racing drones,quadcopters,freestyle drones|Tcmmrc fpv
Let me know if there is any missing terms or abbreviations.
| Acronyms | Stands For | Explanation |
| 2.4GHz, 5.8GHz | Hz = Hertz GHz = GigaHertz |
Frequencies used in RC and FPV. |
| 1S, 2S, 3S, 4S, 5S, 6S… | These numbers indicate how many cells in a LiPo battery. The higher the cell count, the higher the nominal voltage. See our LiPo battery tutorial | |
| AC | Alternating Current | The type of electricity that comes from your wall socket. Uses Live and Neutral, as opposed to positive and negative (+ & -) |
| ACC | Accelerometer | A device that measures acceleration forces in a specific direction. |
| Acro | Acrobatic | It means multiple things, when referring to flight mode, it’s means “rate mode”; when referring to hardware, it’s more or less saying “free style” or “acrobatics” |
| Active Braking | AKA “Damped Light”, it’s a feature in BLHeli that improves throttle responsiveness. | |
| ADC | Analogue to Digital Converter | A type of circuit to convert analogue signal to digital signal; OpenTX has an “ADC Filter” option to reduce stick jitters |
| AH | Altitude hold | A flight mode that maintains height of the drone using a barometric sensor (BARO), or ultrasonic sensor |
| AIL | Ailerons | Also known as roll (It’s the letter “A” in channel map, TAER1234) |
| Air Mode | FC firmware feature that keeps PID controller working even when throttle is at zero, what is air mode | |
| AL | Auto Levelling | A flight mode that allows the copter to stay level. It uses “ACC” sensor |
| ALT | Altitude | The vertical distance you are from ground |
| Angle Mode | A stabilized flight mode using both gyroscope and accelerometer sensors; See Self-level mode vs. Acro mode | |
| AP | Aerial Photography | Using a multirotor to take aerial videos and photos. |
| APM | Ardu Pilot Mega | A type of flight controller board |
| Arducopter | A type of flight controller software | |
| ARTF | Almost Ready to Fly | An ARTF aircraft package usually includes everything you need to fly, only requiring simple assembly. |
| AUW | All up weight | The total weight of a copter including LiPo Battery and necessary parts in order to take off, and any other peripherals |
| AUX | Auxiliary Channels | Channels in addition to those used for the control sticks – for example, the switches, rotary controls and sliders. These can be used for changing flight modes & controlling peripherals |
| AWG | American wire gauge | An electrical wire size measurement, the larger the number, the smaller the wire. See Wire Gauage for Multirotors |
| Band | There are a number of VTX frequencies which are split into bands, there are 8 channels per band. See 5.8Ghz frequency for FPV | |
| BARO | Barometric Altimeter | It measures altitude by using barometric pressure |
| BEC | Battery Eliminator Circuit | A voltage regulator found in some PDB, ESC, FC and VTX. They are designed to provide constant voltage, e.g. 5V and 12V, for other RC equipment such as FPV camera and radio receiver |
| BF | Betaflight | Betaflight is a popular fc firmware for racing drones |
| BNF | Bind and Fly | Usually a BNF plane, helicopter, or quadcopter requires only a battery and radio transmitter to fly. Sometimes even the battery is included. |
| Bind | The process of pairing radio transmitter and receiver when first setting them up to work together | |
| BLDC | Brushless Direct Current Motor | Despite your quadcopter using a DC battery, BLDC motors are not to be confused with the brushless motors on a quad, which actually run on 3 Phase AC. |
| Bootloader | Special code stored in non-volatile memory in a microprocessor that can interface with a PC to download a user’s program. | |
| Brushed Motor | A type of motor that is commonly used in small multirotors, they are generally powered by 1S batteries, and weaker than brushless motors | |
| Brushless Motor | A type of electrical motor that is commonly used in multirotors. They have a wide range of voltage input, more durable and powerful than brushed motors. How to choose mini quad motors | |
| BuF | Butterflight | A fc firmware for racing drones |
| Buzzer | A very loud speaker commonly used in drones, for the purpose of low voltage and lost model alarms | |
| CC3D | CopterControl 3D | A type of flight controller |
| Cell | LiPo battery consists of cells. Each cell has a nominal voltage of 3.7V. In order to obtain higher voltage, cells are connected in series. Reference to a “4 cell or ‘4S’ LiPo” is a 14.8v battery with 4 cells in series | |
| CF | – Carbon Fiber – Cleanflight |
It can mean 2 things in this hobby: carbon fibre, the material used in quadcopter frames; or Cleanflight, a flight controller firmware |
| Channel | Video transmitters broadcast signals on a particular frequency, and this frequency is a channel, each VTX can support multiple channels; Channel can also refer to the controls on a radio transmitter | |
