The million pound installation, which includes festive reindeers and lights, spans the entire 600 metre length of the Centre. The wireless control system allows individual control of over 200 DFX's LED fixtures.A series of 30 "drop poles" are suspended from the centre's glass roof void, each pole mounted with between 5 and 15 LED fixtures.
A dAFTdATA HILDA opencase card with external antenna is mounted at the top of each pole. This handles the network selection, monitoring and data processing wirelessly to over 200 LED controllers, so the complete LED system is thus controlled - wirelessly - from one central location.
Based on WiFi technology the customised eDMX system also works in harmony with the Trafford Centre's exciting wireless infrastructure. KD Decorative's Michael Gims says, "The ability to integrate the wireless DMX control element with the building's existing wired and wireless Ethernet systems has resulted in massive savings in installation cost and time."
The Trafford Centre's management team bought into the system from the outset because it delivered wireless data to exactly where it was needed, it wasn't a "specialist" transmission system, and because eDMX is based on established WiFi technology. This meant that they understood the technology from day one, which definitely encouraged them.
(Jim Evans)
