Airframes

RPAS Airframes, Engines, and Systems Unlike manned aircraft RPAS need very little communication between the pilot on the ground and the aircraft to be able to control them. RPAS area also unique in that they require: Onboard flight systems and instruments Ground based systems and instruments Traditional Aircraft System Traditional "manned" aircraft have been around for over 100 years. Being around for so long means that these systems have gone through decades of improvements and are therefor designed with extra redundancy and fail-safes. Military drones and complex RPAS have many of those same systems and controls. However the recent generation of "publicly available" RPAS have very different systems - and many fewer years for improvement. In order to fly safety it is very important to know what systems you have on your RPAS and how to interpret and use them. RPAS Definition RPAS or a "Remotely Piloted Aircraft System" is defined as "a set of configurable elements consisting of a remotely piloted aircraft, its control station, the command and control links and any other system elements required during flight operation" and therefore an RPAS consists of: Airborne systems - systems and instruments on the aircraft Ground based systems - used to pilot and monitor aircraft

Engines Typically electric motors w/electronic speed controllers (ESCs) Flight Controls (Throttle, Pitch, Yaw, Roll) Servos and flight surfaces (on airplane UAVs) 0/2 V Sophisticated flight controller on multi-rotors Sensors Altimeter, compass, GPS, IMU Communications Receivers, transmitters, telemetry, lights