2018. 02. 02.

FPV Quadcopter Acronyms, Terminology, Glossary - Oscar Liang

FPV QUADCOPTER ACRONYMS,

TERMINOLOGY, GLOSSARY

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This is a glossary of technical terminology, abbreviations and acronyms

related to FPV, mini quad, quadcopter, RC, and racing drones. They can
be difficult to understand for beginners, hopefully this quadcopter
glossary will help clear some of the confusions.
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Let me know if there is any missing terms or abbreviations.

Acronyms Stands For Explanation

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 AKA Damping Light. A feature in BLHeli that improve

Braking throttle responsiveness.

AH Altitude hold A flight mode that maintain height, it uses “BARO”

sensor

AIL Ailerons Also known as roll

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

APM Ardu Pilot Mega A type of flight controller board

Arducopter A flight controller firmware software

ARTF Almost Ready to Fly An ARTF aircraft package usually includes everything

you need to fly, but it requires simple assembly.

AUW All up weight Max weight of a copter including LiPo Battery and other
parts, ready to fly

AUX Auxilary Additional switches/potentiometers/sliders in a radio

transmitter

BARO Barometric Altimeter It measures altitude by using barometric pressure

BEC Battery Eliminator Circuit A voltage regulator found in some ESCs. Designed to
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provide constant 5V voltage for RC equipment such as

Flight controller and radio receiver

BNF Bind and Fly A BNF plane, helicopter, or quadcopter requires only

one thing to fly: a BNF transmitter with enough

channels. If you’ve got such a transmitter you are all

set! Otherwise you just need to buy one.

Binding The process of pairing radio transmitter and receiver

when first setting them up to work together

Bootloader Special code stored in non-volatile memory in a

microprocessor that can interface with a PC to

download a user’s program.

Brushed A type of motor that is commonly used in small

Motor multirotors, they are generally powered by 1S batteries,

and weaker than brushless motors

Brushless A type of electrical motor that is commonly used in

Motor multirotors. They have a wide range of voltage input,

more durable and powerful than brushed motors. How

to choose mini quad motors

Buzzer A very loud speaker commonly used with drones, for

the purpose of low votlage alarm and lost model

CC3D CopterControl 3D A type of flight controller

Cell In mini quad, cell is normally refered to the nominal

voltage level of a LiPo battery, each LiPo cell has a
nominal voltage of 3.7V

CF Carbon Fiber It can mean 2 things in quadcopter: carbon fibre, the

Cleanflight material used in quadcopter frames; or Cleanflight, a

flight controller firmware

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Channel Video transmitter broadcast signals on a particular

frequency, and this frequency is a channel, each VTX

can support multiple channels; Channel can also refer

to the different sticks and switches 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

DD Direct Drive A type of prop designed to go straight on a motor shaft

without a gear reduction.

Diversity It’s a feature of receiver which has 2 antennas, and it’s

able to switch between the 2 depending on which

antenna has a better signal

DOF Degree of Freedom It give clues as to whats 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 proprietary technology of an RC equipment

maker, Spectrum, and DSM stands for “Digital

Spectrum Modulation”.

DSSS Direct-Sequence Spread DSM uses Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)

Spectrum modulation technique. As with other spread spectrum

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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.

EEPROM Electonically Erasable A type of non-volatile memory used in computers and

Programmable Read Only other electronic devices to store small amounts of data
Memory 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 re-written.

ELEV Elevator Also known as pitch

EMI Electromagnetic EMI is disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due

Interference to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic

radiation emitted from an external source.

ESC Electronic Speed Control ESC is used to convert signal from Flight controller or
radio receiver, and apply the right current to the electric
motors. It also usually includes a Battery Elimination

Circuit (BEC), which provides power for the RC system

and other onboard electronics.

FAA Federal Aviation An United States Department of Transportation Agency,

Administration it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of

American civil aviation.

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.

