Lady Gaga’s drone swarm highlights rising registration for unmanned aircraft

A synchronized swarm of 300 drones lighted up the night sky behind Lady Gaga, morphing into an American flag as she recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sunday's Super Bowl halftime light show - prerecorded to comply with prohibitions on flying drones over people - was choreographed by Intel Corp. It provided a dramatic backdrop for the performance and also illustrated the ways large companies are embracing unmanned aircraft in sometimes unexpected ways.

The registration of drones used for business has gone from a trickle to a flood. Only a handful were listed in the Federal Aviation Administration's aircraft registration database a few years ago. That number swelled to 6,683 as of the end of 2016, according to agency records analyzed by Bloomberg.

The list of companies reads like a who's who of top U.S. corporations, along with start-ups seeking to catch the wave of unmanned commerce. It comprises old-guard railroads such as Berkshire Hathaway's BNSF, utilities including Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas and Electric Co., and technology companies that include Microsoft, Amazon.com and a company that has supplied drones to Alphabet's Project Wing.

In December alone, Disney Co.'s TV network, ABC Inc., registered 29 drones, bringing its total to 51.

'It does show that there is a lot of interest, and this industry is, pardon the pun, really ready to take off,” said Tom McMahon, a spokesman for the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a Virginia-based trade group.

Before drone commerce can really flourish, the FAA must expand the current regulations that mostly prohibit flights above people and over long distances, according to the Small UAV Coalition trade group. A UAV is an unmanned aerial vehicle.

'But what we are seeing, which is incredibly exciting, is companies are investing in this,” said Michael Drobac, the coalition's executive director.