Four PLASA Standards in Public Review

Four PLASA standards are now in public review through the end of this year. Two are proposed reaffirmations of existing standards (no changes), one is a revision of a standard, and one is a new standard. The public review materials for the four standards are available at the URL below.

The two reaffirmations are for ANSI E1.11-2008, Entertainment Technology -- USITT DMX512-A -- Asynchronous Serial Digital Data Transmission Standard for Controlling Lighting Equipment and Accessories, and ANSI E1.14 - 2001 (R201x), Entertainment Technology -- Recommendations for Inclusions in Fog Equipment Manuals. E1.11 is the well-know DMX512-A, a lighting control protocol that is now well over twenty years old, counting back to the original USITT version. E1.14 offers advice for what should be in user manuals for fog machines. It's a short standard, and it's free at http://plasa.me/67xd0. The reviews for these two standards run through January 7, 2013.

ANSI E1.19 - 2009, Recommended Practice for the Use of Class A Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) Intended for Personnel Protection in the Entertainment Industry, is a standard that offers guidance on using GFCIs to protect personnel. However, one of the problems with GFCIs in electrically noisy environments is that they are prone to tripping even when there is no electrical fault from which people need to be protected. PLASA's Electrical Power Working Group is proposing to change section four in the existing standard so that it offers recommendations on how to reduce this nuisance tripping. The public review for the revision runs through January 14, 2013.

BSR E1.45 - 201x, Unidirectional Transport of IEEE 802 data frames over ANSI E1.11 (DMX512-A), is draft of a new standard that defines a minimal method to transport IEEE 802 data frames unidirectionally over ANSI E1.11 physical links using an Alternate START Code. The primary motivation is to allow communication of 802 data to luminaires over an ANSI E1.11 DMX512-A datalink for data transmission from those luminaires using Visible Light Communication, IEEE 802.15.7. However, this standard may be used to transport any 802 data for any purpose. Its review runs through January 14, 2013.

For more information, please contact Karl G. Ruling, PLASA technical standards manager 1-212-244-1505 or karl.ruling@plasa.org.