For HighGreat Technology, record-setting innovation is taking flight — literally. The Chinese company’s fleet of performance drones with LED lights have been at the forefront of lavish and eye-catching marketing events and civic and cultural celebrations. Digi XBee® XR 900 MHz RF radios help coordinate thousands of drones as they create interactive displays and stunning 3D formations with pinpoint control.
Reimagining Visual Celebrations in the Nighttime Skies
Perhaps it’s only fitting that China, the country that brought fireworks to the world hundreds of years ago, is the home of HighGreat Technology, a company that’s reinventing how the world celebrates high-profile civic and cultural events. Using the nighttime sky as their canvas, HighGreat’s customized drones and control technology employ bright LED lights that change colors and create various effects to present visual multimedia spectacles — called “cold fireworks,” as they produce light and visuals without explosions or heat.
The drones are controlled by software and radio signals, allowing for highly choreographed and synchronized displays that can be customized to match the event’s theme and music.
HighGreat’s drones have presented more than 8,000 performances in 300 cities worldwide for events such as the opening ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the 2020 Singapore New Year’s Eve celebration, and numerous other ceremonies, exhibitions, concerts, games, expos, and theme parks. And in September 2024, HighGreat collaborated to send 8,100 drones skyward in a synchronized show that set a Guinness World Record for the number of coordinated drones.
According to Wei Deng, procurement manager for HighGreat, the dense formations of hundreds or thousands of drones require a unique networking solution. “Each drone requires its own modem that provides an ideal combination of low cost, low latency, low power consumption, low weight — and high reliability,” he said. “For our drones, we found that Digi XBee XR 900 fit these requirements perfectly.”
Stable Connectivity Across a Large Wireless Network
The 900 MHz Digi XBee XR 900 modem provides HighGreat with reliable, redundant connectivity that easily integrates with its drones and control software. With interface options including RS-232/485 or digital/analog I/O, these modems utilize the DigiMesh® wireless networking protocol, with redundant mesh network operation. With an ideal RF line-of-sight range of up to 65 miles and strong interference blocking, these modems are ideal for HighGreat’s applications. Digi XBee XR 900 modems can be configured easily via the USB port, using Digi’s free Digi XBee Studio software. They are pre-certified for use in multiple countries and provide secure, reliable delivery of critical data between devices with 256-bit AES encryption.
To date, HighGreat has manufactured more than 100,000 drones that use Digi XBee XR 900 RF modems. “Digi XBee XR gives us industrial-grade connectivity that’s fully certified for use in the free, unlicensed 900 MHz band,” said Deng. “We can establish a stable, reliable network very quickly – even in the dense environments of our shows – without lost data packets or latency issues.”
A Stable, Cost-Effective, Low-Powered Solution
Power management is a residual challenge for radio modules in the field — or in the sky. Digi modems are designed for optimal low-power operation. Deng said, “We’re also happy that Digi’s power requirements and weight are so low, which can extend the length of our shows. And high data throughput and network stability support complex displays and orchestrations of the drones.”
There are other advantages as well. According to Deng, Digi’s affordability was a key consideration. “With Digi, we can get products to market faster,” he said. “The fulfillment times for our orders are very short. And it’s also very cost-effective, so we can produce thousands of drones at competitive prices.
“Before we found Digi, we were unable to find a satisfactory networking solution for our drones. Digi is very affordable with high throughput and fast formation of networks. We’ve found that, across tens of thousands of our networked drones, Digi XBee XR 900 radios outperform other solutions in these large-network applications.”
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