At Expo 2025 Osaka, Under the Midnight Rainbow brought water, flames, lighting, video, lasers and audio together in a precisely synchronised multimedia production for up to 2,500 spectators each evening.
Presented nightly over a six-month period at the Water Plaza, the show, designed by ECA2 and Dentsu, occupied 8,800 square metres and featured almost 300 water fountains, 30 flame-effect stations, and laser, video, and audio technology.
Beckhoff PC-based control enabled db Show Control & Automation to integrate automation, functional safety and AV technology within one control architecture. The objective was to coordinate every technical discipline with deterministic timing, high availability and safe operation in an outdoor environment.
The visual centrepiece was a water curtain rising up to 20 meters, complemented by two large water screens, a cascade screen and 288 moving water jets.
The installation comprised 280 straight water jets, eight 3D water jets with dynamic kinematics, fog machines, 30 flame-effect stations, lasers, video mapping, projection equipment and a central Q-SYS audio system.
db Show Control & Automation was responsible for the technical design, manufacturing, installation and programming of the turnkey show-control system.
The UK-based company has been developing control systems for ECA2 projects for around 15 years. The solution combined video and audio technology, lighting, lasers, water and flame effects, safety functions and automated operating-data acquisition in one system.
Beckhoff’s open automation technology makes it possible to control hundreds of drives in a deterministic manner while simultaneously communicating natively with video or audio systems© db Show Control & Automation
“Today, we need to deliver systems that can control hundreds of drives in a deterministic manner while simultaneously communicating natively with video servers or Q-SYS audio systems,” says David Birchall, CEO and founder of db Show Control & Automation.
“It’s Beckhoff’s open PC-based control technology that enables us to achieve this protocol convergence. Other industrial control systems don’t support this feature.”
To ensure high availability throughout the six-month run, redundant control systems monitored each other and could take over automatically if required. Two media servers provided the video content for projections onto the water screens.
“Outdoor shows running over extended periods need additional safeguards. They ensure reliable operation with as few interruptions as possible and give production and maintenance teams the confidence to operate complex shows on a permanent basis,” says Michel Matuschke, industry manager entertainment at Beckhoff.
For an outdoor installation of this scale, all media and effects must be controlled in real time while accounting for environmental conditions. Strong winds, for example, must not cause water jets to interfere with flame effects or reach spectators in the stands.
“To evoke and sustain an emotional response in 2,500 people, the technology working behind the scenes cannot falter at any point,” says Aurelien Bouvier, technical director at ECA2.
“So, we needed an automation platform that would orchestrate the magic of our water show invisibly, reliably, and with absolute precision.”
A CX5240 Embedded PC in the main control room served as the central show controller.
Eleven control racks distributed around the Water Plaza handled field-level control. EtherCAT and standard UDP/TCP Ethernet were used throughout for networking, while EK1100 EtherCAT Couplers collected signals from decentralised I/O levels in nine distributed control cabinets.
The CX5240 Embedded PC serves as the central show controller and synchronizes nearly 300 water fountain drives in real time via EtherCAT© db Show Control & Automation
“The key advantage of the Beckhoff architecture is the seamless integration of automation and IT,” explains Craig Pow Chong, director of engineering at db Show Control & Automation.
“We control nearly 300 variable frequency drives via EtherCAT. The cycle times and the synchronicity we achieve here are essential for accurate choreography.
"At the same time, we can easily interact with the AV systems via TCP/IP. If necessary, the system could be scaled almost indefinitely by adding more EtherCAT Terminals.”
TwinCAT processed real-time data from sensors measuring temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and water level. If environmental conditions became critical, the system could shut down affected drives or deactivate flame effects within fractions of a second.
Functional safety was integrated into the automation system. TwinSAFE Terminals, including EL1918 TwinSAFE Terminals, managed the emergency-stop circuits and the flame-effect stations.
