<p>To me the only weight that matters is the total weight of the craft that is airborne.  Or commonly referred to as All Up Weight (AUW).  That is what performance depends on.  That is what regulations are based on ( mostly ).  Anything else is just the weight of individual components in my opinion.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-28T04:36:14.153Z
+1 Sometimes w/o battery is also important, but agreed.
ifconfig
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-28T03:46:06.847Z
2020-05-28T03:46:06.847Z
5zero7rc
<p>Short answer seems to be no standardization.</p>

<p>Personally, I am only concerned with AUW and have no concern for individual groupings. If I'm all that concerned I can either weigh each component individually or check the product info.</p>

<p>I can see where grouping components together would make sense, though. If a craft is being designed to be modular with multiple configurations for different missions, weight groupings could be valuable for planning. Groupings would be up to the engineer or designer.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-30T14:47:20.230Z
2020-05-30T14:47:20.230Z
WormBurner
<p>Let's say we can all agree on that the frame and landing gear are one group, would you group the motors, props, ESC, and Batteries together, or split them out as four separate items? Does the wiring get weighed as part of the powers system, or is the power wiring its own category? Are flight controls, radios, and camera/gimbal a single group, or are camera/gimbals, sensors or IR cameras considered in their own category like payload? Where does the FPV camera get weighed?  </p>

<p>Or, does every designer/builder tally them up differently?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-29T10:19:33.113Z
Why do you want to group components? I don't think we can answer the question without knowing the purpose of the grouping.
Robin Bennett
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-17T14:49:01.153Z
@RobinBennett This is a design question related to weight and balance. When designing a drone the 'groups' would be used to isolate and fine tune the mass or components. It is more granular than AUW.
HansenJC001
<hardware><design>
When evaluating the weight of a multirotor, is there a standard way that the components are grouped?
HansenJC001
# When evaluating the weight of a multirotor, is there a standard way that the components are grouped?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-05-28)

Let's say we can all agree on that the frame and landing gear are one group, would you group the motors, props, ESC, and Batteries together, or split them out as four separate items? Does the wiring get weighed as part of the powers system, or is the power wiring its own category? Are flight controls, radios, and camera/gimbal a single group, or are camera/gimbals, sensors or IR cameras considered in their own category like payload? Where does the FPV camera get weighed?

Or, does every designer/builder tally them up differently?

**Tags:** hardware, design

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Why do you want to group components? I don't think we can answer the question without knowing the purpose of the grouping.  
> **username_0**: @RobinBennett This is a design question related to weight and balance. When designing a drone the 'groups' would be used to isolate and fine tune the mass or components. It is more granular than AUW.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-05-28. Score: 4

To me the only weight that matters is the total weight of the craft that is airborne. Or commonly referred to as All Up Weight (AUW). That is what performance depends on. That is what regulations are based on ( mostly ). Anything else is just the weight of individual components in my opinion.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: +1 Sometimes w/o battery is also important, but agreed.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2020-05-30. Score: 3

Short answer seems to be no standardization.

Personally, I am only concerned with AUW and have no concern for individual groupings. If I'm all that concerned I can either weigh each component individually or check the product info.

I can see where grouping components together would make sense, though. If a craft is being designed to be modular with multiple configurations for different missions, weight groupings could be valuable for planning. Groupings would be up to the engineer or designer.


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