PyeongChang: The Opening Ceremony

MJLST Staffer, Amber Peterson


The opening ceremony of the Olympics is always a big show and the 2018 Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea was no exception. Intel created a display that featured a world-record setting 1,218 drones. The display featured drone murmurations that depicted images of a snowboarder that morphed into the Olympic rings using four billion color combinations enabled by onboard LEDs. This display surpassed Intel’s previous Shooting Star drone world record which flew 500 drones simultaneously in Germany in 2016.

Intel’s Shooting Star drones are each about a foot-long, weigh eight ounces, and can fly in formation for up to 20 minutes given the limitations of current lithium-ion battery technology.

While the show is certainly impressive, from a software perspective, it is very much similar to flying a smaller, 300-drone show. The additional drones simply increase the resolution and quality of the images to create more depth. Every drone is operated from a central computer system, which tweaks things such as individual battery life and GPS signal. The drones communicate with this central computer instead of with each other. After animators draw up the show using 3D design software, each individual drone acts as an aerial pixel to fill the night sky.

The only minor tweak that Intel had to make to the design of the drone was to the rotor cages to account for the cold and windy conditions in Pyeongchang. Intel ran test flights in Finland, which has a similar climate to Pyeongchang, to make sure the drones could handle the climate.

This record for the “most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously” may have an asterisk however, since the display was pre-recorded after a last minute logistical issue which prevented the record setting drones from flying live at the ceremony. The show that was pre-recorded last December was instead broadcast during the event.

The South Korean laws and regulations that Intel had to comply with are as follows: 1) the maximum height that a drone can fly is 492 feet and if the flights are higher than this distance, government approval is required; 2) drones can only be flown during the day unless government approval has been given; 3) drones must be operated in a range that is viewable from the naked eye; 4) certain zones are banned for drone flights; and 5) drones must always yield to manned aircraft.

Drone law has developed from the explosion of online shopping in Korea. Korean privacy laws however, are some of the strictest in the world so a vexing issue remains as to how to deal with the invasion of privacy from drones. Maintaining a balance between supporting technological advances and being cognizant of protecting safety and individual rights remains an issue that requires further debate.


Travis Waller, MJLST Staffer







Until next time,

