2019 marked Dartmouth College’s 250th anniversary, which made their annual fall homecoming celebrations even more special. High Output’s undertaking for this larger-than-life weekend celebration was to provide lighting and control for the 12 buildings surrounding the Hanover Green, with some additional effects on/around the clock tower.
Controlling over 200 IP65 rated lights in an area over ¼ mile long and about 1000’ wide, without running any cables across roadways or public sidewalks. Around 12 universes’ worth of DMX control were used for this project, which was larger than the capabilities of most wireless DMX systems.
A Point-to-Point wireless network in the 5ghz range (Wi-Fi AC) was enlisted for this project, using business-class wireless long-range access points. Over this network, High Point ran sACN from a Gio @5 to various ETC 2-port and 4-port Net3 Gateways, to distribute DMX at each building.
Software management of the network devices allowed High Point to view the connection strength in real time and adjust the transmit power on each access point to compensate for obstacles in the signal path – in this case, trees. This professional-level wireless solution provided the company with all the reliability of a wired network, without the time, expense, and inconvenience of running cable between every building that they were lighting.
Photo by Alexa Pacheco.
