Proof of Concept: Drone Light Show Media Playback System
Electric Airshows — Aviation and Entertainment
The Challenge
Electric Airshows needed a pioneering system to deliver dynamic content (video, sound, and text) to viewers of their drone light shows. The core challenge was achieving precise, synchronous timing of this content delivery with the drone show's live events, while simultaneously customising the experience based on the geographical location of each viewer. Key pain points included ensuring ultra-precise content synchronisation using a timecode generator across diverse audience devices, and integrating reliable location accuracy (GPS & Bluetooth) to deliver location-specific content elements.
Our Approach
COCO Software developed a Proof of Concept featuring an Android native mobile application and a robust Content Delivery System (CoDeSy) backend infrastructure. We focused on solving the complex technical hurdles of timecode integration and mass, synchronised content delivery—from selecting suitable hardware for precise MIDI Timecode, to developing the native Android application with robust location services, to creating a scalable backend infrastructure (API and web backend on Ubuntu) designed to support synchronised content delivery to a large, geographically dispersed audience.
The Outcome
The PoC successfully demonstrated the technical and practical feasibility of the mobile application, proving its potential to significantly enhance the drone light show experience. We achieved successful synchronisation of multi-media content with live drone show events, high location accuracy using GPS and Bluetooth, and implemented advanced features beyond the original scope including Augmented Reality (AR) 3D model display and directional sound based on device azimuth. The project has attracted commercial interest and is moving to MVP development.
"COCO Software exceeded our expectations with the technical solution they engineered for us, delivering on time and to spec our customers will love."— Dr Chris Crockford, BSC. MSC. MBA. PHD. MIEEE. MACM. MBCS. AFRMET. ARAES. FRGS. FRAS