A breathtaking display of drone technology appeared in the sky over north Texas this week as the 250th was commemorated with drone-created American images that included a flying bald eagle, the moon astronauts, and an animated bust of George Washington.
The stunning feat was accomplished by reportedly 2,500 drones over North Richland Hills, Texas in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence being celebrated on Saturday.
North Richland Hills, which presented the display on Wednesday, is located about 10 miles northeast of Fort Worth. Videos of the event have gone viral across social media.
As one drone software company described it, “Creating a system that can be flown safely and repeatedly requires a lot of clever engineering work.”
Each drone is programmed by animation software to fly to a certain position based on GPS data, display a chosen color, and then move in unison with the hundreds of others in the flight path which yields the imagery.
“The flight crew uses a detailed dashboard display on the ground station to prepare drones for flight and continuously monitor status,” said the software company Verge Aero. “The drones themselves carry multiple radios operating simultaneously, away from busy WiFi frequencies, to ensure communications are maintained even in busy and noisy radio environments.”
The Texas display, created by Sky Elements Drone Shows, also featured images of a space program rocket in flight, World War II fighter planes, and Uncle Sam.
The display of the space program appeared in story-like fashion.
Drone displays, which are being included in fireworks displays and sometimes even replacing them, have become more common around the U.S., particularly in regions where traditional fireworks run the risk of causing wildfires in arid conditions.
The Texas display was augmented by a fireworks display taking place below it.
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.