Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and learn about the latest and greatest protocol to take the lighting industry by storm. It’s not DMX, it’s not Art-Net, and it’s not ACN. No, I am talking about ANSI E1.31.
You might say, “What is E1.31? I have never heard of such a thing.” Well, according to ESTA the official description is “Lightweight streaming protocol for transport of DMX512 using ACN.” Lots of lighting equipment within our industry already uses E1.31, so it is vital that you are informed of this new protocol. With a simple reading of this article, you too can become aware of this great innovation and be prepared for your next gig! And don’t forget that you get all this knowledge at the low, low price of…FREE!
Expert Testimonials
To help explain the immense value of this new technology, I have enlisted the help of three industry experts who helped with the creation of the E1.31 standard. These brilliant men spent hours tirelessly slaving over hot computers, volunteering their time in the ESTA Technical Standards Program. Dan Antonuk, Scott Blair and Eric Johnson each played an important role leading to the E1.31 protocol we have today. Each of them will share their knowledge with you in this article to convince you of the amazing power contained within E1.31.
Dan Antonuk proposed the development of the standard and was the editor of the document during the task group’s development of the standard. Scott Blair has been a member of the Control Protocols Working Group in ESTA for over 10 years and served as a member of the E1.31 task group. Eric Johnson volunteered his time after the initial draft of E1.31 was complete by providing technical comments on the draft documents.
So What Is E1.31?
E1.31, cleanly put, is “DMX over Ethernet.” It is a protocol that allows the transfer of many universes of DMX512 data over inexpensive Ethernet networks including Cat5 or WiFi. It sends the same data as DMX, but uses standard TCP/IP networks.
You might think “I already have Art-Net, so why do I need E1.31?” ArtNet was created as an open “DMX over Ethernet” protocol due to the fact that many manufacturers were creating their own proprietary protocols for the same purpose. ArtNet has its share of issues and limitations and E1.31 was created to be more robust and easier to use. Additionally, E1.31 is written to use the full ACN (E1.17) packet format and IP rules. E1.31 was designed with simplicity in mind and requires a minimal amount of processing power for devices that support it.
Don’t wait; act now! Keep reading and this offer will include a straightforward, “layman’s” explanation of the protocol! You won’t believe how many universes of DMX it will send over Ethernet. Plus, it’s an ANSI standard that the whole family will enjoy.
According to Antonuk, “E1.31 supports sending a virtually unlimited number of universes of DMX data over a single Ethernet cable. Each universe is distinguished by a universe number and is sent on a distinct multicast IP address called out in the standard. Once a fixture or device knows which universe it is interested in, it automatically knows where to listen (which address to subscribe to) to receive its data.
“E1.31 thus allows the network equipment, switches and routers, to partition traffic so devices don’t get overloaded with network traffic. Switches will only send the traffic from the source to the ports connecting to interested network devices. This is accomplished by the listening devices issuing requests to listen to a particular address and the switches automatically communicating with one another to allow the traffic down the proper paths. Additionally, even if multicast traffic makes it to a device that isn’t interested, the hardware in the network interface of the device can throw away (drop) packets that aren’t of interest before they enter and burden the processor of the device. This means that E1.31 systems scale beautifully.
“This may be favorably compared to other DMX over Ethernet schemes which broadcast the data to every network device and require the devices processor to look at it regardless of whether or not it is interested.”
What Does This Mean for Me?
As of July of this year, the final version of E1.31 was published. Now, many products have already implemented E1.31 and many others are in the works. An automated lighting programmer is likely to find that their console supports E1.31 output. If so, then with some configuration, your console can output DMX data to other devices that use E1.31 and a single Ethernet (Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat7) cable from FOH could send tens, hundreds or even thousands of DMX universes to a stage or anywhere in a lighting system.
Furthermore, as Johnson explains, E1.131 can be expanded to include more than just lighting. “The ACN protocol suite was intended to be flexible. It was designed to be able to carry almost any kind of data; not just lighting data. It provides a technical foundation for moving information around and has a number of features to address the unique needs of entertainment networks. E1.31 builds on this foundation provided by ACN. It’s a standardized way of using ACN to carry DMX data between two or more devices.”
What's In A Name?
Have you been looking for “E1.31” in your console documentation? Depending on the manufacturer, it might be difficult to find. Although the formal name is E1.31, some manufacturers have derived their own unique “marketing name” for the protocol. Antonuk further explains the history: “In the early days of ACN and RDM there was competition between the two groups developing the standards. Some folks appear to be hanging on to this and wish to avoid the use of ACN in the name of this protocol.”
Blair says, “A lot of the confusion comes from manufacturers who are calling it Streaming ACN or sACN. Some users confuse this with ‘full ACN’ which has tremendous capabilities and potential as a true next generation protocol to go beyond DMX512 thinking. E1.31 has been built to be able to live and be understood within the ACN world; however it is not full ACN.”
Time will tell how the industry will adopt and refer to E1.31, but it is important for programmers to understand how E1.31 is referenced in their console and fixtures.
But Wait, There's More!
Act now and we’ll throw in RDM for no extra charge — when it’s ready, that is. E1.31 will soon be extended to include Remote Device Management (RDM) features. This protocol will be named E1.33 and will probably be released in a couple of years.
Blair adds, “In the same way that RDM extended functionality to remotely discover, configure and monitor all the devices connected to a DMX512 cable, E1.33 will allow the same functionality to occur with devices connected using E1.31. It encapsulates the RDM message data within an E1.31 packet. This makes it very easy to transport RDM information between a DMX512/RDM world and an E1.31/E1.33 world.”
Order E1.31 Today!
Finally, our industry has a DMX-over-Ethernet standard protocol that is easy to understand and open for all to develop in their products. For developers, the easy-to-implement and understand protocol is available as free source code on the OpenACN Web site. Antonuk believes in the future of E1.31 and says “It will stand beside DMX for the next 20 years as the standard for communication in our industry.”
Automated lighting programmers will find E1.31 easy to use. It’s basically a simple implementation of the well-known DMX protocol. No changes to programming procedures or methods are required. With some simple console configuration you too can be making use of E1.31 within no time and sending multiple DMX universes over Ethernet with ease.
