Date of Award

6-5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2025

Department

Computer Science and Engineering

First Advisor

Andrew Wolfe

Second Advisor

Ahmed Amer

Abstract

Commercially available automated spotlight systems tend to be expensive and unattainable for smaller school or community theaters. This project provides a cheap alternative to automated spotlight systems on the market and is compatible with most stage lighting architecture by using the Digital Multiplex (DMX) Protocol.

Circuit boards with Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio frequency track an actor’s coordinates in a 3D space defined by four UWB anchors. A Raspberry Pi single-board computer acts as a controller and converts the coordinates into pan and tilt angles and maps these calculations to values that the spotlight can read in order to move. These values are sent to the spotlight through the Digital Multiplex (DMX) protocol, the standard for communication for stage lighting architecture. The system costs about $380 overall and accurately tracks an actor’s position and centers the spotlight on the actor in real-time.

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