Maybe have a look at how they do it with drones.
2,000+ (was it?) drones in formation.
https://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kuma..._and_cooperate
From 2012, at 8m 51s in to the video - describes formation flying
None of these go into the details but it might be a start.
Also -
https://verge.aero/everything-about-drone-light-shows
This suggests that in their displays each drone does it's own thing, in contrast to the description in the TED talk above which discusses the drones sensing each other.