Since the safety controller communicated via FSoE over the EtherCAT network, no separate parallel safety wiring was required.
See also: Beckhoff Automation brings industrial muscle to the art of live entertainment
“Entertainment projects regularly combine components and communication standards from many different manufacturers. In addition to conventional automation tasks, our open automation platform therefore supports relevant industry interfaces such as DMX, sACN, Art-Net™, PosiStageNet, DALI and KNX/EIB,” says Matuschke.
Standards including SMPTE Timecode, PJLink, AES70/OCA, OSC, Crestron and Q-SYS enable AV, media and audio technology to be incorporated into a consistent control concept.
EtherCAT, the Industrial Ethernet technology developed by Beckhoff, provides high-speed communication between distributed components.
This creates a robust foundation for applications in which synchronisation and response times are critical.
The scalable portfolio of Industrial PCs, Embedded PCs, I/O components, drive technology, control panels and TwinCAT automation software combines control, motion, safety and visualisation tasks on one common platform.
This lets creative concepts translate into repeatable, maintainable technical processes.
db Show Control & Automation developed its own TwinCAT-based recording and playback platform using two C6017 ultra-compact Industrial PCs in a master/backup configuration. The show was initially programmed with established entertainment tools, including grandMA and Medialon.
Operators have a centralised view of all sensor and system data, as well as the status of the safety circuits, via the CP2907 Control Panel and TwinCAT HMI© db Show Control & Automation
The master Industrial PC recorded the resulting Art-Net signal, while precise timecode was supplied through integration with the Q-SYS network.
During live operation, the two C6017 units independently handled parallel playback of all 32 DMX universes without requiring grandMA. This eliminated the need for large dedicated server racks and reduced both installation space and hardware costs. Operators had full local access to the application through a connected CP2907 multi-touch Control Panel.
“Reliably recording and playing back a complete, time-coded show sequence using an Industrial PC that fits in the palm of your hand is a real paradigm shift,” emphasises Pow Chong.
“Without the performance of the Beckhoff IPCs and the flexibility of the TwinCAT software architecture, we would have had to budget for significantly more installation space and hardware costs.”
A central TwinCAT HMI gave operators a live overview of system status, environmental data and safety circuits. It provided detailed access to pump-drive diagnostics, flame-ignition feedback and the choreography of individual water jets.
TwinCAT TCP/IP (TF6311) and TwinCAT Modbus TCP (TF6250) enabled communication with third-party components and UPS systems. Automated reporting and data logging via TwinCAT Database Server (TF6420) supported maintenance and performance evaluation.
If anomalies occurred in pump performance or environmental conditions, operators could retrieve and analyse the exact parameters of previous shows down to the second.
Approximately two million people attended the show during the World Expo, without a single technical interruption.
Control of the 30 flame effect stations is integrated directly into the main control system via a safety PLC and EL1918 TwinSAFE Terminals© db Show Control & Automation
“This combination of clear operation, integrated diagnostics and robust redundancy reduces complexity for operators. It creates the conditions for highly complex technology to work reliably in the background – so that the audience experiences what matters most: the show,” Matuschke adds.
Beckhoff PC-based automation provides a scalable platform for moving stage technology, animated figures, kinetic installations, 4D/5D cinema effects, networked AV installations and choreographed water attractions.
Open communication, precise control and functional safety give system integrators the flexibility to turn creative concepts into reliable, maintainable systems.
“For db Show Control & Automation, Beckhoff combines industrial-grade hardware with the open connectivity needed for protocols such as DMX, sACN and Q-SYS integration,” Birchall concludes.
“Close collaboration with Beckhoff, particularly its responsive support team, is essential for global projects.”
Following the successful implementation in Osaka, a follow-up project of similar scale is already under way.
Attendees can discover PC-based automation for entertainment and leisure applications at booth #S4302 in London from 22-24 September 2026. Meetings can be booked by email.
Header image © Ralph Larmann.
