Final Drone Show of the Year “KDH”: A Technological Finale in the Sky

On November 15, the night sky over Yeouido once again transformed into a massive floating screen for the final Hangang Drone Light Show of the year.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government brought back its most popular production of the season—K-Hop Demon Hunters (KDH)—as the encore performance, drawing an estimated crowd of 50,000 people. This show became the largest tech showcase of 2025, featuring 2,000 drones flying in perfect synchronization, the largest swarm deployed this year.

[Source: YouTube Seoul_4K]

■ “Millisecond-Level Control” of 2,000 Drones: The State of Korean Swarm Technology in 2025

The encore performance of K-Hop Demon Hunters delivered Korea’s largest-ever synchronized drone formation made with 2,000 units. Each drone operated using a hybrid navigation algorithm that combines GNSS-based high-precision positioning with IMU sensor fusion—an essential system that prevents collisions among thousands of moving devices in a single shared airspace.

This season, Seoul and its operating partners introduced a high-speed formation-switching engine, improving scene-transition speed by about 30%. As a result, the Yeouido skyline featured advanced 2D/3D “volume formations,” enabling more realistic movements, expressions, and backgrounds of KDH characters.

■ Zero-Error Flights Amid 50,000 Spectators: Seoul’s Urban Drone Control System

Despite drawing roughly 50,000 spectators, not a single flight error occurred—an important indicator of the reliability of Seoul’s urban drone operation framework.

The city deployed a comprehensive safety system consisting of:

▲400 safety personnel ▲Over 200 police and fire responders ▲A team of drone operations and control specialists

Technically, real-time systems ran throughout the show, including:

▲Drone battery health monitoring ▲Radio interference detection ▲Emergency return/avoidance protocols ▲Altitude-limit compliance systems

Across all nine drone shows held in 2025, Seoul recorded zero control incidents, further positioning the city as a testbed for future UAM (Urban Air Mobility) traffic-management models.

■ Yeouido Becomes an Open-Air Stage: A New Standard for Urban Drone Entertainment

This season expanded the performance zone from Ttukseom to Yeouido, redefining the viewing experience for urban drone entertainment. Visibility extended across Yeouido, Saetgang, Mapo, and Yeongdeungpo, maximizing the inherent advantage of drone shows—performances unconstrained by traditional physical stages.

Through the official Seoul YouTube channel (@seoullive), viewers also had access to a live broadcast that visualized segments of the drone-formation data, offering a more technical and analytical viewing experience than the on-site show.

■ Technical Achievements of the 2025 Seoul Drone Season

The 2025 drone season featured nine performances and attracted a total of 230,000 spectators, confirming that Seoul’s drone shows are evolving beyond nighttime entertainment into real-world testing platforms for urban aviation technologies.

This season made one thing clear: the drone light show has entered a new phase—not just entertainment, but a public demonstration of urban aerial technology in action.

Outsider Columnistㅣsjb17767@gmail.com