The working groups meeting at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando during the week of the LDI trade show, from November 9 to 12, approved the initiation of six standards projects. ANSI requires that the initiation of projects be announced far and wide to affected parties so that people can be aware of the projects and can participate if they wish or can argue against the projects being undertaken if they are not needed or conflict with existing standards.
People interested in working on a project (besides simply commenting during public review, which also is helpful) need to join the working group for the project. Information about joining working groups and about the need for voting members in under-represented interest categories in the groups is available here. People wanting to argue against a project being undertaken can write to standards@esta.org to express their concerns.
Reaffirmation of ANSI E1.3-2001, Entertainment Technology--Lighting Control Systems--0 to 10V Analog Control Specification The Control Protocols Working Group voted to start the job of reaffirming the existing ANSI standard for analog control at its meeting on November 10. ANSI E1.3-2001 is approaching its fifth birthday, and action needs to be taken to keep the document active and in the ANSI catalog. The standard has been useful as a lowest common denominator control method for connecting a variety of controlers and controlled products. No one makes a big deal about analog control, but it is still being used on new and custom products. No changes in the existing standard are proposed at this time, but a forthcoming public review may yield some comments that will require the document to be revised.
New standard, E1.30-200x, Application level equipment interoperability for control of commonly encountered entertainment technology devices using E1.17 The Control Protocols Working Group's E1.17 (ACN) control protocol project is approaching completion, but there is a need to continue to develop equipment interoperability profiles to be used in conjunction with it. This BSR E1.30 specification will consist of a set of Interoperability Profiles defining standard DMP device types using device description templates written in DDL. Additional motivational text will be included to aid understanding for newcomers to E1.17.
New standard, E1.31-200x, Lightweight streaming protocol for transport of DMX512 using ACN. The Control Protocols Working Group's E1.17 (ACN) control protocol project is approaching completion, but there is a need to develop a minimal subset of DMP operating at the ACN root layer for streaming data for very lightweight devices. In a nutshell, this is what most people would call "DMX512 over Ethernet" but done in such a way that it will work with the E1.17 suite of protocols and other well-behaved Ethernet protocols. Device Management Protocol over Session Data Transport provides an elegant mechanism for streaming DMX-type data intermixed with more random access data and high speed feedback in a flexible and highly scalable way. Doing this work as a separate standard from the rest of E1.17 (ACN) will allow E1.17 to move forward more quickly.
New standard, E1.29-200x, Product Safety Standard for Theatrical Fog Generators that Create Aerosols of Aqueous Solutions of Glycol or Glycerin, or Aerosols of Highly Refined Alkane Mineral Oil. The Fog and Smoke Working Group voted to start a project to write a product safety standard for theatrical fog generators. At this time, there is no product safety standard used by Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories that is specifically written for theatrical fog generators. NRTLs use standards written for other products, such as electrical heating appliances or humidifiers, and apply these as appropriate to fog machines. However, these other standards do not address the hygiene of the fog produced, only the electrical and fire safety of the appliance. This BSR E1.29 project is intended to develop a product safety standard that addresses the safety of the machine and the fog produced by it.
Reaffirmation of E1.14-2001, Entertainment Technology-- Recommendations for Inclusions in Fog Equipment Manuals. The Fog and Smoke Working Group has voted to start the job of reaffirming the existing ANSI E1.14-2001. It is approaching its fifth birthday, and action needs to be taken to keep the document active and in the ANSI catalog. So far, it has been a useful guidance document for specifying what information fog equipment manufacturers need to give equipment users and for telling end-users what information they should expect to receive so they can use the equipment in a safe and responsible manner. No changes in the existing standard are proposed at this time, but a forthcoming public review may yield some comments that will require the document to be revised. ANSI E1.14-2001 is available for free on the ESTA website www.esta.org/tsp/documents/published_docs.php and at ANSI's eStandards Store webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/dept.asp?dept_id=3004.
Revision of E1.9-2001, Reporting Photometric Performance Data for Luminaires Used in Entertainment Lighting. The Photometrics Working Group has voted to start work on revising ANSI E1.9-2001. The standard is approaching its fifth birthday and action needs to be taken to keep the document active. However, the existing standard has not been used widely because it has a great number of requirements. It is hoped that by removing some of the non-essential requirements, the benefits of the isolux diagram, which is the heart of the standard, may be enjoyed by more lighting designers and by more stage and studio luminaire renters and purchasers.
The public reviews of the documents produced by these projects will be announced in future issues of ESTA's Standards Watch and ANSI Standards Action. The review document for a standard being reaffirmed without modification will be the existing document, which will be made available at the current price.
For More Information:
www.esta.org
www.esta.org/tsp/news/newsdetails.php?newsID=153