The Next Generation of Bell Automation
Our R&D partnership enabled Madonna Electronics to introduce India's first musical bell automation platform.
Client: Madonna Electronics
The Story
Madonna Electronics is a global leader in liturgical and institutional automation, serving 6,000+ churches, temples, and institutions across India and exporting to more than five countries. Their flagship church bell automation system, originally designed in 2012, had been a reliable workhorse for over a decade and was widely deployed across parishes.
As the product matured, several limitations of the legacy system began restricting their ability to innovate:
- The controller supported only up to 4 bells, which prevented parishes from creating musical or multi-bell synchronized sequences, a feature increasingly requested by clients.
- Creating custom bell patterns for each parish required deep firmware changes, making every new installation a time-consuming engineering task.
- They also offered a separate MP3-based solution for churches without bronze bells, but this system lacked mobile control, limiting its ease of use.
- Both products required multiple manual steps during installation and provided no unified modern interface.
They approached us to help transform their legacy system into a fully modern, intuitive, and future-ready solution.
Our Solution
We conducted a detailed innovation analysis to understand the limitations, user needs and long-term opportunities. This helped us design a solution that not only met the client's requirements, but also introduced features they had never previously considered.
1. A New Connected Product Line: Pulsator Connect & Chant Connect
We helped them redesign and modernize both of their legacy products:
- Pulsator Connect – The next-generation version of their bell ringing system, now supporting synchronized multi-bell control, advanced scheduling, OTA updates, custom bell pattern creation, and mobile app operation.
- Chant Connect – The next-generation version of their MP3 playback system, now with mobile app operation.
2. A Combined Hybrid System: Pulsator + Chant Connect
Beyond the requested upgrades, we introduced a completely new product configuration, a hybrid device that merges the capabilities of both Pulsator and Chant.
This combined model enables:
- Synchronized bell ringing with MP3 playback, allowing churches to blend traditional bronze bell sound with choir tracks or hymns.
- A unified GUI and mobile interface to manage both systems together.
- Installation simplification by combining two separate legacy devices into a single modular platform.
3. Features We Designed and Delivered
- Custom Bell Pattern Builder – Create, modify, and store bell sequences without any firmware changes.
- Synchronized Multi-Bell Control – Up to 8 bells in perfect timing alignment.
- Wireless Mobile App Control – Complete system management through an Android app.
- OTA Firmware Updates – Remote upgrades and feature rollouts.
- Modern HMI System – Icon-driven UI with modular menu running on an OLED display, controlled through a 4-button navigation system.
- Unified Scheduling System – Manage bells, MP3 playback, and combined modes from a single interface.
- Modular Product Design – Same hardware powering multiple variants for easier manufacturing.
Significance
We have rolled out a beta version of the new system to gather real customer feedback and refine the product based on actual use. This upgrade positions Madonna Electronics to become India's first provider of musical bell automation. Through our research and development, we are set to strengthen their national presence and improve their readiness for international markets.