RDMnet (E1.33)

The next big thing coming to the world of lighting controls is RDMnet (E1.33). This is a new standard that builds on top of ANSI E1.31, often known as sACN, to add RDM messaging on an Ethernet network.

For those not familiar with E1.31, it is an standardized way of distributing many universes (65,000 to be exact) of DMX512 data on an Ethernet Network. It uses IP multicast communication to provide an efficent way of distributing a large number of universes on a single network.

RDMnet expands the functionality of E1.31 by adding RDM messaging over Ethernet in the same way that RDM was built on top of DMX512. This means that the same RDM message that lives on the DMX512 link, can be encapsulated to go through a DMX/RDM to Ethernet gateway and back to the console. It provides for the final link in the chain to allow RDM to scale from the smallest systems to the largest.

This standard also provides for discovery of all E1.31/E1.33 devices on the Ethernet Network and dedicated messages for configuring Ethernet to DMX/RDM gateways.

This new standard has reached the critical stage of completing it’s 1st Public Review cycle. The Task Group is in the process of addressing all the comments received in the Public Review cycle and revising the draft document. There will likely be two more Public Review cycles before the standard is finally completed and published.