W-DMX grants 2012 wishes at Marina Bay, Singapore

W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden along with MA Lighting had full control over a very special New Year celebration held at Marina Bay in Singapore. Headed by the Esplanade and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore, this New Year spectacle spanned across the Marina Bay area, a 1 sq kilometre fresh water reservoir flanked by the new Marina Bay Sands Resort complex, the Financial District and the Esplanade itself, which includes a collection of theatres, restaurants and parks.

The area holds a special significance in the history of Singapore, being a port from which the city started its development. The idea for the 2012 New Year celebration was to fill the reservoir with floating illuminated spheres, each containing a personal note from individuals stating their wishes for 2012. From an initial estimate of 2500, the number of spheres grew to an astounding 20,000.

The Esplanade handled the lighting of the floating spheres in house. Given the size of the area to be covered, an extensive DMX distribution was required. Relying on MA Lighting's proprietary MA2net, one side of the bay was covered with DMX via the 2PortNode distribution. At the same time this also provided the required backup possibilities in case of failures of equipment.

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According to the firm, though, the biggest challenge was to integrate the LED fixtures on the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) complex. MBS had kindly agreed to grant the Esplanade access to their in house control system for their nearly 400 RGBA LEDs covering the building.

Located at the other side of the bay, no cable-based solution was possible to provide access to the control system. A few options were evaluated, but in the end, W-DMX by Wireless Solution proved to be the best.

Six W-DMX transmitters and six receivers together with directional antennas were set up to bridge a distance of approximately 800 metres (2,600 feet) and spanning over six DMX universes. Converting the DMX signal from the receivers to Art-Net MA Lighting 2PortNodes proved to be the perfect solution as no configuration change was required on the Marina Bay Sands side.

This plug and play solution proved the advantages of W-DMX. Running 6 lines of wireless DMX parallel only inches apart with high gain antennas was a risky adventure under normal circumstances. But the W-DMX system ran flawlessly for more than a week, even through fluctuations of intense weather. Lighting Designers Milton Arnold and George Panait of Esplanade Singapore were very pleased with the results.

Technical equipment and support was provided by Showtech Singapore. Henry Ang, managing director for Showtec Group remarked, “We used the W-DMX system for the grand opening of the Marina Bay Sands. It is a user-friendly system to set up and operate and the performance of the system at great distances and gave us the confidence to use it on projects like the Wishing Spheres that were beyond our imagination in the past. Well Done W-DMX!”

Wireless Solution Sweden is the world’s leading manufacturer of Wireless lighting control equipment, now celebrating 100,000 units sold worldwide and over 35 OEM partners. Hailed for its reliability and ease of use, Wireless Solution’s W-DMX range of products is the consistent choice for top professionals in the lighting industry and specified with perfect results in high-profile events and installations around the world. W-DMX is also hailed as the best wireless OEM solution. W-DMX has been used for lighting major events including the Youth Olympics in Singapore; Season of Light in Helsinki; Olympics in Vancouver; Times Square in New York City; the Nobel Prize Banquet; the Berlin Wall 20-year Anniversary; Eurovision Song Contest; and many more.

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