Martin WDMX For World’s Longest Catwalk, Sony PlayStation Event

In order to live up to its name as an international city of fashion, Düsseldorf offered something special to its inhabitants and visitors in the form of a fashion show that featured the longest catwalk in the world.

The event was held in celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Düsseldorf’s prominent Königsallée, a major thoroughfare known for its luxurious shopping and a catwalk for the latest fashion trends. The street is 600 meters long and, amazingly, a corresponding catwalk of the same length was built for the fashion show with international models like Naomi Campbell on hand to stroll its length.

To illuminate the catwalk and the models, Lightcompany of Düsseldorf designed a truss system using 2300 meters of truss to cover the entire street. The huge truss was lined with 600 2kW Fresnels and 1800 kW dimmers with a Martin Wireless DMX used in combination with external antennas to distribute the DMX signal to the fixtures.

Tom Langridge from Lightcompany explains, “The task was to get a DMX signal to far away dimmer stations (100 - 350m away) and to leave no cabling on the street for security reasons. The lights were controlled from the center of the street with one controller broadcasting the DMX signal from one Martin WDMX-Pro Diversity to three Martin WDMX-512 receivers. We calculated the risk of other interfering WLANs, as the location was in the town center with several commercial hotspots around. The wireless network turned out to be very stable with excellent data through-put rates.”

Lightcompany also used a Martin WDMX system to distribute a DMX signal to nine Space Canons and 16 intelligent lights for a private event in Nice, France. A Martin Wireless Pro Diversity transmitted data to three receivers located approximately 100 meters offshore on floating platforms. Omni directional antennas linked to the Pro Diversity were used. The fixtures were tested 3 kilometers offshore and worked with no interference and no interference of coastal restriction frequencies.

Sony PlayStation 2 Party
In another high profile event held last fall, Electric Fly Productions of the UK used a Martin wireless system on a Sony PlayStation 2 Party at Shepherds Bush Pavilion in London. Lighting designer Nick Jevons set up dual 50 foot trusses for the event and used a Martin WDMX system to span the 60 meter distance from FOH to Martin MAC 500s, LEDs, conventionals and a series of dimmers. The system was reportedly stable and worked well throughout the event.