Surely they can’t be using GPS for positions just a few feet apart.
Also, how quickly can they respond to wind and such?
In: 699
GPS alone can’t be used. The reason is that the US GPS signal is intentionally degraded for non military applications. Another reason is atmospheric conditions that reduce precision.
The most common solution is using differential GPS. One GPS receiver is placed in a known position at ground level. This devices calculates the error in the GPS signal and sends it to the drone. The drone use the error correction information and the satellite signal to reach centimeter level accuracy. This is the strategy used in the 2020 show involving 2198 drones.
Another solution is to have only one drone with GPS. The other drones use an ad-hoc network to find their position relative to the first drone. Even if the first drone is not positioned precisely, the other drones will be displaced by the same distance.
The reaction to wind is quick. The drones have internal accelerometers to instantaneously detect if they have been moved from their position. The corrections happes in less than one second.
EDIT: for shows involving a limited number of drones, GPS alone can be sufficient. If the drones are not too spread apart, their receivers will all be wrong by the same amount. The swarm will be displaced some meters away from the target position, but the relative position of the drones will be correct.
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