Artistic Licence Launches DALI-Over-Ethernet Protocol

Artistic Licence announces the launch of Art-Osc, an open-domain, free-of-charge protocol that enables the transport of DALI lighting control data over an Ethernet network.

The DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) standard provides a popular means of controlling ballasts that do not require fast special effects. It operates over-low cost and simple wiring, but is limited to 64 devices per circuit. Until now, DALI has lacked a standardized and open method of integration into larger networks.

Art-Osc solves these problems by providing a non-proprietary method to transfer the DALI language over a network; putting this into numbers translates into control over a billion DALI ballasts. Historically, the situation bears close analogy with the invention of Art-Net, an Ethernet protocol designed to overcome the channel restriction of DMX512 while still utilizing its structure.

In addition to transporting DALI over Ethernet networks, Art-Osc has two other main areas of application: RDM visualization and network remote control.

While RDM allows a lighting controller or building management computer to report on equipment status, it is not designed to convey data in a user-friendly manner. The company says Art-Osc solves this problem by enabling simple integration of the RDM data to smartphones or tablets.

Because Art-Osc sits upon the widely used OSC (Open Sound Control) standard, lighting users can benefit from numerous existing free or low-cost tools such as TouchOSC and Lemur for iPad and Android.

Finally, Art-Osc provides a standardized remote control syntax specifically written for the lighting control market. This enables automation and triggering of devices over the network.