Artistic Licence Engineering at PLASA Focus: Leeds

	Artistic Licence sunDial

Artistic Licence, supplier of architectural lighting control and data distribution, will be bringing their latest innovations to PLASA Focus: Leeds 2013 at the Royal Armouries New Dock Hall in stand N-D13.

PLASA Focus will see the official launch of sunDial, the new range of smart modular dimmers that present a universal control solution. General purpose lighting now comes in many guises, from halogen to LEDs. Taking a holistic, eco-friendly approach to dimming, Artistic Licence says it has developed sunDial to enable lighting fixtures to be controlled in a more intelligent manner. With DALI and DMX inputs, high channel counts and dimming to suit every fixture from incandescent to solid-state, sunDial is the embodiment of intelligent lighting control.

The stand will demonstrate sunDial's mix-and-match concept, combining DMX and DALI controllers to drive a range of sources, including mains-powered lighting and the latest in OLED products. To accompany this, Artistic Licence has prepared an extended version of Technical Focus 3, a free download that explains this new technology.

With the rise of eco-friendly LEDs, the retrofit market is growing. The company says controlling LEDs requires special techniques, incompatible with conventional dimmers. Artistic Licence's new Phase Detect Dimmer provides a work-around, achieving completely smooth dimming in conjunction with a building's existing control wiring.

New to the market, organic LED (OLED) offers planar white illumination, quite different to conventional LED point sources. However, the driving requirements of OLEDs are subtly different, requiring stringent fail-safe operation. Artistic Licence will offer one of the first commercially available products for OLED optimized dimming, bladeRunner two, which will be presented at PLASA Focus. The module is designed to fit into task lighting and will be available on an OEM basis.

Also making its debut in prototype form is the dataHarvester range of intelligent test equipment. This new range promises to take network monitoring to new levels of sophistication. eSense, in conjunction with auxiliary DIN rail sensors VIP, VA3, and VTW, provides easily understandable systems diagnostics for any network supporting remote device management (RDM).

Simple yet powerful, dVnet offers a user-friendly alternative to conventional media servers, rendering HDMI digital video input to a media wall in less than 10 mouse-clicks. Aimed at the retail and architectural markets, dVnet provides a versatile means to drive low-resolution media walls. dVnet is housed in a 2U 19" rack case for easy integration into existing rack-mount systems.

Multi-Play Rack is a disk-based product with outstanding memory capacity that allows a show programmer to record up to 12 universes on any lighting console running Art-Net, then play-back through pretty much anything -- thanks to the product's multiple protocol support, which includes Art-Net, ShowNet, KiNet, and ACN (E1.31).

Artistic Licence Integration's managing director and company founder, Wayne Howell, will be presenting a seminar as part of the PLASA Focus professional development program. "Networking for Roadies" will take place at 3:35pm on Tuesday, April 30, at the Bury Theatre.

Aimed specifically at technicians, electricians, designers, and engineers, the seminar will focus on the use of Ethernet and networking in the lighting industry. Essential topics to be covered include the use of Cat 5E and Cat 6 cables, network design, use of switches and routers, understanding IP addresses and protocols such as sACN, Art-Net, and ShowNet.

The seminar provides the ideal opportunity for delegates to update their skills and knowledge in this rapidly changing but essential area of expertise.