In modern drone systems, sensors are key components that enable autonomous flight, stable control, and intelligent perception. As drones continue to expand rapidly into areas such as consumer aerial photography, industrial inspection, agricultural operations, and security monitoring, the types and quantities of sensors are also increasing.
Different types of UAV sensors perform different roles, and each sensor carries out a critical task. They are mainly used for navigation, environmental sensing, and data collection. So how many types of sensors are used in drones? Below are the common sensor types found in UAVs and their functions.
Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)
The Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) in a drone is one of the key parts of the flight control system. It is used to monitor the drone’s attitude, direction, and motion in real time. An IMU usually includes an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer. By measuring linear acceleration, angular velocity, and heading, it helps the drone understand its movement in three-dimensional space.
In real use, the IMU works together with GPS to keep the drone on course and ensure stable flight. GPS provides global position data, while the IMU can still give attitude and motion information when the GPS signal is weak or lost for a short time. The magnetometer in the IMU works like a small, high-precision compass and can detect direction changes through multi-axis measurement.
Barometer
A barometer is a commonly used environmental sensing sensor that mainly measures atmospheric pressure. By monitoring pressure changes in real time, the flight control system can accurately calculate the drone’s relative altitude and vertical speed.
Modern drone barometers mostly use MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) technology. These barometers are small in size, respond quickly, and consume low power, making them suitable for lightweight and compact drone platforms. Some high-end barometers also feature temperature compensation, ensuring measurement accuracy under different weather conditions.
Accelerometer
Accelerometers are used to determine a drone’s flight position and attitude. MEMS accelerometers sense motion in two ways: one method uses microstructures to detect displacement, where the displacement changes the current flow to indicate position relative to gravity; the other is based on thermal sensing, with no moving parts, working by monitoring changes in the movement of gas molecules over a microchip.
Due to their high sensitivity, these sensors are critical for stabilizing onboard cameras, making video footage smoother. Thermal MEMS sensors are especially vibration-resistant and can effectively reduce strong vibrations caused by rotating propellers and motors, enhancing drone performance during filming.
Vision Sensor
Drone vision sensors primarily use cameras or optical sensors to capture images and video of the surrounding environment, providing real-time visual information to the flight control system. By processing this image data, the flight control system can identify obstacles, measure distances, plan flight paths, and assist the drone in precise hovering and pinpoint landing operations.
Modern drone vision sensors often integrate deep learning and computer vision technologies, enabling drones to perform object recognition, tracking, and obstacle avoidance.
Current Sensor
In drones, power consumption and electricity usage are critical. A current sensor can be used to monitor and optimize power usage, ensure safe charging of the internal battery, and detect faults in motors or other system areas.
The current sensor works by measuring bidirectional current and ideally provides electrical isolation to reduce power loss and prevent the user or system from electric shock or damage.
LiDAR
LiDAR is an active ranging sensor that measures the distance between the drone and a target by emitting laser pulses and receiving the reflected signals.
LiDAR can quickly capture detailed structural information of terrain, buildings, and vegetation, providing critical data support for drones in tasks such as mapping, surveying, environmental modeling, and obstacle detection. Compared to traditional vision sensors, LiDAR maintains high-precision distance measurements even in low-light or complex lighting conditions.
Infrared (IR) Sensor
Infrared (IR) sensors are commonly used environmental sensing devices in drones. These sensors can operate without an external light source, making them especially suitable for night-time or low-light flight missions. IR sensors are typically used for obstacle detection, collision avoidance, heat source tracking, and search and rescue operations.
Modern drone IR sensors mostly use uncooled microbolometer technology, which allows easy integration into various drone platforms.
Nine-axis Sensor
In drones, a nine-axis sensor is the core of the IMU and can capture the drone’s motion and orientation in all directions. The three components detect linear acceleration, angular velocity, and the Earth's magnetic field, working together to provide complete motion data.
Its main advantage is using data fusion algorithms, such as Kalman filtering, to compensate for the limitations of individual sensors. This allows it to output attitude angles, heading angles, and other data with an accuracy of up to 0.2°.
Humidity/Temperature Sensor
Humidity and temperature sensors in drones are typically designed to be compact and low-power, adapting to the limited payload and power supply of UAVs. Their core function is to collect real-time temperature and humidity data from the flight environment, providing essential support for flight decisions and operational analysis.
Common types of temperature sensors include thermocouples and platinum resistance sensors (PT100), while humidity sensors are mainly capacitive or resistive. Some high-end sensors also integrate dew point measurement capabilities, enabling precise monitoring in complex environments.
Magnetic Sensor
In drones, electronic compasses supply essential directional data to inertial navigation and guidance systems. Sensors based on anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) permalloy technology offer high accuracy and fast response times while consuming much less power than other alternatives, making them ideal for UAV applications. Ready-to-use solutions deliver reliable sensing performance in a compact and robust package, meeting the demanding requirements of drone manufacturers.
Ande Electronics: Comprehensive Sensor Solutions for Drones
Ande Electronics is dedicated to providing comprehensive electronic component solutions for all types of drones. We not only offers essential chip support but also covers a wide range of sensor applications, meeting the needs of drones in flight control, navigation, image processing, and multi-sensor data fusion.
With a stable supply chain and professional technical services, Ande Electronics delivers high-quality chips and sensor products while providing full-process support in component selection, system design, and performance optimization. Through flexible inventory management and rapid delivery mechanisms, Ande helps drone manufacturers accelerate product iteration and technology implementation, driving the intelligent upgrading of drones in mapping, inspection, logistics, and security applications.
