US The Short Answer
The Jetson Orin NX is the most common choice for an AI drone: it gives up to 100 TOPS in a module light and efficient enough to fly, which covers multi-camera vision, obstacle avoidance, and real-time detection. The Orin Nano is a lighter, lower-power option for simpler workloads. The heavier AGX Orin is rarely used on small drones because of its size and power draw.
What Decides It
Three things set the choice. The AI workload — how many cameras and how heavy the models — sets the minimum performance. The weight budget, because every gram on the computer is a gram off payload or flight time. And the power drawn from the battery. The Orin NX balances all three for most UAV work; the Orin Nano wins where the workload is light and weight is critical.
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Orin Nano 8GB Lightest option, for single-camera vision and lighter autonomy.
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Orin NX 8GB / 16GB The common choice — multi-camera vision and real-time AI.
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Either way Both fly in low-SWaP computers such as the FLYC-300 and iBOX-604-G2.
Matching It to the Drone
The module is only half the decision; it has to be the right computer around it — light, battery-powered, and able to link to the flight controller. We size the Jetson to the payload and build it into a flight-ready platform. See our guide to NVIDIA Jetson for drones.