Illumination of Naked-Eye Graphics using Flying Light Specks

Rendering static and dynamic illuminations is a primary aspect of a Dronevision. This talk presents illuminations using Flying Light Specks (FLSs). As the building blocks of Dronevision, FLSs are miniature drones equipped with lighting primitives capable of producing a range of colors, geometric shapes, and textures with adjustable brightness. Each FLS operates as a node in a large-scale distributed system, executing its own control, sensing, and relative localization logic. A swarm of FLSs collectively renders arbitrary illuminations.

Realizing this vision requires addressing application specific requirements considering physical constraints of a swarm of tiny flying robots. We discuss our approach and solution to these challenges as follows: design and creation of FLSs that satisfy application requirements; stable flight of FLSs; decentralized and relative localization that lets FLSs position themselves without external infrastructure; and authoring frameworks for illuminations, and their integration with conventional 3D authoring tools that enables rapid creation of illuminations with animations and visual effects. We demonstrate this approach through two applications: illumination of text and line drawings, and illumination of sparkles.