This article is all about our dealing with various manufacturers and even constructing own fleet from scratch. Nowadays, we advise our future and existing partners on how to choose the drones in line with local legislation, weather conditions, payloads, and other factors.
However, we started from a different ground.
Almost five years back, when Drone Show Software just entered the market, we were obsessed with the idea to create our own drones to fly light shows. And we actually did that: our tiny team spent many months and many sleepless nights with a soldering iron and wrench, tuning the drones constructed from custom elements and spare parts available on the market.
Then a flamboyant success of flying our first 50 drones followed, with all 50 taking off, moving according to the pre-designed paths, and landing almost successfully (all except one, which never made it home from a nearby tree). We were proud of ourselves and continued building more and more drones, until we realized that we spent more time mending the drones than flying them.
Since that time, the market has evolved, and new drone light show providers technically do not need to burden themselves with manufacturing their own drones. They can rely on UAV manufacturers, specialized in producing drones for shows. The Drone Show Software technicians test at least three new drone models quarterly and will be glad to advise you on compatible and reliable drones.
The first steps are always considered the most important to further success. Our practice shows that it takes an average of one month for an emerging drone light show provider to get started and fly its first commercial show.
Preflight checks, as well as technical and software enhancements, like built-in distance checking tool (minimizes the risk of collision) for animations, add the extra layer of safety.
Drone Show Software holds the CAA permit to perform drone swarm flights and is compliant with JARUS SORA risk assessment process.
Dual geofence
As we’ve already explained, employing a person capable of working with any animation software will be very beneficial.
However, there are more options to choreograph drone flight positions and RGB LED light effects.
Drone light show providers have to comply with local regulations and obtain all the required permits.
The process varies from country to country. To help our partners speed up document drafting, we share the complete CAA permit documentation to apply for the permit in Europe as per EU Regulation 2019/947 and JARUS SORA risk assessment process. Drone Show Software documentation can be taken as a basis.
Whatever emerging market you join, it will take months or even years to build brand awareness and earn customer loyalty. Each of our customers becomes part of a huge drone light show community.