An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. Its flight is either controlled autonomously by computers in the vehicle, or under the remote control of a navigator, or pilot (in military UAVs called a Combat Systems Officer on UCAVs) on the ground or in another vehicle.
There are a wide variety of drone shapes, sizes, configurations, and characteristics. Historically, UAVs were simple remotely piloted aircraft, but autonomous control is increasingly being employed.
They are predominantly deployed for military applications, but also used in a small but growing number of civil applications, such as firefighting and nonmilitary security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too 'dull, dirty, or dangerous' for manned aircraft.
Read more about Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: History, FAA Designation, Classification, Uses, Design and Development Considerations, Existing UAV Systems, Historical Events Involving UAVs, Domestic Aerial Surveillance, UAVs in Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words aerial and/or vehicle:
“A sociosphere of contact, control, persuasion and dissuasion, of exhibitions of inhibitions in massive or homeopathic doses...: this is obscenity. All structures turned inside out and exhibited, all operations rendered visible. In America this goes all the way from the bewildering network of aerial telephone and electric wires ... to the concrete multiplication of all the bodily functions in the home, the litany of ingredients on the tiniest can of food, the exhibition of income or IQ.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“In all Works of This, and of the Dramatic Kind, STORY, or AMUSEMENT, should be considered as little more than the Vehicle to the more necessary INSTRUCTION.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)