Classification of UAV

Unmanned aerial vehicle, abbreviated as UAV in English, is an unmanned aerial vehicle which is operated by radio remote control equipment and its own program control device, or operated by airborne computer completely or intermittently. Compared with manned aircraft, drones are often more suitable for those tasks that are too "stupid, dirty or dangerous". In this paper, the UAV will be classified according to the configuration, use, scale and activity radius of the flight platform.

Classification by flight platform configuration

UAV can be divided into fixed-wing UAV, rotary-wing UAV, unmanned airship, parafoil UAV and flapping-wing UAV.

Classification by purpose

UAVs can be divided into military UAVs and civilian UAVs. Military drones can be divided into reconnaissance drones, decoy drones, electronic countermeasures drones, communication relay drones, unmanned combat aircraft and target drones. Civil UAVs can be divided into patrol/surveillance UAVs, agricultural UAVs, meteorological UAVs, exploration UAVs and mapping UAVs.

Classification by scale

UAVs can be divided into micro UAVs, light UAVs, small UAVs and large UAVs.

Classification by activity radius

UAVs can be divided into ultra-short-range UAVs, short-range UAVs, short-range UAVs, medium-range UAVs and long-range UAVs.