Brantham Electronics
Electronics for 'Our World' exhibit at The Centre For Life
Darius Wilson Associates, DWA, the creator of 'Our World' at the
'The Centre for Life' exhibition
in Newcastle, approached Brantham Electronics to design an interactive model of
a shopping centre.
The model shows the necessary
movement of the essentials: Electricity, Water, Food, Transport and Waste. Each
of these is represented in 5 or 6 stages and each stage is represented by
lighting or chasing LEDs to show movement with appropriate audio. The visitors
trigger each sequence by a different method, i.e. by turning a handle or pushing
and pulling a plunger. Whilst the trigger is being applied each stage will play
for 5 seconds before progressing to the next stage. When all stages have been completed
a floor is lit in a central tower. If all 5 sections are
simultaneously completed, which take five visitors, then a light on top of the
tower is illuminated as well.
When the visitor stops triggering a section the sequence will
reverse. For example cranking a handle shows the clearance of waste sewage from the city and
processes it to produce clean water. When the cranking stops the waste will
build up in the city again.
The electronics was designed so that all sections used identical hardware and
the software was modular so that common routines were shared between the various
sections.
Programming is held in flash memory so that it be easily updated on-site by connecting to a
laptop computer.
"This hands-on interactive was designed to illustrate the processes and requirements that govern a city" says Darius Wilson. "Paul worked with us on the design, built the electronics and wrote the software. We have worked with Paul Oliver at Brantham Electronics on many occasions and always found his work to be of a very high standard.
Paul has always had a great understanding of our often complex requirements and we have always felt his approach to the design, fabrication and post install support is excellent. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending Brantham Electronics to other organisations."