Pixels in the night sky: Mind-blowing footage shows 526 glittering drones taking off and forming beautiful 3-D images during a futuristic light show

  • Hundreds of glowing unmanned aircraft are lighting up the night sky of Guiyang, China, this week
  • They fly in different 3-D formations with changing colour patterns during a daily high-tech show 
  • The spectacle is part of the 2019 China International Big Data Industry Expo which runs until May 29
  • Show director says the army of drones are pre-programmed and controlled by just one computer 

Like hundreds of bright stars in the night sky, an army of glowing drones have taken the centre stage of a Chinese city during a daily light spectacle.

Every night in Guiyang, the glittering unmanned aerial vehicles – 526 in total – take off simultaneously before forming beautiful 3-D images in midair.

With a constantly changing colour scheme, the group of aircraft fly in different formations such as a globe, a moving hand, a running man and a rotating cube.   

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    Residents of Guiyang, China, enjoy a nightly drone show during the 2019 China International Big Data Industry Expo

    The high-tech spectacle sees hundreds of aircraft taking off simultaneously before forming beautiful 3-D images in midair

    The drones are pre-programmed by a team of 80 engineers and controlled by just one computer during the performance

    The drones are controlled by a single computer after engineers programmed the designated movements into each one of them beforehand, according to the show’s director Ye Baifan.

    Mr Ye told Sina.com that each aircraft would follow precise instructions to fly to specific points and move accordingly.  

    To realise the high-tech performance, a team of 80 people spent 112 days on the planning and programming.  

    The four-day event, which runs from May 26-29, aims at showcasing the latest development in the global big data industry

    With a changing colour pattern, the army of unmanned aerial vehicles light up Guiyang’s sky like hundreds of bright stars

    The show takes place every night at 8pm and 9pm until May 31. 

    The impressive performance is part of the 2019 China International Big Data Industry Expo, which kicked off in Guiyang, the provincial capital of Guizhou, on May 26. 

    The four-day event, which will close tomorrow, aims at showcasing the latest development in the global big data industry. 

    Mr Ye told Sina.com that each aircraft would follow precise instructions to fly to specific points and move accordingly


    The group of aircraft fly in different formations such as a globe, a moving hand, a running man and a rotating cube

    The term ‘big data’ means the large volume of digital information gathered and stored by businesses for the purpose of various analyses. 

    Chinese companies have invested heavily in ‘big data’ in the past few years after its central government included the industry in its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020). 

    The technology forms the backbone of Beijing’s controversial social credit system, a scheme to rate the Chinese citizens based on their daily behaviour empowered by AI surveillance cameras.

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