Unmanned aerial vehicle

An unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, is an aircraft that flies without a human pilot on board.

People often call these machines drones. Some experts use the term unmanned aircraft system, or UAS. This name describes more than just the flying machine. A UAS includes the aircraft, a ground control station, and the communication links that connect them.

These systems can be controlled by a person from far away. Other drones are autonomous, which means they can fly themselves using computers. They use tools like artificial intelligence and sensors to make decisions without human help.

Drones work in many different ways to stay in the air. Some are fixed-wing aircraft that look like traditional planes with wings.

Others are rotorcraft, which use spinning blades to hover or fly.

To stay in flight, these vehicles need a power source. Many small drones use rechargeable batteries because they are quiet.

Larger drones might use fuel from internal combustion engines to fly for a long time. Some advanced designs even use solar panels to catch energy from the sun.

There is even research into using hydrogen fuel cells to make drones stealthier.

The history of these machines goes back a long time. The earliest recorded use of an unmanned vehicle for war was in July 1849.

In the 1920s and 1930s, aircraft like the Fairey Queen and the de Havilland Queen Bee were used as targets. The name "drone" actually comes from the male bee. It was used because of the Queen Bee aircraft.

Later, the Israeli Tadiran Mastiff became a famous modern battlefield UAV in 1975. It was special because it could stream live video back to people on the ground.

Scientists and militaries group drones into different categories to stay organized. The U.S. Department of Defense uses five groups based on size and weight.

Group 1 drones are small, while Group 5 drones are the largest. They also classify them by how high they can fly and how fast they go. Some drones fly at low altitudes, while others are high-altitude, long-endurance machines.

There are even drones that fly in very high orbits. You can also group them by how long they can stay in the air. A short-range drone might fly for only 30 minutes, but a long-endurance drone can fly for over 48 hours.

Today, drones are part of many parts of our lives. They are not just for the military anymore. Farmers use them for precision agriculture to check their crops.

People use them for aerial photography or even drone racing. They help monitor forest fires, rivers, and the weather. Drones can even leave Earth! The Ingenuity helicopter was an autonomous UAV that performed the first powered flight on another planet.

This shows how these machines are helping us explore the stars and our own world.