Drones are a new leap in technology, being used for multiple purposes in various fields. Keeping this view in mind, the Japanese telecommunication company NTT DOCOMO comes up with a innovation in drone technology that can be used in sports events, musical concerts, in arenas for advertising purposes, decorative devices, emergency situations etc.
This new development is a spherical drone display which displays LED images on an omni-directional spherical screen while in flight – which DOCOMO claims to be a world first of its kind.
The drone features a unique design built with a spherical structure where the drone is made up of eight LED bars of lights that extends from top to bottom and rotates horizontally at high speeds. The display images hence gives an impression of a hologram or creates an illusion of motionless LED ball. The device also comprises of a spherical external frame, and the internal frame which lodges the lights, as mentioned before.
“We are thinking about using it, for example, during the halftime break of soccer games when it could serve to display advertisements, or at the end of baseball games,” designer Wataru Yamada explained. “About future development, we are working so that the drone can be further used to advise the people in case of emergency.”
The maximum diameter of the spherical frame is about 88 cm and the entire device, including the drone, weighs just 3.4 kg. The display measures 144 pixels high and 136 pixels wide (horizontal circumference).
Previously the weight of drones offered a big problem but the light weighted design of DOCOMO drone, with a hollow design which lets the air pass through it achieves the illusion of a solid display by creating an afterimage effect with rapidly spinning LEDs.
Currently in the trail phase, the company plans to launch the device commercially within the span of two years while currently DOCOMO is exploring ways to combine aerial mobility and communications mobility in innovative solutions for logistics, messaging, entertainment and other fields.
