China's domestically developed "Qingqibing" small and medium-sized solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) successfully completed its maiden flight on Tuesday, according to the 11th Research Institute of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
What does “commercial-grade” mean?
It means it’s built to be suitable for commercial (i.e. continuous and heavy) use, as opposed to say consumer grade, or military grade.
I wonder if it means things like agricultural uses? Like crop-dusting planes.
are you confused about what commercial products are?
No. I am confused that a prototype made by a university is labeled “commercial grade” when it is clearly not a commercial product anyone can buy.
now it makes sense i can identify w your confusion because i used to see it the same way until it came time for my undergraduate project that my university required of all its hardware engineering students – a private company forked over cash and other resources for my student group to create a display for the handicapped and they started calling it a commercial product even though it took another decade for it to be sold; but it made sense since they were using it – and us – to peddle it to manufacturers/investors a little bit like they do on shark tank.
the product was working and we had a makeshift factory to build them, but only a select group of buyers could purchase them and i’ve since learned that this is a common initial stage for many commercial products that end up being purchasable by either you or i.
It’s just a descriptor to indicate something beyond the prototype phase, and likely reliable enough to eventually be used in commercial applications.