Automated Lighting, 3rd Edition

Chapter 16

Ethernet-Based Lighting Control

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. —Frank Zappa

When a group of lighting professionals came together under the auspices of USITT to create a standard for DMX512 protocol in 1986, automated lighting, as we know it, was in its infancy. Only a handful of companies around the world manufactured automated lights and most of them only rented the systems out; they weren’t for sale. In addition, when an automated lighting system was hired out the client often had to hire out a programmer/operator and techs, too. Clients were bound by the terms of the contract to use specially trained personnel to set up and operate the automated lighting system using a console dedicated to that task. ...