For HighGreat Technology, record-setting innovation is taking flight. 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 wireless modules with DigiMesh 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 at global events, HighGreat’s customized drones and control technology employ bright LED lights that change colors and create various effects to present visual multimedia spectacles, either as “cold fireworks,” as they produce light and visuals without explosions or heat, or even in combination with traditional fireworks launched from drones in flight.
The drones are controlled by intelligent ground-based software using wireless links, allowing for highly choreographed and synchronized displays that can be customized to match the event’s theme and music.
HighGreat’s drones have appeared in more than 8,000 performances across 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. 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 requires a unique networking solution. “Each drone includes its own wireless module. Digi XBee provides an ideal combination of low cost, low latency, low power consumption, low weight, and high reliability,” he said.
Stable Connectivity Across a Large Wireless Network
Digi XBee modules provide 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 redundant mesh network operation of the DigiMesh wireless networking protocol. With reliable communication, long range, and strong interference blocking, these modems are ideal for HighGreat’s applications. Digi XBee can be configured easily via the USB port, using Digi’s Digi XBee Studio software. They are pre-certified for use in multiple countries and provide 256-bit AES encryption for secure, reliable delivery of critical data.
To date, HighGreat has manufactured more than 100,000 drones that use Digi XBee RF wireless modules. “We can establish a stable, reliable network very quickly, even in the dense environments of our shows, without lost data packets or latency issues,” said Deng.
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 wireless modules outperform other solutions in these large-network applications.”
Next Steps