| COG or CG | Center of Gravity | The average location of the weight of a copter. It’s important to make sure the COG of your copter is right in the middle (or close enough) |
| Crius | A type of flight controller board | |
| CW / CCW | Clockwise / Counter-Clockwise | Describing the rotational direction of motors or propellers |
| DC | Direct Current | DC is the type of electricity that comes from power source with Positive and Negative (+ and -), such as a battery. In DC circuitry Negative is often referred to as GND, Ground or common. |
| DD | Direct Drive | A type of prop designed to go straight on a motor shaft without a gear reduction. |
| DFU | Device Firmware Update | For some FC, firmware can be flashed by putting it in DFU mode |
| Diversity Receiver | A multiple receiver FPV system picks the strongest signal from multiple video receivers and antennas to display the best picture | |
| DOF | Degree of Freedom | It gives clues as to what’s on the “IMU”. For example 6DOF = 3 axis Gyroscope (gyro) + 3 axis acc; 9DOF = 3 axis Gyroscope + 3 axis Accelerometer + 3 axis Magnetometer; 10DOF = same as 9DOF and adds a Barometric Altimeter |
| Drone | An unmanned aircraft that is guided remotely by a pilot. For military use, these aircraft have weapons and/or surveillance gear. For personal/recreational use, these aircraft often have HD cameras. The term is popular in the media and can be misleading sometimes. | |
| DShot | Digital Shot | A type of ESC protocol, what is DShot |
| DSM / DSM2 / DSMX | These are the proprietary technology of an RC equipment maker, Spectrum, and DSM stands for “Digital Spectrum Modulation”. | |
| DSSS | Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum | DSM uses Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) modulation technique. As with other spread spectrum technologies, the transmitted signal takes up more bandwidth than the information signal that modulates the carrier or broadcast frequency. The name ‘spread spectrum’ comes from the fact that the carrier signals occur over the full bandwidth (spectrum) of a device’s transmitting frequency. |
| Dry Weight | The weight of a multirotor including everything necessary to take off except the battery. | |
| EEPROM | Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory | A type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices to store small amounts of data that must be saved when power is removed, e.g.,static calibration/reference tables. Unlike bytes in most other kinds of non-volatile memory, individual bytes in a traditional EEPROM can be independently read, erased, and rewritten. |
| ELEV | Elevator | Also known as pitch, it’s the letter “E” in channel map, TAER1234) |
| EMI | Electromagnetic Interference | EMI is disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. |
| ESC | Electronic Speed Control | ESC is used to convert signals from a flight controller or radio receiver, and apply the right amount of power to the electric motors. ESC’s often include Battery Elimination Circuit (BEC), which provides power for the RC system and other onboard electronics. |
| FAA | Federal Aviation Administration | A United States Department of Transportation Agency, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the USA |
| Failsafe | A mechanism to minimize the damage to the multirotor, and nearby objects in case of system failure; what is failsafe | |
| FC | Flight Controller | Flight Controller is the brain of your multirotor. |
| FET | Field-effect transistor | FET is a device which enables us to use one smaller electrical signal to control another bigger one. |
| Flow | A word often used in the hobby to describe fast and smooth flying with style | |
| FOV | Field of View | A measurement how much environment you can see through a camera lens. Usually measured in degrees. |
| FPV | First Person View | Utilizing an onboard FPV camera and wireless connection, to allow a pilot on the ground to see a live video stream from an RC aircraft, through an FPV goggle or monitor, while flying |
| FTDI | Future Technology Devices International | The name of the company that makes the electronic chip standard, to convert USB to serial communications. Available as a chip for boards that have a USB connector, or in a cable to connected to breakout pins. |
| FW | Firmware | Firmware is an application specific software designed for a specific piece of hardware / equipment. |
| GCS | Ground Control Station | Software used to monitor a Flight Controller Board. The OpenPilot GCS for example. |
| Gimbal | It can mean two things: 1. a motorized camera stabilizer; 2. the entire stick control assembly within a radio transmitter | |
| GIT | A version control system for software developers. | |
| GPS | Global Positioning System | Used to track movement or hold position at pre-defined coordinates |
| GND | Ground | Ground or Negative of a DC electrical circuit |
