World Wonder Gets 21st Century Tech Upgrade

CHALLENGE: Upgrade the control system for Niagara Falls.

INFLUENCE: Often referred to as a Wonder of the World, Niagara Falls is actually a collection of three individual waterfalls on both sides of the border. For decades, using technologies, from carbon-arc search lamps to Zenon, the falls have been illuminated; three years ago, the system was upgraded to LED. That said, technology’s continuing advance left the fall’s managers with a desire to implement greater flexibility for both developing new design concepts, as well as remotely managing the control system in the cloud. 

SOLUTION: Pharos Architectural Controls was appointed to deliver a new system for lights, supplying an LPC 4 that controls both sides of the falls. While this unit is compact, its capabilities rival that of a bigger unit, delivering cutting-edge controllability. The LPC 4 is physically located on the Canadian side, and is linked via a fiber network to distribute data to three separate locations in Niagara Falls, Ontario to illuminate all three waterfalls. 

The project was a collaboration between Pharos, Pathway Connectivity—who delivered the data distribution via fiber optics—as well as a new back-up system, the SixEye platform, which manages both systems in the cloud. The collaboration has provided a real opportunity to offer bespoke features, such as kiosks allowing the public to interact with the lighting. Content can be synchronised on both sides, with three modes of operation: public interaction on touchscreens; unique settings for special occasions and holidays on the fly; or fully automated, usually between midnight and 2 a.m.