Lightfair booth becomes award-winning showcase
The award-winning Philips Color Kinetics booth at Lightfair 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, demonstrated the extensive capabilities of the line of LED luminaires and controllers from Philips Color Kinetics. A multi-protocol Ethernet-based system produced an extraordinary range of functions and effects through tight integration among controllers, triggering devices, and media servers from Philips Color Kinetics, Pharos, and third-party suppliers.
The Philips Color Kinetics booth required different styles of control for its main components: product kiosks for showcasing a wide range of Philips Color Kinetics LED luminaires, a video curtain and theatrical chandeliers for displaying spectacular full-color video and effects across the ceiling and rear wall, a pair of 42-inch LCD monitors for presenting interactive slide shows highlighting Philips Color Kinetics products and installations, and an innovative reception wall displaying artistic color-changing effects. The control system also managed a system of truss warmers, a color-changing installation at the bar, and the booth's general lighting. An Apple AirPort Extreme access point in the network provided a gateway for control via a set of mobile apps from Philips Color Kinetics and Pharos.
The booth's control network consisted of a series of Ethernet switches, a Pharos LPC 2 unit which served as a master controller, and an LPC X controller providing additional Ethernet outputs. The LPC 2 unit performed minimal lighting controls while synchronizing outlying systems, using different Ethernet protocols as required. To trigger shows for the product kiosks, the LPC 2 sent KiNET commands via RS232 to a Light System Manager (now specified with iPlayer 4) controller, which managed a set of nine shows in multiple zones, one for each set of Philips Color Kinetics luminaires on display. To trigger shows and effects on the video curtain, the LPC X sent Art-Net commands to a media server, which served video content to the video wall and synchronized audio to the booth's sound system.
A combination of manual and automated control strategies gave presenters and visitors the ability to interact with the luminaires and installations while ensuring that the booth displays were always changing and fresh. The LPC 2 ran a master script with nested conditional logic that managed the morning startup routine, the schedule for video events on the video wall, and the default dynamic behavior for each booth component. Pharos Button Panel Stations (BPSs) let visitors choose from a set of slide shows to display on the flatscreen monitors, while booth personnel could control individual sets of luminaires on the product kiosks and select from a library of video effects using Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch mobile applications.
Timers on all zones and effects monitored how recently a change was made with a BPS or mobile app, and reverted to the default light show or scene for that system component when the timer expired.
