Using its new quadcopter UAS, Intel has created the first unmanned aerial system to use for entertainment light shows.

The quadcopter, which includes encased propellers and has a battery life upwards of 20 minutes, will be known as the Intel Shooting Star, and Intel has been granted a Part 107 waiver to fly a fleet of the UAS at night in the U.S.

Weighing just 280 grams, the Shooting Star includes built-in LED lights that can create a whopping 4 billion color combinations. Thanks to improved technology on the quadcopter, the UAS will be capable of creating light shows within days, as opposed to the previous time frame of weeks or months.

From Intel’s website, a portion of a description of the Shooting Star said, “This means we can now create beautifully choreographed images in the nighttime sky quickly and easily in the U.S. We are looking forward to using this new fleet of Intel Shooting Star drones publicly soon.”

In order to determine how many Shooting Stars are necessary to complete a light show, Intel will use its proprietary algorithms to figure out how many UAS will be needed in a fleet, as well as where the fleet is best suited to work, and what is the fastest approach for the fleet to accomplish the creation of the light show.

Before beginning the process of creating a light show, individual UAS within a fleet will be evaluated to determine which are best suited for that particular show, based off of certain conditions such as battery life and GPS reception. A fleet, which can include several hundred Shooting Stars, can be controlled with just one computer.

A video demonstration of a working fleet can be seen here.

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