DMX: Success After The Specification
Thomas Ladd and Simon Hicks, Pharos Architectural Controls
Wednesday
March 16, 2022
3:30PM - 4:30PM
Location: Gramercy
Intermediate
Credit
1 LU | Elective
DMX offers exciting new possibilities to lighting designers, such as tunable white control, fine dimming resolution and dynamic color. More and more architectural fixtures utilizing DMX Control are coming to market for functional and dynamic applications but being sold through legacy rep and distributor channels. Once a DMX fixture is on the spec, meeting the designer's expectations with this new technology requires additional planning and collaboration across all disciplines. There are more complexities to DMX compared with traditional control technologies like 0-10V or DALI. We will discuss approaches for a project with DMX to go smoothly and stay on budget.
Learning Objectives
- Understand why DMX is finding its way into architectural lighting — what it offers over legacy control mechanisms and even over emerging technologies.
- Understand best practices of 'How DMX': protocol limits, wiring constraints, signal management, emergency, addressing and zoning.
- Identify the gaps in scope that can get overlooked in the execution of a DMX lighting system and how minor changes in project documents can avoid finger pointing.
- Demonstrate why DMX is fast becoming the popular choice for lighting designers
SPEAKERS
Thomas Ladd
International Sales Director, Pharos Architectural Controls
Thomas has amassed a wealth of experience in lighting controls over a career in the industry spanning 25 years. In his current role as International Sales Director of Pharos Architectural Controls he has been responsible for building the sales team and brand presence worldwide and for the company’s growth through new partnerships and landmark project installations.
Starting out backstage in live entertainment, Thomas quickly moved on to project management and control system design. Working with a variety of lighting systems for both architectural and entertainment projects gained him valuable experience of the design, execution, and pitfalls of complex lighting control projects.
Thomas joined Pharos Controls in 2009 as the company was introducing itself as a new independent controls manufacturer in The Americas. He was instrumental in establishing the company’s Americas sales, support, and distribution strategy. Throughout this process his main challenge has been educating industry professionals in the nuances of digital lighting controls and where traditional sales and distribution paths need support to handle these new emerging technologies.
Simon Hicks
Director of Product and Marketing, Pharos Architectural Controls
Simon has over 15 years’ experience working across the full product lifecycle of lighting control systems, developing products for $bn US lighting controls manufacturers, serving as an executive director of Pharos Controls and with appointments on the boards of cloud software companies working in the lighting and AV space. In addition to roles in software development, product management and executive leadership, Simon has spent considerable time in the field, providing technical support to lighting installations around the world and experiencing first-hand the challenges faced by lighting designers, systems integrators, and installers. He holds a Masters degree in Engineering and Information Sciences from Cambridge University.