Posted: 5/31/23
How Spektrum Smart Technology Makes Flying RC Airplanes Easier
Spektrum® Smart Technology is a collection of innovations that have made flying RC airplanes even easier than ever before. When this collection of technology is combined into a Smart Air Ecosystem, you’ll have all of the information you need readily available right at your fingertips. RC pilots can use this information to get more out of flying RC and continue to grow in their abilities and confidence. If you’ve never tried Spektrum Smart Technology, we’ll explain it here, along with some of the reasons RC pilots tell us they love having a Smart Air Ecosystem.
What is Spektrum Smart Technology?
When Spektrum developed its Smart Technology, it focused on three things: safety, simplicity, and convenience. Smart Technology enhances the performance of RC systems for RC airplanes, RC helicopters, RC jets, RC cars, and RC boats. Much of this comes from programming and modern communication features between integrated systems.
Safety – Smart Technology includes features designed to prevent accidents and protect both the user and the RC system. By reducing the opportunities for user error through things like automatic battery discharge for safer storage, charging parameters, and balancing information uploaded directly from a Smart battery’s microchip to a Smart charger, data logs that record events of concern, better heat dissipation and temperature information, durable designs, and more. These safety features can take a lot of the guesswork out of caring for LiPo batteries, which is especially helpful for those new to the RC flying hobby and can make charging your batteries and knowing when something is amiss much easier.
Simplicity – The simplicity of using Spektrum Smart Technology doesn’t stop with battery-to-charger communication, although that is a fan favorite. The menus in Spektrum Smart Technology devices have intuitive, user-friendly designs that make it easy to navigate to the information you want quickly and can display what you need right when you need it. Spektrum also makes Smart battery chargers that don’t need a series of special adapters thanks to the included IC3™ and IC5™ charging ports needed to charge most Smart LiPo batteries. And taking it another step further, your Smart battery can get its updates just by being plugged into a Smart charger as soon as you confirm you’d like to give it an update at the automated prompt. Similarly, Smart ESCs only need one connection instead of the traditional series of wires that communicate with sensors, modules, and other components. No advanced wiring knowledge is required. How’s that for simple?
Convenience – Speaking of ESCs, did you know you can review, change, and save the programming for your Smart ESC directly from a compatible Spektrum transmitter? Smart ESCs provide easy access to data from your RC airplane’s electronics to see your telemetry information like RPMs, temperatures, altitude, speed, and more. A great deal of information becomes available instantly on your compatible Spektrum RC transmitter when you use Smart Technology.
What Makes a Smart Air Ecosystem?
When you want to give your RC airplane the advantage of a Smart Air Ecosystem, it will come from a combination of a Smart LiPo battery; an Avian Smart ESC (Electronic Speed Control); a Smart-capable transmitter; a Smart-capable receiver; and finished off with a Smart battery charger. This combination is a powerhouse of information and ease when preparing to fly and taking to the skies with your RC airplane.
Why do RC Pilots Love Flying with Spektrum Smart Technology?
The safety, simplicity, and convenience of Smart Technology make it easier to fly RC airplanes. Smart Technology is versatile, programable, and updateable, leading to a better flying experience for RC pilots of any skill level. Here are a few features of a Smart Air Ecosystem that RC pilots tell us they love:
Your Battery Voltage at a Glance
Trying to read numbers on a small screen below you while flying an RC airplane at high speeds above you can be a challenge (even more so when you’ve got an RC jet up there!). Spektrum Smart Technology for RC airplanes can provide a visual battery meter that you can keep on your transmitter screen while flying so that it only takes a quick glance to glean how much battery you have left before you decide to make another fly around the pattern or land to recharge. Many RC pilots love all the data they can gather from their telemetry, but this battery run time as a visual meter is a favorite.
Communication with Smart Electronic Speed Controls
Programming an Electronic Speed Control can be daunting when you have computers, apps, and cables to think about that may or may not all be compatible with one another. And then what happens when you’re at the airfield and need to make an adjustment? With Spektrum Smart ESCs and a compatible Spektrum transmitter, you can program your ESC right from the transmitter and even make on-the-fly (pun intended) ESC adjustments. Do keep in mind that the Smart ESC needs to be a current model, or you may need an ESC Programmer to get the firmware up to date enough that it can communicate with the RC transmitter. Once your firmware is current, or if your ESC is new enough, you can manage the programming right from your transmitter, at home or at the field.
Spektrum is the Smart Choice
If you’re looking for ways to enter into the world of RC flying that make it easier to get started, be sure to check out our line of Spektrum Smart Technology products. As you become more confident and your skills progress, Spektrum Smart Technology will provide you with the information you need to safely push the performance of your RC airplane in a controlled and informed manner.
Words by Sean McDevitt
Sean is a Senior Copywriter with Horizon Hobby, where among other things, he serves as the Managing Editor of Transmitter Magazine and a Contributing Editor of Horizon Quarterly. He earned a BA from Illinois College, a MA from Eastern Illinois University, and has more than twenty years of experience in brand, copy, and creative direction. He’s a husband, father, and scrambled eggs maker, not necessarily in that order.