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Flow Flying fast and smoothly 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 A technique that uses an onboard FPV camera and
wireless connection, to allow a pilot on the ground to

see a live stream video while flying, throught a FPV

goggle or monitor.

FTDI Future Technology The name of the company that makes the chips. A
Devices International 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.

GCS Ground Control Station Software used to monitor a Flight Controller Board. The
OpenPilot GCS for example.

Gimbal I can mean two things: 1. camera stabilizer; 2. the stick

controls in 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 of a electrical circuit

Ground Air turbulence from propellers bouncing off the ground

Effect 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 A famous RC Vendor based in China but with EU, US,

AU, RU warehouses as well.

I2C Inter-Integrated Circuit A serial bus that allows multiple low speed peripherals,

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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

Jello Undesirable high frequency vibration in flight footage

JST-SH A type of Connector

Kalman The algorithm used in Multicopter Flight controllers. It is

Filter 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 An LC Filer is a circuit that removes frequencies

(noises) from a power supply and smooths / cleans it

so the equipment being powered

LIPO Lithium Polymer Battery Aka LiPoly. Most used power source for RC Hobby
these days because of its high energy storage density-

to-weight.

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.

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

Multishot An ESC Protocol, what is multishot

MWC MultiWii Copter MultiWii is a general purpose software to control a

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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.

OSD On Screen Display A piece of hardware that overlays flight data in text or

graphical form over an existing live stream video.

PCB Printed Circuit Board Sillicone board with copper traces and components

soldered on it. Most electronics in this hobby are

using PCB, such 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 The three parameters that you can adjust to change the

Derivative 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.

PPM SUM Pulse Position Modulation A way of sending sequence of multiple signals down

(CPPM) 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

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sticks, what is rate

Rate Mode A flight mode that only use gyro sesnor, also called

manual mode. 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 A very popular RC forum

Revo Revolution The 3rd generation of OpenPilot Controllers

RF Radio Frequency Common frequency bands RC hobby use are 5.8gHz,

2.4gHz, 1.2gHz, 433mHz, 900mHz Not all bands are

available in all countries, and some require a HAM

(Amateur Radio Operator) license.

RPM Revolutions Per Minute the number of times a motor shaft rotates a full cycle in

60 seconds

RSSI Received Signal Strength RSSI is a measurement of how good your radio signal

Indication is.

RTF Ready to Fly Refers to the multicopter you buy has everything you
need to start flying. You just open up the packaging,

charge and install the batteries, and off you go!

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

RX Radio Receiver A device that receives commands from our radio

Transmitter, and sends them directly to the servos or to

the Flight Controller.

SBUS SBUS is a type of serial communication protocols,

shared by Futaba and FrSky, that supports up to 18

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channels using only one signal cable. Check out this

post about different radio signal

SF Slow fly A type of propellers that are designed to go on a motor

using a gear reduction to lower prop speed

SimonK A famous ESC firmware optimized for multirotors

SMA and Sub-Miniature Version A – Different Connectors for FPV gear.

RP-SMA Reverse Polarity SMA

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

Thrust The force generated by the propellers and motor,

measured in gram

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 A device that sends our commands to the Receiver,

controlled by the pilot.

UART Universal Asynchronous Serial communication port. A piece of computer

Receiver/Transmitter hardware that translates data between parallel and

serial form.

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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 a DC voltage regulator

Elimination Circuit

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

VTX Video Transmitter A device that sends video signal to our video receiver,

video captured from a on-board camera. How to

choose VTX

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

XT60 A type of connector

Y4 A type of multicopter that has 4 motors, 2 tail motors

one on top of ther 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.

