If piloting radio-controlled aircraft is certainly a fun experience, FPV (First Person View) technology represents the new frontier of this sector, which opens the door to an infinite variety of applications, not only from the point of view. in terms of entertainment and racing competitions with drones but also with regard to search and rescue missions and use in the agricultural context. FPV technology has revolutionized what has been a little known hobby for years, making the drone market explode thanks to the integration of a whole series of objects and accessories designed to provide a particularly exciting flying experience.
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How FPV Drones Work
This kind of drone is equipped with a remote piloting system that allows the pilot to see what happens as if he were actually inside the aircraft. This is possible because a video camera is installed on the drone, with a receiving device and a transmitter to send the video signal to a control console operated by the pilot.
To complement this circuit and offer the sensation of first-person flight, several additional devices and accessories have been launched on the market over the years. The RTF drones (ready-to-fly, that is ready for flight) can be combined with FPV glasses, the smart glasses that give special three-dimensional sensation of flight, but also headphones for smartphones and additional displays. This combination of latest generation antennas, transmitters, receivers, and cameras, in addition to providing a live view and an extraordinary flight experience, has the advantage of giving the pilot the opportunity to control the drone accurately and precisely, measuring the more or less sensitive response of the aircraft and adapting to the need and the route. Furthermore, in this way it is possible to make video shots of great effect, impossible to obtain in other ways, with vivid images and creating extremely dynamic contents, which can be used for entertainment but also for marketing and dissemination for educational purposes.
FPV viewer
Racing FPV and Freestyle Drones
As with many other disciplines born simply as a playful and often solitary pastime, the world of drones has also undergone an evolution, becoming something very similar to a sport. To meet an increasingly demanding public in terms of adrenaline-pumping emotions, currently, there are racing drones on the market that reach 100 km per hour and 3D viewers that offer an unparalleled flight experience. For racing races with FPV drones, ad hoc circuits are created, which include impressive evolutions and stunts to dribble other drones and dodge obstacles, maneuvers such as flips, rolls, and low ground passes at incredible speed. Or you can experience all of them combinations of freestyle flight testing your skill, the reaction times of the aircraft, and the infinite possibilities offered by technology advancing by leaps and bounds.
In 2015 the Drone Racing League was founded in the United States, the first professional league that organized championships in Europe as well. Later, since 2016, it was the FAI, the International Aeronautical Federation, recognizing the need to regularize an increasingly rampant discipline, to organize the FAI Drone Racing World Cup, the first true world championship for professional pilots which also saw an appointment in Italy in 2024, in the province of Modena.
Currently, the laws on drone flying are a bit controversial, the rules and regulations are constantly evolving and we expect 2020-2021 for the entry into force of the European Regulation.
Other applications of FPV drones
Not only mass entertainment but also applications useful to the community, thanks to modern technologies. Adequately trained members of the SAR (Search and Rescue) teams can in fact make use of FPV drones during search operations. Or, in agriculture, FPV drones are useful for gathering information on the ground, mapping images, and acquiring NDVI data, but also monitoring seed growth and crop spraying.
