USEFUL INFO:

            Some of the terms and things you may encounter while learning to build your first drone, I may include links or pictures that have helped me understand things. Hopefully, I'll be able to help at least one person in their journey of building their first DRONE!!!

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COMMONLY USED TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS:

ACC: Accelerometer. The Sensor that lets the Flight Controller know the force on the craft in any given direction. I've learned that experience racers disable the Accelerometer to enable a higher refresh rate on the GYRO.

ACRO: Acrobatic. Is the term used to identify a type of flight mode. Acro is the standard for flying FPV. It requires a lot of work by the pilot because it's not up to the Flight Controller to keep the craft level. You as the pilot have full control. Its also is the hardest mode to master. I suggest using a simulator if you're new and only fly with ACRO.

AUX: Auxiliary. Is extra switches/channels to allow you to program for arming, flight modes, fail safe, etc... to your radio transmitter and flight controller.

BARO: Barometric Altimeter:  Most Flight Controllers have this build in. It is a sensor that measures the barometric pressure of the atmosphere to determine the Altitude of your craft. Useful for features as Altitude hold.

BNF: Bind and Fly, typically ready to fly, only need matching transmitter and receiver.

CAMERA TILT:  You will need some kind of camera tilt on your cameras, to be able to see straight ahead, Good starting angle is 30 degrees. If you mount the camera straight on your build, as the craft flies it leans forward so While flying FPV you'll just be looking at the ground, the amount of camera tilt is personal preference and what you feel best with. try different angles you'll notice a big difference. 

ESC: Electric Speed Controller. This controls the voltage from the battery to the motors. Less voltage to motor slower the rotation, more voltage faster the rotation. 

FC: Flight Controller. The component that is equivalent to a computer, It features sensors, input, output, processors, storage, etc... This thing takes all the input info from you and all the sensor info at a very fast rate to determine what to do next.

FOV: Field Of View. This is  like your peripheral view. It's normally how wide of a angle you able to view during FPV. 

FPV: First Person View, FPV is used while flying, meaning you see what the craft sees, Most drone pilots tilt the cam, because in order for the craft to achieve forward motion its must lean forward, so if your cam was at 0% then you would just be looking at the ground.

LED: Light Emitting Diode. These are used for anistics and in flight orientation while flying Line Of Sight. You can wire these directly the the PDB or some flight controllers have a LED solder pad, therefore allowing you to program certain LEDs to change colors in flight. Also flash when you activate the buzzer on your transmitter for a extra find drone feature.

LiPO: Lithium-ion Polymer Battery. These are very powerful. They are used in drones because of the power versus weight, with that said they are also VERY dangerous if proper charging and storing practices are not used. PLEASE FOLLOW THE SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!. These batteries have 2 numbers that kinda confused me at first...

  • xS the number before the S is the number of CELLS in the battery, each cell is around 3.5v to 4v. More cells = More Voltage = MORE POWER, please keep be sure the components you are using is rated for the type of batteries your are using. most components will state 2S to 4S etc..

  • The C rating, The higher the C rating, the faster the discharge rate. meaning the faster it pushes the power to the motors, also the the higher the C rating the more expensive, the start you do not need a high C rating.

LOS: Line Of Sight. Is the term used to describe flying the craft while you maintain a clear line of sight of it.

mAh: Milliampere-hour. Is the measurement of the capacity of a battery. Pretty much like a fuel take in a car. It hold a certain amount but how long it last really just depends on how hard you're running your craft.

OSD: On Screen Display. This lets you see the vital information your flight controller is doing, voltage, temp, angle, etc... Able to view using your FPV goggles, ground station, or even a app/software.

PDB: Power Distribution Board. The component that takes the power from the battery and "distributes" it to multiple soldering pads. Most also have built in voltage regulators to control or set the output voltage to the desired amount.

RP-SMA: Reverse Polarity SubMiniature version A. A type of connection used in wireless video signals. Be sure that all your components have the same style connection, the RP-SMA is a male type connection with center rod, i learned the hard way.

RX:  Can be used to describe your Radio Receiver, or to identify a Receiving port on your Flight Controller or Power Distribution board. (when connecting RX should go to TX and TX to RX) 

SMA: SubMiniature version A. The SMA connection is a female type connection that has a hole in the middle for the center rod of the connecting component.

SOFT MOUNTING: This is using a "soft" divider bushing (o-ring or alike) between components like your motors and Flight Controllers. It helps prevent the Flight Controller from picking up every little vibrations therefore along it to fly smother, I beleive its the same for the motors, by soft mounting the motors the craft wouldn't be so rigid allowing for a smooth flight.

STANDOFFS: This are small spacers used for mounting your flight controller, power distribution board, etc.. Normally made of nylon to reduce weight and chances of shorting out your build. Also, used to describe the spacers that connect the top plate to your main body plate in most carbon fiber frames.

TX: Is used to identify a Transmitting port on your Flight Controller or Power Distribution board. (when connecting RX should go to TX and TX to RX)

UART: Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter,  This is a port on your Flight controller that is used to send and receive information. Newer Flight Controllers have multiple UART ports. 

VCC: Voltage at the Common Collector. Mostly referring to the soldering pad that is a direct connection to the battery.

VTX: Video Transmitter. This is the component  that connects to your on board FPV camera and sends the feed to your video receiver, either FPV google or ground station. Some Flight Controllers or Power Distribution boards allow you to send the video  signal through them to overlay an OSD onto the video you are seeing. 

XT60: Is a popular wire connection between your battery and PDB. You can use any connection you want as long as it's rated for the amount of power you'll be sending through it while flying or charging, Most batteries come with the XT60 connector, wouldn’t be hard to change if you are aware of a better type connection.