Will town festivals also substitute drones for fireworks?

Drone art shows are becoming increasingly popular, created using a fleet of drones equipped with colored lights, programmed to fly at high altitudes in perfect sync and form stylized images. In the past, these choreographies were mostly seen during major events, such as the Olympics, particularly in Asian countries: in 2020, in Wuhan, China, it was used to signal the start of the first lockdown, while the following year, in Shanghai, a fleet of drones reproduced a giant QR code allowing access to download a mobile game. Today, drone art is also used in the West in contexts ranging from music festivals to corporate events, to public celebrations and other entertainment occasions, such as the coronation of King Charles, which was celebrated in exactly this way. The same has been seen at the Super Bowl, or during major festivals like Coachella or Glastonbury.

The most commonly used drone model in these shows is the American Shooting Star, although most companies operating in the sector are based in Asia. In some cases, drone art shows are replacing traditional fireworks: institutions often prefer them over pyrotechnic displays because they do not produce loud noises, which can be disturbing for pets and others, and they eliminate the risk of accidentally starting fires. To create a drone art show, special software is used, which allows the fleet of drones to be remotely piloted, also managing the LED lights on each individual device, which can range from a few dozen to several thousand. Last October, in China, the largest drone show ever created took place, involving over 10,000 devices, thus breaking the record set just a month earlier.

Drone art software allows the entire choreography to be planned in advance, also avoiding possible collisions between drones, since a distance of about 3 meters is usually maintained between each device. Navigation is based on GPS data and geolocation systems that prevent the drones from going beyond the authorized area so that the fleet, flying in coordination, can form words, figures, or even very complex animations. Before the show begins, the drones are placed on the ground according to predefined layouts, and usually the entire flight is controlled by a single operator. To ensure better visibility and safety, outdoor shows are preferably held at night and under favorable weather conditions — some models are even capable of autonomously interrupting the sequence and landing safely in case of bad weather.

The fact remains that the main limitation of drone art is not rain or wind, but the cost: setting up even a small-scale choreography can cost around 20,000 euros, while prices rise to about 300,000 euros when several hundred devices are used. However, despite the high cost, drone art is beginning to be used even for more intimate and family-oriented events, such as weddings, thanks to the fact that the technology required to design choreographies is becoming increasingly accessible. In many cases, however, the real challenge is legislative: drone usage regulations vary greatly from country to country, affecting what can actually be done in a given context: for example, England and many Western countries have much stricter rules compared to the Middle East or Asia.