Last Updated on 4 months by JoinTheWays

Different Types of Drones That Exist Today

Over the years, the drone industry has significantly advanced since they were allowed for content creation and commercial and recreational purposes.

Now drones are available for use in almost every industry, and different types of drones are in production each year to meet consumer demand.

Because there are different types of drones used for multiple purposes, Understanding the types of drones that perform specific tasks is good news for us as we are sure to find one that fits our needs perfectly.

In this article, We will discuss different types of drones and their practical application. So that by the end, you will be able to find a perfect fit for your needs – Let’s dive in.

What is a drone?

In a simple definition, a “drone” is an Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or flying robot that can fly without a pilot. It uses a remote controller or devices to fly.

It has software-programmed flight paths embedded in its system and flies autonomously using navigational data that work in conjunction with sensors and a global positioning system (GPS).

The drone definition is from two concepts.

• RPA and RPAS refer to Remotely Piloted Aircraft and Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems – which means remote control of an aircraft, and
• UAV and UAS refer to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Unmanned Aerial Systems – Which means the absence of a physical pilot in an aircraft.

Types of Drones

Drones come in different sizes, capabilities, and models, from recreational mini-drones to control and surveillance drones.

Let’s break down each type of drone below.

• Multi-Rotor Drones
• Single-Rotor Drones
• Fixed-Wing Drones
• Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL
• Nano Drones
• Toy drones
• Racing Drones
• Professional Drones
• Photography/Videography Drones

Multi-Rotor Drones

Multi-rotor drones are small and flexible drones used for professional and recreational purposes like content creation, videography, and aerial photography.

They offer great position and versatility as they hover easily and have cameras that perform different tasks.

The Name multi-rotor is because they have more than one motor, more commonly tricopters (3 rotors), quadcopters (4 rotors), hexacopters (6 rotors), and octocopters (8 rotors), among others. By far, quadcopters are the most popular multi-rotor drones for content creation.

Examples of Multi-Rotor Drones:

Uses of Multi-Rotor Drones:

• Intelligent Swarming
• Videography
• Visual inspections
• Thermal reports
• Aerial Photography
• Commercial & industrial applications
• Heavy load delivery
• 24-Hour Surveillance and security operations
• Topography, construction, and forestry investigation,
• Emergency rescue
• 3D modeling

Advantages of multi – Rotor drones:

• They are simple to use and easy to control during the flight.
• They allow maneuverability and can move up and down on the same vertical line, back to front, side to side, and rotate in their axis.
• Their cameras are used for multiple purposes and are replaceable
• Their ability to take payloads per flight increases their operational efficiency and reduces the time taken for inspections.

Disadvantages of Multi-Rotary Drones:

• Having multiple moving parts consumes extra energy, draining the drone battery faster.
• Most multi-rotor drones have a flight time of less than an hour.
• Multi-rotor drones have limited endurance and speed, making them unsuitable for large-scale aerial mapping, long-endurance monitoring, and long-distance inspections.
• They are fundamentally inefficient and require a lot of energy to fight gravity and keep them in the air for a long time.

Single-Rotor Drones

Single-rotor drones are durable drones and have a larger spinning wing. They have a helicopter look-like with a tail rotor to control direction and stability.

Single-rotor drone combines the advantages of tiny multi-rotor drones and single-rotor drones, are better suited to carry larger payloads, and fly more efficiently than multi-rotors.

They use gas engines rather than batteries, which increases their flight time when operating.

Example of single-Rotor Drones:

• MQ-8B Fire Scout
• Camcopter S-100
• Alpha 800
• VSR700
• Tanan 300
• Vapor 55
• DZ15 Doosan Mobility
• A160 Hummingbird (YMQ-18A)
• Vigilant
• NEO S-300
• Unmanned Little Bird (ULB)

Uses of Single-Rotor Drones:

• Aerial LiDAR laser scanning
• Drone surveying
• Carrying payloads
• Ski patrol operations
• ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance)
• Photography/Videography
• Crop monitoring
• Maritime search and rescue

Advantages of Single-Rotor Drones

• VTOL and hover flight
• Long endurance due to gas power
• Heavier payload capabilities
• Strong energy efficiency compares to multi-rotor drones
• They are durable drones.

Disadvantages of Single-Rotor Drones:

• Single-rotor drones are expensive.
• They aren’t always stable due to vibration that can result in a bad landing.
• They are harder to fly and need more training to get used to them.
• They require a lot of maintenance.

Fixed-Wing Drones

A fixed-wing drone has one rigid wing that provides lift rather than vertical lift rotors. This type of drone needs forward energy to move forward by harnessing air and generating forces that allow them to stay in the air by taking advantage of its aerodynamics.

They look similar to radio-controlled aircraft and are often used to map large areas due to their autonomy.

Examples of Fixed-Wing Drones:

• Avian-P fixed-wing UAV
• Skylark II fixed-wing UAV
• Topodrone-100 fixed-wing UAV

Uses of Fixed-Wing Drones:

• Aerial Mapping
• Drone Surveying – Forestry/Environmental Drone Surveys, Pipeline UAV Surveys, UAV Coastal Surveys
• Agriculture
• Construction
• Security
• Utility inspection
• Surveillance

Advantages of Fixed Wing Drones.

