Something I've wondered if there is a unified perception on or if there are different views of in this hobby is if people consider "oscillations" and "vibrations" to be the same thing? The reason I ask is I believe I've read somewhere or saw a video where someone described them as "or" as in "oscillations or vibrations"... as if they are different. 

Now from a right brain / emotional perspective I can see how one could separate the two. Oscillations sound like something that circles around and wobbles in circular motions... I mean the word does start with an O after all, and a vibration sounds like something that moves back and forth very fast. From a purely logical left-brain perspective though vibrations are a type of oscillation (essentially a physical oscillation) and so we could call all of these movements oscillations or vibrations and be correct. 

So... question... probably more from your individual perspective, but also what you think the hobby thinks of the topic. Do you use the words to mean the same exact thing, or to describe slightly different motions as a way to be more precise with your wording? 

Of course... since no one talks about wobbles in FPV much... I'll leave those out for now :p Just mentioned it because I used the word earlier in this post lol

They can probably be interchanged when talking about a physical property. Both imply a rapidly changing state from up to down or left to right etc.

"Vibration" is probably more correct when talking about a physical effect.
"Oscillation" may be more correct when referring to an abstract illustration of a physical effect like the plot lines on a black box explorer graph.
"Wobble" is an oscillation that is slow enough to be perceived with the naked eye.

That's my take on it at least!

Personally i interpret "vibrations" as a higher frequency physical effect, like the effect from unbalanced motors/props, or a frame resonating as a result of such.

Oscillations i see as the thing the PID controller commands and the quad executes, basically, larger movements.

Though, all in all, with the faster looptimes, improved filter delays, stronger motors/escs, imho by now it's hard to even make out a difference between both.

(02-Oct-2017, 03:57 PM)unseen Wrote: They can probably be interchanged when talking about a physical property. Both imply a rapidly changing state from up to down or left to right etc.

"Vibration" is probably more correct when talking about a physical effect.
"Oscillation" may be more correct when referring to an abstract illustration of a physical effect like the plot lines on a black box explorer graph.
"Wobble" is an oscillation that is slow enough to be perceived with the naked eye.

That's my take on it at least!

Yeah... very good definitions... although I suspect where folks in our hobby use the word "Oscillation" they mean wobble based on your definition... so maybe that should be in play for the discussion afterall. 

(02-Oct-2017, 04:48 PM)fftunes Wrote: Personally i interpret "vibrations" as a higher frequency physical effect, like the effect from unbalanced motors/props, or a frame resonating as a result of such.

Oscillations i see as the thing the PID controller commands and the quad executes, basically, larger movements.

Though, all in all, with the faster looptimes, improved filter delays, stronger motors/escs, imho by now it's hard to even make out a difference between both.

Right, that is along the lines of where I was thinking folks go in the multirotor world.