NO SHOW LIKE A DRONE SHOW

The Marina Bay skyline will see a new addition during this year's National Day Parade (NDP). Three hundred unmanned drones will take to the sky in the first such performance at NDP.

"We wanted to showcase that our future brings a lot of opportunities and we thought the drone show will bring out this element," said Chairman of NDP 2017 Show and Dynamic Defence Display Committee, Colonel (COL) Tan Tiong Keat.

"We want to excite Singaporeans to think about the future."

Built and programmed by Intel, the drones will put together seven formations, including a heart with a crescent and five stars, the Singapore island, the Merlion and a hashtag. The display is Southeast Asia's largest unmanned drones show to date.

On the most interesting formation, Intel Drone Light Shows General Manager Natalie Cheung said: "The Merlion is very unique. You have the Merlion and it's spouting water at the same time."

This aerial animation is a first for Intel and it was pulled off by changing the lights on the drones to achieve the effect, shared Ms Cheung.

Each Intel Shooting Star drone weighs only 330g and is specifically designed for entertainment light shows. As part of its safety features, protective plastic cages are built around the propellers.

To ensure that the drones do not stray from their designated path, the flying machines are programmed with a two-layer "geo-defence", said Ms Cheung. "We run a whole bunch of simulations to ensure that there is a minimum distance between each drone and that the drones are flying as expected."

The drone light show is featured in this year's NDP Show as part of Act 5: Progressing Together.

"It is a complex act with Joyriders, aerialist, The Purple Symphony and 300 drones," said NDP Creative Director Goh Boon Teck.

In order for all the elements to complement each other, music is used as the base foundation, he explained.

"Every component plays at a different music cue -- it is like an orchestra of musicians playing different things within one score."