| Why Drone Shows Are Booming |
| Written by Lucy Black | |||
| Friday, 04 July 2025 | |||
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What do you need to make a celebration noteworthy? You may automatically think fireworks, especially for Independence Day, but an increasing number of celebrations are turning to drone shows instead. This isn't a cheap option; there are plenty of companies offering to create a drone show for your wedding, big birthday party or sporting event. Increasingly, theme parks and festivals will have drone shows, and some theme parks have drone shows on a nightly basis. If you're looking at a one-off event, typical costs start at around the $100,000 mark. At a ball park figure of around $300-$500 per drone, that would get you a light show with 200 to 300 drones. If you want to get the biggest and the best, the largest drone show recorded so far happened in Vietnam last month, when a show with 10,518 drones broke the existing record. So if it's not the money saving aspect, what's driving the current rise in drone show numbers? Part of the attraction is a perceived increase in safety - big impressive fireworks are, after all, controlled explosives. There's also the rarity value - a drone show is still unusual compared to a firework display. Given a drone show is essentially just programming remote controlled devices, the average programmer will now (if our editorial team is anything to go by) be suggesting this is something well within our DIY capabilities, and a quick Internet search comes up with lots of matches. If you're keen, there are some key technologies to look for. Devices that are based on Mavlink (Micro Air Vehicle Link) will meet FAA safety standards or your national equivalent. Mavlink is the lightweight, standardized communication protocol used for exchanging data between drones and ground control stations. Software such as Skybrush and UgCS offer control systems that use Mavlink. Skybrush is open-source drone show software. It runs on a version of Arducopter, so can be used with drones with a flight controller that is Arducopter capable. UgCS also has a free version and has is multi-platform flight planning software for drones. Whatever software you choose, the advice from people who've tried it is to start with one drone, inside, and get that working before adding any more drones or venturing outside. It's also important to get everything working before you contemplate adding an audience. There have been thousands of injuries already from drone accidents, mainly head trauma and lacerations through falling onto people. The idea is to avoid this, usually by setting a geo-fence around the area the drones are flying in. However, even if you've done your programming and control correctly, weather - particularly wind - can intervene, as can miscalculations on battery life. Even a drone as light as 1 pound in weight can cause damage if it falls far enough. If you want to operate a drone show, you're going to need insurance. So would it all be worth it? Given you can start reasonably cheaply using a single drone and open source software, it's tempting.
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