Drone art

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Crowds watch a drone show at the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle. Coronation Concert DCMS.jpg
Crowds watch a drone show at the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle.
A drone launch in Russia to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight to space in 1961 500 drones launch to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the 1st man's flight to space. The Show was performed by Geoscan Drone Show.jpg
A drone launch in Russia to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight to space in 1961

Drone art (also known as drone display or drone light show) is the use of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), often quadcopters which fly in a coordinated fashion with light fixtures attached. They are usually equipped with multiple LEDs and the display is held at night.

Contents

Drone light shows differ from fireworks displays in that drones are reusable; [1] they do not produce air and noise pollution. [2] However, since changing formations takes time, in practical performance, rhythm and choreography is often combined with various traditional techniques (firework, laser light, projection) [3] [4] , also drone displays cannot happen during rain or strong winds. [5] Some drone light shows may mount fireworks onto "pyro drones" for additional pyrotechnic effect. [6] [7]

History

The first drone display was presented in June 2012 in Cannes, France; Marshmallow Laser Feast presented Meet Your Creator at the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Intel has produced the Shooting Star, a type of drone used in light shows. [8] The drones were used during the 2018 Winter Olympics, a Super Bowl halftime show in 2017, and a 2018 Fourth of July celebration. [2]

In the 2020s, some cities in the United States replaced Independence Day fireworks displays with drone or laser light shows, to reduce fire risk, air pollution, and the disturbance of dogs and people with PTSD. [9] Concerns about safety have also emerged in response to malfunctioning of public drone light displays, such as prior to a match in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, 350 of the 500 performing drones plunged into the water due to a glitch. [10]

Drone displays

The drone displays are typically used for entertainment or advertising. The drones may use flocking or swarming behaviour. [11] Real-time kinematic positioning (RTK) technology is used for precise relative positioning of the drones to centimeter scale or better. Each drone has a preprogrammed flight path for its role in producing the images. Companies such as SkyBrush and DroneShowSoftware make software to design and present drone show effects.

The drone shows is using more and more drones every year as technology advanced. Listed below are notable for breaking records, using new technologies, or otherwise gaining significance. For a more comprehensive overview, see List of drone displays.

DateLocationNotes
2015 Linz, Austria Drone100 at Ars Electronica in collaboration with Intel, one of the first large-scale shows using 100 SPAXELS LED drones.
2018 Pyeongchang, South Korea Opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics, featuring 1,218 drones and setting a world record at the time.
2020 Zhuhai, China Guinness World Record with 3,051 drones flown simultaneously.
2023 New Delhi, India Beating Retreat ceremony with 3,500 drones, one of the largest shows worldwide.
2024 Shenzhen, China Record-breaking display with 10,197 drones, the largest number flown simultaneously from a single computer system and the largest aerial images formed by drones.

Drone teams

See also

References

  1. ↑ Zerlenga, Ornella; Cirillo, Vincenzo; Iaderosa, Rosina (2021). "Once Upon a Time there were Fireworks. The New Nocturnal Drones Light Shows". Img Journal. 3 (4): 402–425. doi: 10.6092/issn.2724-2463/12628 .
  2. 1 2 Barrett, Brian. "A Fourth of July Drone Show Helps Military Families With Special Needs". Wired.
  3. ↑ "Fireworks and Drone Light Shows by UK leaders - DroneSwarm®". Drone Light Shows in the UK - DroneSwarm® - Drone Light Displays. Retrieved 2025-10-10.
  4. ↑ pauline (2024-03-29). "Drones and fireworks: adversaries or complements?". Allumee. Retrieved 2025-10-10.
  5. ↑ "Lighted drone show sparkles and wows crowd at EAA AirVenture".
  6. ↑ "Pyro Drones are Fireworks On Drones". skyelementsdrones.com. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  7. ↑ French, Sally (2024-05-24). "Can you attach fireworks to drones? Sky Elements just got FAA approval to do it". The Drone Girl. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  8. ↑ "Intel Celebrates LGBTQ Pride 2018 with Drone Light Show - Intel Newsroom". Intel Newsroom.
  9. ↑ Fireworks can make bad air quality even worse. For some cities, the answer is drones
  10. ↑ Crowe, Ashleigh McMillan, Alex (2023-07-15). "Yarra 1, drones 0: Unmanned aerial vehicles plunge into water during Matildas light display". The Age. Retrieved 2023-08-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ "Swarm of drones illuminates the night sky". 17 September 2018.
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