Hi all.
For a while I've been toying with the idea of building some sort of automatic timing system for sailboats. I know there are many of these for runners, race cars, and other sports, but does anybody know of a system that could be used or adapted to sailboats?
I'd also like to hear any suggestions for how the system should work or what it should be capable of.
Thanks for your help
-Dave Muhlert
Dave,
A Datchet Water SC member has written a program for a Windows based PC that
will allow race team to configure a set of start times and then have the
program automatically make sound signals at the appropriate times. Prior to
the making of the sound signals the speech synthesis capabilities of the
Windows environment is used to give a warning message at 15 seconds to the
sound signal and count down from 10 seconds, the spoken countdown is relayed
from the PC to a speaker r in the committee boat cockpit. Additionally
whenever an external button, connected to the PC serial port in parallel, is
pressed a sound signal is made and the PC records the time of the event. It
is also possible to record times of events silently.
Against the record of time on the PC screen can be recorded a description of
the event, e.g. an individual recall or the class & sail number of a boat
finishing. The program is able to export all the data in format which I am
hoping will eventually be able to read directly by SailWave. I understand
Colin is working on such an interface.
FYI - there is another program available called RaceDay for a Windows based
PC
The Datchet program has been developed following the demise of a 'black box'
solution, called a Maritimer' we bought back in the mid-80's. This 'black
box' allowed the automatic sounding of signals during a start and the
recording of finish times on a piece of paper when either a key on the
keyboard was pressed or an external linked button was pressed.
Hope you find the above of interest.
Kind regards,
Huw Pearce
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Muhlert [mailto:davem@drlaser.org]
Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2002 4:51 PM
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sailwave] Automated timing system
Hi all.
For a while I've been toying with the idea of building some sort of
automatic timing system for sailboats. I know there are many of these for
runners, race cars, and other sports, but does anybody know of a system
that could be used or adapted to sailboats?
I'd also like to hear any suggestions for how the system should work or
what it should be capable of.
Thanks for your help
-Dave Muhlert
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Dave,
For the last 7 (!) years I've been looking for the same thing, mostly
to automatically record the finish times of the 600+ fleet of the
Round Texel race. I've contacted the people behind the Atlanta
Olympics, representatives of TAG Heuer (who did the Formula 1
timing), Texas Instruments (who developed the ChampionChip for
marathon runners) and various companies in the field of Radio
Frequency remote tagging, but so far to no avail.
I'm sending you an email separately, it seems Yahoo won't accept my
rather lengthy reply.
Let me state here that my best attempt utilizes (in theory) a
microwave "gate" triggering a low-power, low-frequency transponder.
I would be happy to hear of other options as I'm sure many regattas
would benefit from a system like this.
Best regards,
Jeroen J.A. Tirion
Regatta Service Europe
Part 2
My latest inroad was with a company developing wildlife tracking and
telemetry systems. Based on their knowledge, we came up with a hybrid
solution:
Every boat is fitted with a waterproof transponder. This is triggered
by a microwave "gate" covering the finish line and the device will
begin transmitting it's unique ID on a lower-frequency carrier. By
letting the transponder hybernate most of the time, battery use would
be very low. Adding an internal powerswitch (which turns off the unit
completely when a magnet is placed on the unit) would prolong battery
life tremenduously, lowering the operational cost.
There are various techniques to pick out one transponder's ID from
among a (small) number of finishers and recording that into a
database for further processing.
That was the idea. Then my partner company decided that it would be
too expensive for them to develop this any further, because microwave
technology is not their usual field. Then I contacted a hightech firm
which does a lot of microwave stuff and they offered to do a
feasibility study for 12.000 Euro, so that was that...
Apart from being virtually stuck for lack of funds, there are various
issues with an omnidirectional technology like radio: whereas it
overcomes the line-of-sight problem, it is also very hard to comply
with the RRS definition of "finish":
"A boat finishes when any part of her hull, or crew or equipment in
normal position, crosses the finishing line in the direction of the
course from the last mark[...]": how to make sure that the first
ID/time to be recorde is indeed the boat which complies with this
definition? First of all I would keep tight control on the
transponders, as a more powerful microwave receiver and/or a more
powerful transmitter would certainly influence the results. Secondly,
the position of the transponder is crucial to the moment it is
triggered, so that would have to be watched, too. Imagine the
situation where a boat crosses the line capsized - mast first. That
would categorize as a correct finish, but it might take a very long
time for the transponder to enter the Microwave field and be
triggered - if at all...
Best regards,
Jeroen J.A. Tirion
Regatta Service Europe
Sorry about the double reply!
I used the official Euro sign and Yahoo crapped out with a useless
error message.
Jeroen
Hi all,
Further to my earlier response to Dave - I recently received the RYA Race
Management Newsletter from the RYA and it has a piece in it "A Computerised
Starting Light System" Devised by the Port of Fowey Race Organising
Committee - SE Cornwall
If anyone is interested I can send them a copy.
Kind regards,
Huw Pearce
Datchet Water Sailing Club
-----Original Message-----
From: Huw Pearce [mailto:huw.pearce@bcs.org.uk]
Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2002 9:47 PM
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [sailwave] Automated timing system
Dave,
A Datchet Water SC member has written a program for a Windows based PC that
will allow race team to configure a set of start times and then have the
program automatically make sound signals at the appropriate times. Prior to
the making of the sound signals the speech synthesis capabilities of the
Windows environment is used to give a warning message at 15 seconds to the
sound signal and count down from 10 seconds, the spoken countdown is relayed
from the PC to a speaker r in the committee boat cockpit. Additionally
whenever an external button, connected to the PC serial port in parallel, is
pressed a sound signal is made and the PC records the time of the event. It
is also possible to record times of events silently.
Against the record of time on the PC screen can be recorded a description of
the event, e.g. an individual recall or the class & sail number of a boat
finishing. The program is able to export all the data in format which I am
hoping will eventually be able to read directly by SailWave. I understand
Colin is working on such an interface.
FYI - there is another program available called RaceDay for a Windows based
PC
The Datchet program has been developed following the demise of a 'black box'
solution, called a Maritimer' we bought back in the mid-80's. This 'black
box' allowed the automatic sounding of signals during a start and the
recording of finish times on a piece of paper when either a key on the
keyboard was pressed or an external linked button was pressed.
Hope you find the above of interest.
Kind regards,
Huw Pearce
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Muhlert [mailto:davem@drlaser.org]
Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2002 4:51 PM
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sailwave] Automated timing system
Hi all.
For a while I've been toying with the idea of building some sort of
automatic timing system for sailboats. I know there are many of these for
runners, race cars, and other sports, but does anybody know of a system
that could be used or adapted to sailboats?
I'd also like to hear any suggestions for how the system should work or
what it should be capable of.
Thanks for your help
-Dave Muhlert
-!- eliminate spam once and for all http://www.giantcompany.com/ -!-
Convert to daily digest of emails send blank email to:
sailwave-digest@yahoogroups.com
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-!- eliminate spam once and for all http://www.giantcompany.com/ -!-
Convert to daily digest of emails send blank email to:
sailwave-digest@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
sailwave-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/