Curious about how drone flying works and what gets these mini flying machines up in the air? We’re going to quickly break down the ins and outs of drone flying so you can wow your friends at the next barbeque with your drone flying knowledge.
Obviously, there’s quite a lot of complicated technology and science behind flying a drone. We’re not getting deep into the details today, but this guide should give you a good overview of how everything works.
Drone Technology
The most well-known type of small unmanned aerial vehicle (sUAV) or drone normally makes use of a multirotor system, which is a fancy way of referring to the rotors that help the drone fly. There are different types of multirotor drones as well, although most people are probably familiar with the quadcopter, which holds four rotors at its ends.
A rotor is made up of a propeller attached to a motor, which powers the propeller speed to make the drone fly higher/faster. Most drone propellers have a speed of around 5000 RPM (rotations per minute) when hovering.
Another important element to drone flying is that an equal number of rotors turn in opposite directions. So with a quadcopter, two of the rotors would turn in a clockwise direction while the other two turn in a counterclockwise direction to keep the drone stable.
Finally, the rotors also turn at different speeds depending on how you’re piloting the drone. So when you fly the drone to the left, for example, the rotors on the right side will work harder while the rotors on the left will slow down a bit so that the drone banks to the left. Along with some basic laws of physics, that’s how drones manage to stay in the air.
Another important element is the receiver, which connects to a transmitter/controller that the pilot uses to control the drone. Drone transmitters/receivers work on specific frequencies, and these frequencies can only travel so far. That’s why cheaper drones, which generally use shorter transmitter frequencies can’t fly as far as more expensive ones.
How to Fly a Drone
Drone flying may look simple enough, after all, the controller just has some thumbstics that you push up and down or left and right. But looks can be deceiving as drone piloting requires a lot of coordination and in-depth knowledge of the flight controls.
The left thumbstick controls the up and down (throttle), and left and right (yaw) movements. The right thumbstick controls the up and down (pitch) and left and right (roll) of the drone.
So if you were to push right on the left thumbstick, the drone would veer to the right. On the other hand, if you push right on the right thumbstick, the drone will start to roll towards its right side. Similarly, if you push up on the left thumbstick, the drone will start to fly forward. But you have to pull back on the right thumbstick to make the drone pitch up and lift into the air.