• Fixed-wing drones cover longer distances and map much larger areas.
• They have long flight times with a high energy density of fuel (gas engine powered), and many fixed-wing UAVs can stay aloft for 16 hours or more.
• This drone type can fly at a high altitude and carry more weight

Disadvantages of Fixed Wing Drones.

• Fixed-wing drones are expensive are not affordable to anyone
• They require high-intensity training and advanced skills to operate them.
• They are not flexible as multiple-rotor drones because they only face in one direction.

Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL

Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL is the latest technology version of fixed-wing modified to take off and land vertically. They do so to eliminate the drawback of class fixed-wing drones that require bigger space to take off or land.

The fixed-wing Hybrid VTOL drone type has rotors integrated into fixed wings to hover and take off vertically from the surface.

Examples of Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL Drones;

Used of Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL Drones:

• Aerial LIDAR laser scan
• Drone surveying
• Carrying heavy payloads
• Aerial mapping
• Utility inspection
• Surveillance
• Delivery
• Search and rescue

Advantages of Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL Drones:

• Hybrid VTOL drones offer both experiences between the fixed-wing and rotor-based drones
• They are efficient over a multi-rotor because they are gas-powered for a longer flight time.
• They can carry heavy loads for delivery.
• They are durable drones.
• They can cover longer distances and map much larger areas.
• Long flight times because they have gas-powered engines
• They can fly at high altitude
• They are new technological drones offering a lot of autopilot modes that need fewer human interventions.

Disadvantages of Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL Drones:

• They are Expensive drones.
• They require a lot of training to operate them due to the new technologies they have
• There are few Fixed-wing hybrid VTOLs currently on the market owned by big companies like Amazon and Google.
• The technologies used in Fixed-wing Hybrid drones are still in the early stages. Therefore, fewer experts in the drone industry operate Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL drones.
• They require a lot of Maintainance

OTHER TYPES OF DRONES

Most of these types of drones fall into the Multi-rotor drone type due to the number of rotors. But they are further classified according to their uses and size.

Nano Drones ( Very Small Drones)

These are small drones with sizes between 1 to 50 cm. They can easily fit into one’s hand with their small-wing design. Nano drones can fly in tight spaces without being detected.

They are for recreation purposes. However, they are too light and lack the stability required to capture images.

Examples of Nano Drones:

• Hubsan H111
• Syma X12
• Cheerson CX-10
• Eachine E010

Toy drones

Toy drones are for kids to play and enjoy. They come in various sizes and shapes with or without cameras and can be used indoors and sometimes outdoors activities.

You can use a remote control or smartphone, which are very cheap.

Example of Toy Drones:

• Holy Stone Predator Quadcopter
• JJRC H36 Mini Drone
• DJI/Ryze Tello
• UDI U845 UFO WiFi FPV Drone
• Gool RC 515V Hovering Drone
• U818A FPV Drone
• Cheerson CX10
• RC Quadcopter with Camera
• TEC.BEAN X902 BlackWidow
• LIDI RC- WIFI 6 Axis Quadcopter – Model L7HW
• Limestone X5C-1

Racing Drones

Racing drones are for drone enthusiasts who love drone racing competitions.

They usually come with Virtual reality glasses for FPV (First Person View) that enable racers to control their drone via VR controls.

They are on private and strictly regulated land and consist of obstacle courses at high speeds.

The downside of racing drones is that they require many hours of training to use them and control them via VR Controls.

Examples of Racing Drones

• Walkera F210 3D
• Emax Hawk 5
• Arris X-Speed 250B
• Walkera Furious 215
• DJI FPV

Professional drones

Professional drones are modern drones with advanced intelligent features and cameras due to the development of new technologies.

They come with an advanced photo or video cameras for all aerial photography and cinematic modes.

They have probes, CMOS sensors, Obstacle avoidance, Speed modes, Autopilot modes, or thermal imaging cameras for technical services such as mapping, surveillance, and recreation purposes.

Examples of Professional Drones:

• DJI Matrice 300 RTK—Outdoor inspections.
• Flyability Elios 2—Indoor Inspections.
• DJI Mavic 3—Aerial photography/videography.
• Freefly Alta 8—High-end cinematography.
• XAG V40 2021—Agriculture.
• Parrot ANAFI USA—Public Safety.
• WingtraOne Gen II—Mapping & Surveying.

Photography/videography drones

Photography and Videography drones are outfitted with professional-grade 4K HD cameras to take high-resolution pictures and video footage. These drone types are specifically to take pictures and shoot videos.

Examples of Photography/Videography Drones:

• DJI Mini SE camera drone.
• DJI Mini 3 Pro 4K foldable camera drone.
• Autel Robotics Evo Nano+ drone.
• Ruko F11 GIM2 drone with 4K camera.
• DJI Mavic 3 camera drone.
• DJI Air 2S drone quadcopter with 4K camera.
• Skydio 2+

WRAP UP – Types of Drones

There you have it – Different types of drones that exist today. In the article, we have covered the following types of drones;

• Multi-Rotor Drones
• Single-Rotor Drones
• Fixed-Wing Drones
• Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL
• Nano Drones
• Toy drones
• Racing Drones
• Professional Drones
• Photography/Videography Drones

As drone technologies continue to evolve we expect to have other types of drones in the coming years to meet the market demand.

Types of Drones – FAQs