The 2018 Winter Olympics held at Pyeongchang, provided quite the unique experience for its audience. The software company Intel created the opening and closing show for the ceremonies. Instead of opting for the traditional fireworks display to commemorate the events, Intel made use of a more modern creation.
About 300 drones lit up the night sky while flashing brightly colored LED lights in a pattern. This, in fact, provided a lot of upsides compared to fireworks. For one, the presentation stays up in the sky longer. Fireworks tend to disappear after a few seconds of brightness. Another good thing about drone light displays is that you can create anything with the patterns. You are only limited to your imagination. Fireworks would make it harder to coordinate. Noise is also limited compared to fireworks. Drones would simply buzz around the sky while creating awe-inspiring light. Fireworks bring with them sonic explosions, which may frighten some. Smoke is also completely gone. No longer do we have to smell gunpowder smoke during nights of firework displays. Drones are eco-friendly, and easier to manage.
What’s not to like?
Coachella Lighting Up:
For that very reason Intel is doing another drone display. Intel is planning to do a drone show at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival grounds in Southern California. They will serve as opening segments for the main musical acts which include The Weeknd and Odezsa. This will be the first time a drone show would appear on a concert. The event expects to involve approximately 400 drones to light up the skies of the show. This would be a hundred more than the drone display in Korea. Meaning this drone event would have more patterns, more scenes, and more colors in the night sky.
The only problem the drone display may face is unpredictable weather. This would make it harder, or even impossible, to do the drone shows live. A similar thing happened at the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, where Intel had to pre-record the show ahead of time.
But with that one hiccup comes a lot of positives. Let’s just hope for some clear weather and enjoy the show.
