Unmanned aerial vehicle

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.^[1][2] UAVs were originally developed through the twentieth century for military missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous"^[3] for humans, and by the twenty-first, they had become essential assets to most militaries. As control technologies improved and costs fell, their use expanded to many non-military applications.^[4] These include aerial photography, area coverage,^[5] precision agriculture, forest fire monitoring,^[6] river monitoring,^[7][8] environmental monitoring,^{[9][10][11][12]} weather observation, policing and surveillance, infrastructure inspections, smuggling,^[13] product deliveries, entertainment, drone racing, and combat.