Drone shows are taking the event industry to new heights, but as the popularity of this new medium of storytelling grows, you may wonder how safe it is to have hundreds and sometimes thousands of drones flying above you.
The truth is that when drone shows are properly executed by a team of professionals using drone show systems that have been designed keeping safety in mind, they are extremely safe. Most of the major drone show providers have multiple levels of safety protocols built into their drone show systems.
Dronisos for example has executed over 50,000 drone flights over the past five years with a perfect safety record. This goes to show, that when properly executed by a team of experts, drone shows are as safe as they come.
Below we have listed some of the safety features of the Dronisos drone show system in order to better understand what makes their system one of the safest in the world.
Safety measures implemented by Dronisos:
Purpose-built drones The drones used by Dronisos have been purpose-built for drone shows in close partnership with Parrot. These high-quality performance drones are extremely reliable and have been proven globally. Dronisos has built a range of drones from lightweight indoor-only drones to heavy-duty all weather-drones.
Zephyr - a versatile indoor/outdoor drone from Dronisos
Flight zone and safety zone The flight zone is chosen after careful consideration of the surrounding environment. Drone flight is avoided over areas where there is movement of people or vehicles. Additional security of geo-fencing is programmed into the system to restrain the drones to the defined flight zone. A safety zone (an area between the drones and the audience) of about 100 meters is also put in place as an added layer of security.
An example of a flight zone defined by Dronisos in the city of Helsingborg, Sweden
Communication redundancy Every drone is equipped with two radio communication systems — one main and one backup operating at different frequencies. This ensures communication is always maintained with the drones. In case all communication is lost, the drones automatically execute a ‘return-to-home’ or ‘land’ command.
In-house developed software and tools Dronisos show creation software has been developed fully in-house. This allows Dronisos full control over the drone flight paths. Various checks exist to ensure that there is no intersection of flight paths causing the drones to collide.
Symphony, Dronisos' in-house developed 3D tool used to design show choreographies
Supervising stations and emergency kill switches Visual observers are stationed around the perimeter of the flight zone. In case abnormal flight is detected, all of the drones can be stopped immediately using the emergency kill switch. The drones will then safely land.
Dronisos supervising stations and emergency kill switches
Compliance with civil aviation regulations Dronisos complies fully with the strict European and North-American civil aviation regulations. These regulations and best practices are followed world-over. All of Dronisos’ drone pilots are certified by the authorities after thorough training.
As the technology in drone show systems (both software and hardware) evolves, drone shows are bound to become an even safer affair. The drone show industry has already come a long way since its humble beginnings a few years ago. From safely controlling a few dozen drones, we are today in a position to control and manoeuvre thousands of drones simultaneously.
In conclusion, drone shows when operated professionally are one of the safest ways to light up the night sky.
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