| Ground Effect | Air turbulence from propellers bouncing off the ground when the copter is hovering at really low altitude | |
| GYRO | Gyroscope | Provides the angular velocity around 3 axes of space in degrees. Assists with keeping a quadcopter level and facing the same direction. |
| HEXA | Hexacopter | A type of multicopter, that has 6 motors, no servos, all motors on same level. |
| HK | Hobbyking | One of the biggest RC Vendors in the world with warehouses in EU, US, AU, RU and China. |
| Horizon Mode | This is a stabilized flight mode, similar to Angle mode, but it allows the pilot to do roll and flip. | |
| I2C | Inter-Integrated Circuit | A serial bus that allows multiple low speed peripherals, such as sensors, to be connected to a microprocessor. |
| IMU | Inertial Measurement Unit | A Break Out Board containing sensors that reads and sends data to the flight controller |
| IntoFPV | One of the most popular forum for FPV Multirotor | |
| Jello | Undesirable high frequency vibration in flight footage | |
| JST | A type of battery connector for lower power micro drones | |
| JST-SH | A type of small connector for lower current applications, such as signals | |
| Kalman Filter | The algorithm used in Multicopter Flight controllers. It is primarily used to combine accelerometer and gyro data to provide an accurate description of aircraft attitude and movement in real time. | |
| KK | Kaptein Kuk | Multicopter controller by Rolf Bakke |
| LC FILTER | L = Inductor C = Capacitor |
An LC filter is a circuit that reduces unwanted frequencies (noise) from a power supply. A video feed needs stable power to operate optimally and an LC filter smooths the input power. |
| LED | Light Emitting Diode | One of the most efficient forms of lighting. |
| LiPo | Lithium Polymer Battery | Aka LiPoly. It’s the most commonly used power source for the RC hobby these days because of its high energy storage density-to-weight and high discharge rate. |
| LOS | Line of Sight | When you are flying your aircraft by watching your aircraft directly, you are flying LOS. Another way of flying is FPV. |
| Locked in | A positive description of a multirotor’s stable and on-rail flying performance | |
| LPF | Low-pass Filter | A technique that filters out high frequency signal |
| mAh | milli-amp per hour | An unit that measures the capacity of a LiPo battery |
| MAG | Magnetometer | An electronic compass – used to let our FC ( Flight Controller ) know which direction it is pointed in, compared to the Earth’s Magnetic field |
| MegaPirate | a flight controller program software that copies Arducopter | |
| Mode1 / Mode2 | These are the different transmitter stick configurations: mode 1, throttle stick on the right; mode 2, throttle stick on the left (more widely used). See RC Transmitter Basics. | |
| MTOW | Maximum take-off weight | |
| Multishot | An ESC Protocol, what is multishot | |
| MWC | MultiWii Copter | MultiWii is a general purpose software to control a multirotor RC model. It can use various sensors but was initially developed to support Nintendo Wii console gyroscopes and accelerometers |
| OCTO | Octocopter | A type of multicopter, that has 8 motors, no servos, all motors on same level. |
| Oneshot | Oneshot125 | A faster way of communication between FC and ESC. |
| Opto ESC | Opto ESC is a common saying for ESC without BEC | |
| OSD | On Screen Display | A piece of hardware that overlays flight data in text or graphical form over an existing live stream video. |
| P | “Battery cells in parallel” | For example, a LiPo battery of 4S2P, has two 4S batteries connected in parallel. |
| Payload | What the drone can carry/lift, such as a camera, or package | |
| PAL / NTSC | These are video formats in FPV cameras and your video display. | |
| PCB | Printed Circuit Board | Silicon board with copper traces and components soldered onto it. Most electronics in this hobby are built on PCB’s, such as FC, VTX, TX, RX…. |
| PDB | Power distribution board | A board designed to carry high current, it’s built with copper traces used to connect various electronic components such as LiPo battery, ESCs, Video transmitter, LEDs etc |
| PID | Proportional Integral Derivative | The three parameters that you can adjust to change the copter’s flight performance. In theory PID is a control loop that attempts to minimize the difference between a measured process value and its desired value by adjusting the control input of a process. |
| PNP | Plug and Play | A PNP quadcopter kit usually comes without the receiver, transmitter, battery and FPV Goggles. |
| PPM SUM (CPPM) | Pulse Position Modulation | A way of sending sequence of multiple signals down one signal wire |
| Prop | Propeller | Short for propeller |
| Punch | Sudden burst of thrust | |
| PWM | Pulse Width Modulation | The square-wave signals used in RC control to drive servos and speed controllers. |
| Quad | Quadcopter | Short for quadcopter, which is a type of multicopter that has 4 motors on the same level |
