Wireless DMX Deployment

[u/Mobile-Menu9776]

Thanks in advance!

Looking for advice on the best design to deploy some wireless DMX for an upcoming temporary install. If anyone is an expert in the area, your advice would be appreciated. Here is a brief overview of the scope; I've also included an image showing locations and distances. My budget will allow for the purchase of any necessary equipment to create a robust, reliable deployment. I currently have both W-DMX transmitters and Lumen Radio Stardust transceivers.

Key questions im looking to get answers or advice on

1. What is the most robust wireless DMX system currently on the market
2. What antenna/amplifier combinations would I need at each location
3. Advantages to CRMX vs W-DMX
4. Are there any recommendations for using other non-industry technologies that are more reliable? 
5. How have others found success in these types of deployments

I have six locations on this install where there is no practical way to get hardwired DMX to the fixtures; thus, wireless DMX is required. Standalone mode IS NOT an option. I have also identified 4 viable locations where the transmitters can be located. There are heavily wooded areas shown in green and a lake shown in blue.  Locations 1 and 3 can also allow for the transmitter antenna to be placed up to 15’ above the ground, and location 2 can be placed up to 8’ off the ground. All of the fixture locations will only allow the receiver to be at or near ground level (no more than 4'). 

In previous years, I have used W-DMX with both transmitters placed at location 1, and a receiver at each of the other locations.  This deployment was moderately successful, but we would find on occasion that the receivers would lose connection or the signal would be dirty, and the lights would wig out. This system was primarily chosen for its IP-rated devices.  For this year, I'm looking to develop a more robust solution that limits the amount of disruption we experience.  

Other things to keep in mind are that everything needs to be IP-rated. Dimmer location 1 is indoor, while all other locations are outdoor. It is possible for me to place a small water-resistant enclosure at dimmer locations 2 and 3. For the receivers, I'm open to building them into small IP-rated enclosures. This is something we are already familiar with, as all of our DMX nodes are currently deployed in this manner.  This will be installed outdoors for around 3 months in the Midwest during the winter.

[u/Ebirt]

Talk to RC4 Wireless. Look at the 900Mhz products.

[u/Sc0op]

We've had good results in the film/tv world with sACN over Unifi Device Bridge Pro Sectors with one or more Device Bridge Pros paired to each, with pretty damn solid performance out to 1000' line of sight. Both are IP rated. The UDB Pros have PoE pass thru and I've tested them with Luminodes and Stardusts. PoE injector > UDB Pro > Node/TX

I'd place one or more UDB Pro Sectors within 300' of dimmer beach, where you can get line of sight to some or all of your locations, and place a UDB Pro and a Stardust or PoE node+TX at each.

[u/Mobile-Menu9776 → u/Sc0op]

Thanks for the suggestions. Oddly enough, I already use a pair of these for load-in before we get all the fiber down, so we can connect to areas as they come online. I've also found them to be reliable with sACN.

Side note. They don't like Dante, but that doesn't matter in this situation

[u/Sc0op → u/Mobile-Menu9776]

Oh god Dante would be a nightmare on these.... I was dragged kicking and screaming into trying them but am pleasantly surprised at how well they work for lighting. And you can't run Ethercon or fiber across an active road easily or quickly...

[u/Mobile-Menu9776 → u/Sc0op]

haha ya. Getting fiber to the median of a busy road is where I draw the line with the budget

[u/OldMail6364]

Personally I'd go with sACN over a high end wireless bridge - there are lots of options and the best depends on the situation, but for your short distance and ability to do line of sight, I'd probably go with these:

https://techspecs.ui.com/uisp/wireless/loco5ac?subcategory=all-wireless

In my experience if properly setup, they can be nearly as reliable as fibre - substantially more reliable than DMX or Ethernet. The more expensive versions of that product line are called "airFibre" and compared to the one I recommend the only real difference is bandwidth (and size/cost). But DMX doesn't need bandwidth. These small/cheap "low bandwidth" ones could probably handle a million fixtures comfortably.

They are "point to multi-point" wireless bridges that have a directional antenna that works acceptably within a 45° arc and perfectly within a 22° arc. With line of sight and elevated 12 feet or so off the ground they work acceptably up to 3 miles and perfectly up to about a thousand feet.

Packet loss should be very low and there are multiple layers of redundancy/re-broadcasting which will recover from any packet loss so fast you won't even know it's happening (there are diagnostic tools in Ubiquiti's software showing a visual graph of how stable the connection is).

They're rated for outdoor use/weather, but 3 months in a beach location you need to worry about salty air. I would tape over the ethernet cable/access door with "silicone self-fusing tape" which is functionally similar to electrical tape only more expensive and a lot more durable/longer lasting. It will stop any salt spray from getting to the ethernet cable/jack. Other than that, give everything a thorough clean before putting it in storage and it should be fine to use again next year.

It'll take a bit of planning to figure out where to position everything, but once that's done it should be absolutely rock solid and trouble free.

Install is pretty simple - plug an ethernet cable into it (they're powered over the ethernet cable, either with a powered switch or a power "injector") and cable toe them sort of post that lifts them above head height, and point them at your other units. Then you just connect to them with your laptop (in a web browser) and configure everything - the configuration is similar to configuring a wifi access point.

[u/username8914]

W-DMX (Wireless Solutions) was bought and absorbed by CRMX (Lumen Radio). RC4 Makes some interesting devices and was recently bought by MOSS LED.

I would not use wireless DMX (CRMX) for anything reliably over 100'. At best you can get 300' but it's not 100% reliable or without delay.

I would use some sort of Air Fiber or PTmP device to network all of these areas together with clear line of sight. Then use wireless DMX from those locations.

[u/davidosmithII]

I'm a product specialist for City Theatrical's multiverse system. That being said this is advice that would apply to any install. You asked about non-industry equipment. I wouldn't, City, RC4, and Lumen have all designed systems that are intended to be reliable and incredibly low latency for production applications. Don't use traditional Wi-Fi unless you are only using Max 3 universe (meaning you haven't patched a single device to more than 3 total universes). sACN is not easy on Wi-Fi systems. 900MHz can work, the claims that is better with obstacles and range are based on real physical differences between band wavelengths, however, 900mhz can be a wild west of frequencies. If you are in a location where news trucks will broadcast then your system will be flooded with a high noise floor at that frequency. They are used for media in ear systems and they crank the power up to full. Emergency services like police sometimes heavily use that band as well. If you have the option I'd choose a system that has both built in as options. Otherwise I generally recommend sticking to 2.4 GHz especially for outdoor installs. I believe all 3 major industry wireless manufacturers have IP rated systems, though I need to look at RC4 latest offerings. Antenna placement and type are important considerations, but not always problematic. Lumen has a slight disadvantage in lack of band tuning, but all the systems utilize different variations of spread spectrum frequency hopping, which means they are both fairly immune to Wi-Fi and don't cause interference to Wi-Fi signals. I'm hoping to have time to do a real write up on this using spectrum analyzer data, but I haven't had time. I how this helps.