It's been another busy couple of months for RFID Timing! You can check out what we've been up to via these quick links:

• RFID Race Timing at the Argus
• Ultra debuts in Europe
• Ultra unthaws in America
• Ultra improvements
• Tech Talk – The gap between Active and Passive Transponders

Andrew Peterson
Director
RFID Race Timing Systems

RFID Race Timing at the Argus

Almost 30,000 cyclists took part in the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour in Cape Town, South Africa. This year the elite field welcomed Lance Armstrong who placed 9th across the line. Racetect, a timing company based in Cape Town, used eight HDD Systems to cover the timing of the event. RFID Race Timing Systems customised the antenna mats of the HDD for Racetec to accommodate the specific requirements of this event. The Argus is the biggest timed bike race in the world and has been running for 33 years in South Africa. Conditions this year were a big improvement on last year when storms made riding hazardous in the 50 knot wind gusts that also blew the finishing arch down mid-race.

Photo:
Lance Armstrong crosses the HDD System mats at the finish with David Clarke from Racetec in the background.

Ultra debuts in Europe

Major Venice based timing company, Timing Data Services (TDS), has invested in the new Ultra UHF timing system for many of its 2010 races. The CEO of TDS, Alessandro Vedovetto, made the decision to go with Ultra after being impressed with the superior read performance of the PowerT tag under race conditions. Having experience with standard passive UHF tags, Mr Vedovetto could immediately see the benefit of the battery assisted passive (BAP) tag which boosts read signal when worn on the back of a race bib close to the runners body. Other systems rely on spacing between the runner's body and passive tag - an effect exacerbated by the sweating body. In fact, the effect is so bad for normal passive tags that one competitor timing system now puts two UHF tags on the race bib just to try and counter the effect. However the new PowerT tag used exclusively with the Ultra system gives out a far stronger signal when placed directly next to the runner's body.

Ultra has already been used at the Stamilano (Milan) and Prague Half Marathons in March and will be a feature at Riga Marathon as well as the Dublin race series which covers four events and includes the prestigious Dublin Marathon and Half Marathon later this year.

Milan
Prague

Ultra Unthaws in America

Two customers of RFID Race Timing Systems unveiled their new Ultra systems for the first time at big spring events in the USA. Experienced outfit FS Series joined forces with Accuchip USA to time the Tobacco Road Marathon and Half Marathon in Cary, North Carolina. In wet and rainy conditions T&H Timing used their newly acquired Ultra system to time the Ringing in the Spring 5K with superb results. Principal of T&H Timing, Todd Henderlong spoke glowingly of the performance of the system under testing conditions with better than 99.7% of runners being picked up on the 9 metre wide start line. The reduced workload of disposable tags on the bib also made for a shorter work day for the timing team.

Ultra Improvements

The new Ultra timing system now will ship with internal Li-Ion battery and GPS time sync as standard. The battery will give 6 hours of operation time on a single charge and incorporate power supply/charger within the unit. All units will now ship with an internal GPS chip with microsecond time accuracy to keep systems synchronised exactly to UTS time streaming from geostationary satellites. This function is especially useful for accurate timing in conjunction with an optional photo beam for 1/1000 second accuracy in time trials. RFID Race Timing Systems is also working on a new antenna mat assembly for added durability and ease of assembly. These new additions to Ultra will make it the most advanced chip timing system available in the world using the latest developments in technology. Contact RFID Race Timing Systems to test drive the new Ultra system at your next race.

Tech Talk – The gap between Active and Passive Transponders

It can be confusing these days deciding on a technology to adopt for timing your next race. Some technologies have come and gone whilst others like the Texas Instruments half duplex low frequency transponders developed in the mid 90s continue to live on. Active tags use an internal battery to transmit their signal when woken up by a signal from the RFID reader. The transmitted signal from the tag is strong and thus read performance tends to be very close to, if not 100%. The drawback with active tags is their cost - ranging from USD $25-$100 - and their limited lifespan based on the coin cell battery used. The passive tag uses no battery to transmit the return tag code but uses the energy sent from the reader to either charge up a little on board capacitor for power, or reflect the energy in the form of a modulated signal. The first instance is used in many low and high frequency passive tags. The second instance is used in Gen 2 Ultra High Frequency systems and is called backscatter. The read performance of a well designed passive RFID system approaches 100% but there is always the odd chance that a tag is not energised in the short time it is in the read field. The big advantage of passive tags is the cost factor which is many times less than for active tags. This is because the circuitry is simpler and there is no need for a relatively large power source on board the actual tag. These tags can cost as little as USD $0.50 in volume.

A hybrid passive tag is the Battery Assisted Passive (BAP) tag developed by the company PowerID. The thin film battery only has a small amount of energy stored relative to a coin cell but is cheap to manufacture and has no harmful chemicals to the environment. The BAP tag uses this energy source to wake the tiny integrated circuit onboard the tag so that almost 100% of the energy sent from the reader is backscattered back to the reader from the tag. The improvement in performance is clear both in read range and readability next to bad substances like water and metal. RFID Race Timing Systems decided to adopt the new PowerID tags because the BAP significantly narrows the gap between active and passive RFID tags used in sports timing keeping.

For further information please contact the
nearest distributor in your country