While it is winter down in Australia the Northern Hemisphere is in full summer swing. The adoption of the newer UHF technology for race timing has been gathering momentum and RFID Race Timing Systems has been working hard to update and improve the new Ultra System. Through valuable input from our customers, there have been massive additions and refinements to Ultra’s firmware and features.

The hard work is paying off with interest and sales growing as customers realise that our systems and support are amongst the best in sports timing. However our low frequency systems also sell well particularly in the multisport market where this established technology still has no peer for multisport.

The HDD System now comes with an optional lightweight 12kg vinyl mat that can be folded up and transported in a suitcase. This mat is a favourite amongst those that time ocean swims down at the beach!

In this month's E-news:

• Run for a Reason - A New Race for Perth
• Dublin 5 Miler
• Paris Triathlon
• NEW! LED Race Clocks
• Tech Talk – Not all tags are equal

Run for a Reason - A New Race For Perth

The inaugural HBF Run for Reason took place on May 23 in Perth with over 8600 runners taking part. The new Ultra System passed with flying colours using the latest PowerT transponder that is placed on the back of the race number bib. This meant no queues to collect chips at the end of the race or athletes forgetting to put their chip on the shoe thus improving the accuracy and reliability of timing this large event. Two races started simultaneously in opposite directions with the longer 14km run making its way through the 2km Polly Farmer Freeway Tunnel. The race returns next year and promises to be bigger and better.

Dublin 5 Miler

The Ultra System took centre stage at the Lifestyle Sports-Adidas Irish Runner 5 Mile Road Race in Dublin on July 17 with almost 5000 finishers. The race is a series of 4 events leading up to the Dublin Marathon on the 25th October. The event was timed and tracked live on the internet by Timing Data Service (TDS) of Italy using the disposable PowerT tag on the race bib.

Paris Triathlon

What could present a more scenic backdrop to a sporting event than having the bicycle transition of a triathlon beneath the Eiffel Tower. This year on July 18, the Paris International Triathlon took place in the heart of Paris under perfect blue skies. Despite having to swim in the Seine the race attracted a record number of triathletes who cycled through the inner sanctum of Paris and finished on the opposite side of the Seine at the steps of the Trocadéro. It was great to see our local Perth girl Felicity Sheedy-Ryan finish a credible 4th in the elite women’s field. The race was tracked live on the Racetec Timing website and the ever reliable HDD System was used to great effect by France based timer Ipitos.

NEW! LED Race Clocks

RFID Race Timing Systems, in conjunction with Accuchip USA is now distributing quality LED race clocks for under USD$1000 (AUD$1170 ex GST) making them affordable for those wanting to put the finishing touch to their finish line. The clock is only 4.3kg, can be read in direct sunlight, comes with a 6ft stand and has an IR remote control for setting time and functions (time of day, count up and count down). Extensive field testing has shown these clocks to be robust and reliable and the 12V DC power input is safe and easy to setup. These clocks have been selling like hotcakes in the USA.

Tech Talk - Not all tags are equal

Of the passive transponders on the market there are advantages and disadvantages between types for sports timing. We are often asked to provide a solution that can time everything from running to kayaking and even windsurfing. Each sport has its own requirements in terms of athlete speed, density and where you can put the actual transponder. Some timers wish they could surgically implant a tag in the athlete negating the old complaint, “I left my chip back home”.

Basically there are three frequencies that the bulk of RFID transponders work in, these being low frequency (120 to 140 KHz), high frequency (13.56 MHz) and ultra high frequency (860 to 950 MHz).

The low and high frequency transponders (or tags, as known in the RFID industry) work well in close proximity to water or the human body. They work in the electromagnetic energy region and these waves can pass through water but not metal. This makes these tags ideal for events where the athlete has to wear a tag on the ankle (ie. Triathlon).

On the other hand, UHF uses electrical coupling and these waves can be blocked or detuned by both liquids and metal. A huge investment has been made on UHF tag design to overcome these problems with the best solutions using a small battery to improve backscatter signal, or mechanical means like using a spacer to separate the tag from the offending material. So why do we want to use UHF tags? There are two primary reasons being low cost and huge read rates.

Firstly the UHF tag has the lower cost due to its light weight and ease of manufacture in large quantities. The UHF tags available today pretty much follow the Generation 2 Class 1 EPC protocol which is an industry wide platform adopted by almost all reader and tag manufacturers. Despite some differences in frequency regulations between countries, UHF tags can be read in Europe (866Mhz) as well as in the USA (902-928MHz). This uniformity across the industry has resulted in small passive UHF tags being available for less than 15c each. However high performance tags like the PowerT that RFID Race Timing Systems recommends will cost more due to the added battery and size, but still be lower in cost than the lower frequency transponders.

The second reason UHF is so attractive is the ability to transfer large amounts of information between tag and reader in a given time. This means advanced anti-collision algorithms can be employed to allow one reader to interrogate hundreds of tags in a second using just one antenna.

So, do we think UHF tags will dominate sports timing in the next 5 years? The answer is an emphatic yes with a footnote. We do not see UHF being an alternative in the near future for timing triathlon. Even a battery assisted passive tag like the PowerT has trouble being read on the ankle underneath a wetsuit! We think that timers will continue to use low frequency or active tags for triathlon for a long time to come and that is why our HDD and Dual Antenna Systems continue to sell strongly.

But we will make a bold statement and declare that 95% of the worlds running events will be using some form of UHF disposable tag in 2 years time

For further information please contact the
nearest distributor in your country