EtherCAT-enabled Pegasus Automation System propels performers to new heights.

For well over a hundred years, performer flying sequences in film and live events have been a primary element in the director’s bag of tricks. However, since the entertainment industry thrives on continuous innovation in technology and artistry, leading edge special effects for performer flight are applied to advance modern creative work. To help elevate their clients’ productions to rave reviews, Las Vegas-based Flying by Foy specializes in sophisticated automation for performer flying effects with an emphasis on sophistication and style.

“Flying by Foy is driven first and foremost by the artistic side of the flying effects and our advanced automated equipment is designed to suit that vision,” remarked Matt Bevacqua, Technical Designer, Flying by Foy. “The creative intent of the production is our main focus so we regard automation technology as a tool of the artistic trade much in the same way a painter may regard a brush.”

“In contrast to a crane moving containers at a shipyard where the system is continuously trying to avoid swinging, for example, Flying by Foy uses dramatic swinging and dynamic motion to produce exciting flying effects,” Bevacqua said. “We design automated systems for flying effects that appear completely natural.” Free-form flying effects require considerable pendulum effects and significant swinging actions that can’t be easily duplicated by a gantry or a four point system with tight load control. The new motion control and automation system for Pegasus must take this into account and provide the ability to safely implement dynamic, interpolated motion profiles. The previous generation of Pegasus Automation utilized a motion controller and inverter in one package. The drive had integrated intelligence and handled the positioning tasks and velocity control itself. “That worked fairly well, but we were limited by the legacy fieldbus infrastructure when communicating with the equipment,” Bevacqua explained. “This severely limited our applications since our systems often require multiple master controllers. It necessitated a level of coordination that was not possible with a standard fieldbus where you simply write to I/O or memory locations. We required a solution that would essentially allow us to write our own communication protocol.”

The 3rd and most recent generation of the Pegasus Automation cable hoists currently include three main product lines, To improve communications capabilities, motion system performance and the safety infrastructure, all three Pegasus Automation cable hoists now utilize hardware, software and fieldbus technology from Beckhoff Automation. The first Flying by Foy product line is the DW-V3 performer flying winch, next is the IW-V winch that is built into a standard 12” box truss, a useful solution for rock & roll touring productions and for quick load-in requirements at arenas. Finally, the BR-X wireless control units are pods that can traverse wirelessly along I-beams and can lift and rotate to maneuver. Pegasus Automation Software acts as a traffic controller for all these equipment platforms which also feature a PS3, which is a 3-axis servo controller developed by Flying by Foy. Flying by Foy went from never having used Beckhoff to developing the wirelessly controlled BR-X system in just three months.

The various Flying by Foy solutions include Beckhoff C6515 Industrial PCs (IPCs) with Intel® Celeron® M processor or CX9010s Embedded PCs with Intel® IXP420 with XScale® technology, TwinCAT NC PTP software and EtherCAT I/O Terminals with eXtreme Fast Control Technology (XFC).

Integrated into racks with the Pegasus PS3 motion controller, the heat dissipating C6515 IPCs take up two U rack units (3.5” high) each. “The C6515 form factor works extremely well for fitting inside the rack while allowing internal heat to ventilate harmlessly out of the rack,” Bevacqua said. “The C6515 enabled Flying by Foy to develop racks that were compact, but also extremely efficient at managing heat even when we had a number of them stacked up.”

Flying by Foy uses the CX9010 for custom enclosures, custom cabinets and for applications that Flying by Foy has never implemented before. This Embedded PC allows Flying by Foy to implement functionality similar to the rack mount IPC system, just in a DIN rail mountable form factor. “Since TwinCAT is the software platform for all Beckhoff controllers, all we need to do is transfer our control software from one Beckhoff hardware type to the other,” Bevacqua explained. “Another benefit of using TwinCAT is that it allows us to write our own applications in the same Windows CE operating environment as many of our other system tools. We also take advantage of TwinCAT’s impressive adaptability, I/O linking features and motion function blocks.”

Flying by Foy programs the majority of their drivers and HMI using Microsoft Visual Studio. “We’re looking forward to working with the upcoming TwinCAT version 3 when Beckhoff integrates Visual Studio as an integrated option in their software platform,” Bevacqua said. “TwinCAT already gives us limitless flexibility to implement our own custom drivers into the Beckhoff system and adapt to constantly changing project requirements. Today we’re not locked into any specific hardware so we can easily change over time if needed. In our business this is very important because our application demands are always evolving and lead times are usually extremely short.”

For the Pegasus Automation System’s communication, Flying by Foy has transitioned to EtherCAT in a big way. “EtherCAT allows us to seamlessly communicate with nearly any available fieldbus,” Bevacqua explained. “With the EL6751 CANopen Master Terminal, for example, I have a fully functioning CANopen master that’s easily and cost-effectively implemented into my EtherCAT system. Even better, I can just as easily integrate other masters for PROFIBUS or DeviceNet, for example, to operate over EtherCAT if necessary.”

Flying by Foy also utilizes the EL6851 DMX master/slave terminal for lighting control and networking. “We have implemented DMX technology within Pegasus to trigger lighting events in coordination with flying effects,” Bevacqua said. “The fact that Beckhoff has high performance EtherCAT terminals for DMX, a must-have network in the entertainment industry, is yet another example of how versatile the system is. The ability to synchronize DMX lighting and motion control with one universal EtherCAT network greatly enhances our flexibility and streamlines the Pegasus Automation System.


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