Related

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Get Longer Flight Time on Learn How to Fly FPV with How to Get Started with Drone
Multicopter Multirotors Racing and Mini Quad FPV
9th July 2015 8th May 2017 5th August 2017
In "Featured" In "Featured" In "Featured"

Posted in Featured, Multicopter and tagged beginners, quadcopter on 16th February 2015
[https://oscarliang.com/quadcopter-acronyms-term-glossary-word-drone/] .   15 Replies

15 thoughts on “FPV Quadcopter Acronyms, Terminology, Glossary”

Nobody In Particular
31st January 2018 at 5:27 am

One of the best list’s i’ve seen, Thank you. Let’s make it better with A few more ACRONYMS If
I may suggest.

1. CW/CCW- ClockWise / Counter ClockWise rotation.

2.Add to Diversity: To read

Diversity Tracking- An FPV setup that uses a dual receiver system that picks between multiple
antennas to display the best picture.

3. FW- Firmware, software designed speci cally for a piece of equipment.

4. LED- Light Emitting Diode.

5. Mode 1- Tx throttle position – stick on the right.

6. Mode 2- Tx throttle position – stick on the left (the more widely used con guration).
7. MTOW- Maximum Take O Weight.
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8. (n)S count- Series on a LiPo battery represents the number of cells that are connected in
series. For example, a 3S LiPo has 3 cells connected in series. Each cell generally has around

4V, so a 3S would have around 12V.

9. Pal / NTSC- Both are video formats.
10. PNP- Plug and Play.

11. Polarization- A subject related to FPV antennas.

12.RTF- Ready To Fly. A multicopter that’s sold with a radio transmitter. It can be own right
out

of the box.
13. TOW- Take O Weight.

14. VTOL- Vertical take o and landing.

14. XT-60- battery connector type.

.
Hope these help,
Nobodyinparticular

Claudio Costerni
21st April 2017 at 2:20 am

Hi Oscar,

nice work here, it helps a lot, thanks.

I have found a typo:

SimonK A famous ESC rmware optomised for multirotors

Oscar Post author

26th April 2017 at 9:20 pm

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thank you very much!! :D

Edwin Brandt
9th April 2017 at 4:11 pm

Quadcopter Acronyms – Terminology – Glossary – Vocabulary – Drone Multirotors RC

Ground E ect :- The e ect ( back Wash or impact induced ) on the ight characteristics of the

crafts own Propellers on Air induced BOUNCE when hovering or at the Take-O & Landing of
Craft from surounding Solid Obstacles ( i.e. Ground , Walls etc. ) usualy seen as Dust Cloud .

Ermmm yea i think thats what i mean , I saw it missing so im kinda being presumtuious
Sorry
Edwin

mike
16th February 2017 at 2:59 am

What does it mean A because in al the motor appears some like 50A like this example:

“SyRen 50A 6V-30V”

Rich Smith
21st November 2016 at 5:15 pm

what is vcc

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Oscar Post author

22nd November 2016 at 2:07 pm

added :) cheers

Lowblow
27th August 2016 at 12:55 am

I nally know where to go nd all the abbreviations & acronyms, now all I need to do is learn
how to y my quads

robert
22nd March 2017 at 6:45 pm

I am in same position low blow. I’m so happy i nally found this info. It would have been
expensive to learn by experimentation, which is what I had been doing.

Sam
1st June 2016 at 8:25 pm

You missed one thing.. UOV?

Jon

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29th December 2015 at 11:03 pm

Hi Oscar, your site has been so helpful in getting started and building my quad at every step!
Thank you so much.

mohammad
10th July 2015 at 1:48 pm

Hi Oscar

thanks for your information s

is there any company how sale the equipment s of quad copter?

Alexander
2nd June 2015 at 11:29 am

Nice list oscar! Thanks :-)

Sebastian
29th March 2015 at 5:34 pm

So far, the best blog and I hope it stay like that;)

Oscar Post author

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31st March 2015 at 1:03 am

thanks Sebastian!

I only check blog comments once or twice a week, if you want a quick reply you can post
your question on this forum IntoFPV.com... You might get a faster response from me there
(multirotor related only).

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