Drones to Fly at Superbowl Halftime Show

GMack · Feb 6, 2017

anotherlab said:
Got a link for that? Every report that I have seen mentioned that Intel had received special 107 waivers from the FAA for the airspace around NRG stadium. Like this one.

Here's the "Wired" link saying the drone show part was taped prior in the week. All About Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Drones

I suspected something was up as the time to get her into the harness and do the drop where she was already partway down was a bit quick.

anotherlab · Feb 6, 2017

D'oh! The USA Today had an article on it as well. The bit with Lady Gaga on the roof was also filmed at the same time.

GMack · Feb 6, 2017

anotherlab said:
D'oh! The USA Today had an article on it as well. The bit with Lady Gaga on the roof was also filmed at the same time.

I was reading where her S.B. LI performance cost $10 million. NFL doesn't pay her anything, other than the production costs and much of it by Pepsi. She averages $1.3 million per show on tour, which surprisingly begins today.

Wonder if Intel did their Starlight drone show for free advertising, or if they got paid? Curious too if they had any of the typical DJI forum experiences like fly-aways, battery failures, flew off and hit something, inverted flights into the ground, hover drift, radio connection errors, altitude errors, ESC errors, etc. In that 300-500 Intel drone cluster, not having one go nuts is pretty good (Which might be better than DJI numbers if they tried it.

).

anotherlab · Feb 6, 2017

Intel may have supplied the drones for the free advertising. Their drones are simpler mechanically than a DJI drone. The brains of the system is the swarm management software. If any single drone is having a problem, they can land it and substitute another. When you are flying at night, you can have extra drones flying with the lights off. The Intel drones have a decent onboard computer and I would imagine they are using a more robust GPS unit than you would find on a consumer drone.

42FrankZ · Feb 6, 2017

I did have my wonders on the prerecording and I am quite disappointed to find out it was.

Oh well... it was still pretty cool, and they can do things with theirs that I am not able to do with mine.

jwmcgrath · Feb 6, 2017

42FrankZ said:
... they can do things with theirs that I am not able to do with mine.

...but you can probably do things with yours that they can't do with theirs!

That's my deepest concern is always seeing what another drone can do that mine can't, leading to the potential of buyer remorse, but no... just take in all the reasonable info you can and make the best decision for you and never regret it.

I'd love to know more about the swarm software, it's cool and curious... I'm sure there is a "making of" video out there somewhere, or will be.

And everything mechanical/electronic can and will fail... I'm sure this wasn't entirely seamless. Intel probably doesn't have a forum for people/developers posting the problems they had!

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AlecW · Feb 6, 2017

Makes sense to be pre-recorded. Even if the FAA let them fly that many drones near a stadium full of people with half the country watching on TV, there would have been an Intel lawyer somewhere saying words to the effect of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

42FrankZ · Feb 6, 2017

jwmcgrath said:
...but you can probably do things with yours that they can't do with theirs!

I'm not saying your confidence in me is misplaced but....

GMack · Feb 6, 2017

Does make sense to pre-record it as the 5 PM half-time isn't fully dark out in Houston. Plus, the Pepsi logo part was at the end of her set and Intel says the flight time is only good for 20 minutes so it might have been another pre-recording after getting charged up again.

Aside, wonder where Disney flies them at their park for their Xmas drone light shows? Might be off at some angle to the public over an uninhabited part of the park for their waiver. Directly overhead would be a neck strain and maybe vertigo for some viewers even if they have the waiver to do it directly over people (Which I couldn't find with the FAA, only CNN has the over people's heads one that I found.).

Found the Disney waiver and interesting stuff in it like max. speed limit (<7MPH), a two layer geo-fence, no more than 200 feet above nearest structure. https://www.faa.gov/uas/request_waiver/waivers_granted/media/107W-2016-00964_Disney_CoW.pdf Quiet a few people/businesses hold a multiple drone waiver.

Fwiw, video on Intel's system: Intel invented a way for a single operator to fly hundreds of drones at once Intel's waiver: https://www.faa.gov/uas/request_waiver/waivers_granted/media/107W-2016-00004_Intel_CoW.pdf

jwmcgrath · Feb 6, 2017

42FrankZ said:
I'm not saying your confidence in me is misplaced but....

Shall I rephrase to say "your drone is probably capable of some things theirs are not"?! [emoji6]

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42FrankZ · Feb 6, 2017

jwmcgrath said:
Shall I rephrase to say "your drone is probably capable of some things theirs are not"?! [emoji6]

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That may be more accurate...

jwmcgrath · Feb 6, 2017

GMack said:
Fwiw, video on Intel's system: Intel invented a way for a single operator to fly hundreds of drones at once ]

Ya.

One dude flying 500 at a time and I'm on here trying to get advice to learn how to fly ONE.

Way to stay humble.

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DroneWorx · Feb 6, 2017

Intel's drone fleet provided backdrop for Lady Gaga's Super Bowl halftime show

"Producers filmed Sunday's drone show - and Gaga's bit on the roof - Jan. 30, according to USA Today. Intel general manager Natalie Cheung explained why..."

tjshelton · Feb 6, 2017

anotherlab said:
Got a link for that? Every report that I have seen mentioned that Intel had received special 107 waivers from the FAA for the airspace around NRG stadium. Like this one.

Go check the link you gave me. They've updated their report to say that the drones were filmed earlier in the week. See update 2 ...

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tjshelton · Feb 6, 2017

anotherlab said:
Intel may have supplied the drones for the free advertising. Their drones are simpler mechanically than a DJI drone. The brains of the system is the swarm management software. If any single drone is having a problem, they can land it and substitute another. When you are flying at night, you can have extra drones flying with the lights off. The Intel drones have a decent onboard computer and I would imagine they are using a more robust GPS unit than you would find on a consumer drone.

My bet is that these drones don't use GPS at all. I believe (but only making a guess) beacons are placed around the flight area and the drones triangulate on the those. Less chance of a GPS glitch, and less susceptible to jamming or spoofing.

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jwmcgrath · Feb 6, 2017

In my humble opinion, when you get to the point of "flying 500 drones", you're not really flying any at all.

You're pressing the button that says "execute program", and watching the show.

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tjshelton · Feb 6, 2017

jwmcgrath said:
In my humble opinion, when you get to the point of "flying 500 drones", you're not really flying any at all.

You're pressing the button that says "execute program", and watching the show.

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Of course, the same could be said about preplanning and then flying a litchi flight. A lot of programming goes into those shows and I've got nothing but respect for the team that designed the drones, the guidance system, the control program, and the specialized computer that made these shows possible. It's also good press for the drone community. For once everyone is looking to the sky and saying "drones are cool."

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jwmcgrath · Feb 6, 2017

I remember when computers first started to become mainstream, my dad, who was probably in his 60s at the time, called them "magic" because he knew he would ever never fully understand them.

This will be the stuff that my kids will remember me calling magical. And more to come… autonomous cars are in that category…

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anotherlab · Feb 6, 2017

tjshelton said:
My bet is that these drones don't use GPS at all. I believe (but only making a guess) beacons are placed around the flight area and the drones triangulate on the those. Less chance of a GPS glitch, and less susceptible to jamming or spoofing.

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It's been published in few places that the Intel Shooting Star drones are using GPS. Bluetooth LE Beacons would not have been accurate enough or powerful enough to work. At best, a long range beacon would reach 450 m, and that point the signal strength would be so low that that triangulation of the signal would be ineffective. I've done some programming with beacon technology, it's no where near close to GPS accuracy outdoors. And you can spoof a beacon easier than you can spoof a GPS signal.