascinated about drones and their features that make them very important devices in various fields like search and rescue, surveillance, traffic monitoring, weather monitoring, firefighting, personal use, drone-based photography, videography.