The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) employs the acronym RPAS (standing for Remotely Piloted Aircraft System). Worldwide, the National Aviation Agencies still need to find the smoothest and safest way to share the airspace with these new flying vehicles.īefore setting the rules to apply for this cohabitation, it is necessary for these agencies to nominate and define those unmanned aircrafts that are entering the aeronautical world. RPAS, the most formal & international way However, drone refers mainly to an “unmanned aircraft which is mostly used in a military context” while it is used to designate any type of aerial unmanned vehicle in the common language.Įven UAV professionals are using the appelation of drone in the day to day jargon, instead of any other official term disdaining these autonomous vehicles.

In a general way, the French speaking countries are mainly using the drone term.

The French Federation of the Civil Drone and the Belgian BeUAS are also applying the same word for the most common use. Even if a common agreement seems to have been reached online, the aviation agencies of many countries have decided to go for different term than today’s UAV.īy being the world pioneer in the creation and implementation of regulations for the use of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles, the French Directorate for Civil Aviation (DGAC) is referring to them as drones. This designation is used to define the flying object employed for recreational and professional civilian applications. UAV is the acronym of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.Ĭurrently, when browsing the Internet looking for related articles, UAV is the most frequent term. Here is an overview of the correct designations that were adopted by the major professional actors of the UAV domain, followed by the meanings of the acronyms. Manufacturers, Public Organizations, Operators and Associations are all referring to some specific terms with slight differences contained in the definitions from one to another. As a fast growing market with numerous daily new opportunities, several names are currently used by people involved in this booming aeronautical sector to designate these unmanned aerial systems found in more and more areas.

Drone definition technology