| Rate | Rate changes how fast your copter rotates with the sticks, what is rate | |
| Rate Mode | A.K.A. Acro Mode, and Manual mode. It’s a flight mode that only uses the gyro sensor. See what is rate mode | |
| RC | Radio Control | The foundation of our hobby, it’s also used to refer to the hobby as a whole, radio controlled cars, multirotor, planes boats and more. |
| RCG | RCGroups | One of the most popular RC forum |
| Revo | Revolution | The 3rd generation of OpenPilot Controllers |
| RF | “Radio Frequency” or “Raceflight” | Radio control link. common frequency used in this hobby are 2.4gHz, 900mHz and 433mHz; Raceflight is a popular fc firmware for racing drones |
| RPM | Revolutions Per Minute | the number of times a motor shaft rotates a full cycle in 60 seconds |
| RSSI | Received Signal Strength Indication | RSSI is a measurement of how good your radio signal is. |
| RTF | Ready to Fly | A multicopter that’s sold with everything you will need in order to fly right out of the box. |
| RTH | Return to Home | A GPS feature that when enabled, it returns the aircraft to the “home” position where it took off. |
| RTL | Return To Launch | Same as RTH. |
| RUD | Rudder | Also known as yaw, it’s the letter “R” in channel map, TAER1234) |
| RX | “Radio Receiver” or the “RX pin in a UART” | A device that receives commands from our radio Transmitter, and sends them directly to the servos or to the Flight Controller; RX can also mean the receive pin in a UART |
| S | Cell Count – “Cells connected in series” | For example, a 4S LiPo is a LiPo battery with 4 cells connected in series, nominal voltage is 14.8V (4×3.7). |
| SA | Smart Audio | Smart Audio is a protocol for VTX Control |
| SBUS | SBUS is a type of serial communication protocol used by Futaba and FrSky. It supports up to 16 channels using only one signal cable. See the different radio receiver protocols | |
| SF | Slow fly | A type of propellers that are designed to go on a motor using a gear reduction to lower rotational speed |
| SimonK | An ESC firmware designed for multirotors, but no longer updated and now obsolete | |
| SMA and RP-SMA | Sub-Miniature Version A – Reverse Polarity SMA | Different Connectors for FPV gear. |
| TAER1234 | A type of radio channel mapping. It means mapping throttle as channel 1, Aileron as channel 2, Elevator as channel 3, and Rudder as channel 4 | |
| Telemetry | A feature that allows you to receive real time flight data from the aircraft back to you; It’s commonly seen in radio TX and RX, there are also standalone devices for telemetry | |
| Throttle | Controls on your radio transmitter, it changes the speed of the motors, it’s the letter “T” in channel map, TAER1234) | |
| Thrust | The force generated by the propellers and motor, measured in grams | |
| TOW | Take off weight | Similar to AUW |
| TRI | Tricopter | A type of multicopter that has 3 motors, one servo for yaw, all motors on same level |
| TVL | TV Line | TVL (TV Lines) is basically a measure of how good the FPV camera resolution is. The number is based on how many alternating black and white lines can be displayed in its image horizontally. |
| TX | “Transmitter” or the “TX pin in a UART” | A device that sends our commands to the Receiver, controlled by the pilot; TX can also mean the transmit pin in a UART |
| UART | Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter | Serial communication port. A piece of computer hardware that translates data between parallel and serial form. |
| UAV | Unmanned Aerial Vehicle | Aircraft without a human pilot onboard. Control is provided by an onboard computer, remote control or combination of both. |
| UBEC | Universal Battery Elimination Circuit | a DC voltage regulator |
| Vcc | Vcc | Positive power supply input |
| VRX | Video Receiver | A device that receives video signal from our video Transmitter, and display the live footage on our FPV goggle or screen. |
| V-tail | A type of multicopter that has 4 motors, 2 tail motors form a V shape, has no servo | |
| VTOL | Vertical take off and landing | |
| VTX | Video Transmitter | A device that sends video signal to our video receiver, video captured from a on-board camera. How to choose VTX |
| WOT | Wide Open Throttle | 100% throttle |
| X8 | A type of multicopter that has 8 motors and of a shape of X, 4 motors on top, 4 motors at bottom, no servo | |
| XT30 XT60 XT90 |
The most common type of battery connector type for multirotors. The number indicates current rating and size. | |
| Y4 | A type of multicopter that has 4 motors, 2 tail motors one on top of the other, it looks like a tricopter but has no servo | |
| Y6 | A type of multicopter that has 6 motors and of a shape of Y, 3 motors on top, 3 motors at bottom, no servo | |
| Yaw | Flight term used to describe the rotation of a drone around it’s center axis. Controls which direction the quadcopter is facing. | |
