📺
Survey of Alternative Displays
  • Survey of Alternative Displays - 2024 Update Notes
  • 2022 Update Notes
  • Introduction
  • Outline
  • Standard Displays
    • Standard Displays Overview
    • LED
    • Projector
  • Alternative Displays
    • Overview
    • Transparent
    • Volumetric Displays
    • Modified Polarizers
    • Electronic Paper/E-Ink
    • Flexible Displays
    • Lasers and Laser Projectors
    • Lenticular and Multiview Displays
    • Light-field Displays
    • Head Mounted Displays
    • Circular and Non Rectangular
  • Techniques
    • Overview
    • Pepper's Ghost
    • Projection on Static Transparent Material
    • Volumetric Projection
    • Projection on Water or Fog
    • Diffusion and Distortion Techniques
  • Experimental/Other
    • Overview
    • Physical/Mechanical Displays
    • Switchable Glass
    • Drone Displays
    • Ultrasonic Atomization of Water
    • Electrochromic Paint
    • Light activated and other Reactive Surfaces and Materials
    • Scanning Fiber Optics
    • Acoustic Levitation Display
    • Plasma Combustion
    • High Refresh Rate Displays
    • Other Experiments
  • Legacy
    • Overview
    • Cathode Ray Tube
    • Eggcrate and other Numeric Displays
    • Glasses-enabled 3D
    • Pyrotechnics and Other Curiosities
  • Closing Notes
  • Appendix
    • Holograms and the Ideal Display
    • Misleading Terms
    • Notes about Touch Screens
    • Virtual Production and XR
    • LCD Polarizer Removal
    • DIY Transparent Screens
    • Acknowledgements and Additional References
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  1. Experimental/Other

Drone Displays

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Last updated 1 year ago

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[Work in progress]

Wikipedia for

Drones are a relatively recent entry to the display technology field. For these projects, fleets of hundreds of drones are programmed to essentially fly up and create a very large scale volumetric display in the sky for a limited amount of time. All of this requires a lot of advanced technology in avionics, sensors, positioning technology, 3d modeling, and wireless communication. Due to the battery limitations on drones, these kinds of things are really only suited for temporary displays that last less than half an hour, but they still provide a very stunning effect that can be visible almost 2km away.

The most commonly mentioned provider is . It's worth mentioning that on their site (as of 2022) they offer 200 drones for a base of $99,000 or 500 "Premium" drones for $299,000. For super large displays like the world record below (with 3281 UAV's), these require thousands of drones to create enough points of light to make a dense image. There are also significant logistical elements to working with these displays, like planning for local avation laws, securing a space large enough to launch/land from, and planning around weather and other physical constraints.

and are other vendor options that offer this kind of technology for events.

Docomo Drone

A very early example of coordinated drones being used as part of a light show is this 2012 piece from Marshmallow Laser Feast called :

For a slightly different take that mostly belongs in the persistence of vision category - Japanese company made these drones that have a persistence of vision display spinning around them that can show low resolution content. it is unclear if these are still available (or were ever really available) for any sort of use or purchase though.

Meet Your Creator
NTT Docomo
Drone art
Intel's division that handles drone displays
SkyMagic
Celestial
NTT Docomo Drone