IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2022 - 14

Destefano was a part of the team that set the record for the
longest straight line fireworks display.
Fireworks by Grucci earned the record for the world's
largest firework aerial shell at 1,087.26 kg on 1
January 2018 at Al Marjan Island, Ras Al Khaimah,
United Arab Emirates.
away. " We try to exceed those guidelines, "
offers Destefano.
Each site presents different benefits
and limitations. " Working on the water
is beneficial because there is a much
larger fallout zone, but then we have to
worry about how to cable everything, "
Destefano explains.
Wireless firing helps,
allowing teams to
minimize cabling
issues and letting
them put effects
where normally
they may not have
been able to. Still,
although cabling
means you have to
take into account the
electrical resistance of
running cables for larger
shows, wireless firing has its own common
issues such as ensuring that receivers
are close enough to one another.
The days of hand firing a show are
What has
progressed in the
industry is how we
launch and how we
fire, to the point where
it's almost become that
artistic or theatrical
event.
mostly done, Destefano says. When
she first started in the field, hand
firing was already going out of favor
14
in place of electrical firing from panels
with individual cues. Although these
panels still work for basic shows, large
shows today run off of laptops hooked up
to a dedicated firing system, such as FireOne.
" The laptop acts as a visual aid and
interface for us to be able to fire
the show and control it, but
the firing system is doing
most of the work.
The firing system is
telling the modules
in the field when
to fire, " explains
Destefano.
These d a y s ,
teams use software
to design and then
simulate their shows,
adjusting timing as
needed. Firing files are written
beforehand and can be modified
up until showtime. As the computer
programs used to fire the show have
become more sophisticated, Destefano
says that teams have been able to " narrow
down the choreography of a show
to the point where it becomes artistic. "
IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2022
Once the show is under way, the firing
system can determine in real time how
far away from a part a module is and
then adjust its timing so that the show
stays in sync.
All of this precision and ease of
design has led to greater creativity and
allows teams to push the boundaries
of what a fireworks show can look like.
" The science behind an individual pyrotechnic
device hasn't changed much.
It's the same basic science. What has
progressed in the industry is how we
launch and how we fire, to the point
where it's almost become that artistic
or theatrical event. In the future,
you're going to see more complicated,
choreographed shows. Gone are the
days of kind of having shows where it's
just a shell going off and then another
and another, " says Destefano. " They're
going by the wayside because tech has
progressed to allow us to choreograph
almost like a stage show. "
-Katianne Williams
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2022

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