Samvith Technologies

Samvith join Motif Charity Walk 2010, Ahmedabad, It was opportunity to show case Technology in home city

Motif walk was timed by samvith using HDD system, RDR (Remote Date Reader) technology

For first time Ahmedabad with use of RFID for timing of race

The race was flaged of by Mr. S.S khandwawala(Directory Gen. Of Police) @ Atira Ground

Video Of Motif Charity Walk 2010, Ahmedabad

Result of Motif Charity Walk 2010, Ahmedabad

http://www.timingplanet.com

Ultra™– Step into the future of timing

Samvith is pleased to announce the release of Ultra, the latest offering from RFID Race Timing Systems. Ultra uses the latest in EPCglobal Class 1, Generation 2 UHF tags, RFID readers and antennas to create a superior timing solution.  The three unique components of Ultra are;

The Box – Contains the RFID reader, networking hardware and industrial computer. The control box is a small heavy duty case that is designed for work in tough conditions. With 8 antenna ports, one control box can drive 8 antennas to cover a 9m wide timing point. The UHF reader inside is currently the world’s most sensitive Gen2 reader with a maximum receive sensitivity of -80dBm. With some antennas we have achieved a read range of up to 80m using these readers.

The Antenna – RFID Race Timing has developed their own UHF patch antennas specifically for sports timing. These antennas have maximum sensitivity to our chosen tags whilst minimising unwanted reads flanking the read zone. The antennas are currently embedded in a flexible EVA mat that is easy to position in many configurations. Each mat piece measures 1.1m wide by 0.45m deep and weigh’s 2.5kg. The antenna mats are extremely thin at just 11mm (0.4 inches) high thereby avoiding issues with athletes tripping on a thick and bulky antenna section.

The BAP – Stands for Battery Assisted Passive and is an absolute revolution in transponder design. Until now UHF tags have had problems being read on the human body. Several of our competitors have tried to address this by placing the transponder off the human body using fiddly shoe lace tags – a system that requires input from the competitor and is not ‘idiot proof’. All passive tags are severely compromised when placed very close to the human body due to detuning and loss of backscatter signal. Enter the BAP tag by PowerID™. These tags use an ultra thin, flexible, and environment friendly battery that powers the onboard RFID chip thereby boosting energy backscatter to the reader. The performance gains are remarkable for what is essentially a passive tag that can be produced at low cost (unlike an active tag that uses a coin battery cell). The battery is non-toxic and has been cleared for safe disposal by the most stringent of environmental rules imposed in Europe.

The beauty of the BAP is that it can be worn on the back of the chest race number completely eliminating the need for the competitor to perform fiddly manoeuvres with an adhesive label on their shoe. This really is the ultimate system for timing large running events throughout the world.

Applications – ULTRA has been designed primarily to time major running events but is also extremely efficient at timing mountain biking and road cycling. For cycling the BAPs are easily read from the race number plate (MTB) or from a special disposable label wrapped around the seat post.

The advantages over our competitors –

• The BAPs cost about the same as shoe tags without the hassle of runners having to place a transponder on the shoe. The athlete does not have to do anything special that they otherwise would be doing in a manually timed race.
• The smallest and most compact of all timing systems with the control box 35cm x 25cm x 20cm able to time 9 metres width.
• Proven and stable firmware ported across from our successful HDD Systems.
• Antennas are embedded in mats that are easy to transport. We also design antennas for overhead gantries but believe the mats are the simple and safest option.
• Race Bib and tag are easily posted out to competitors pre-race.
• All the benefits of tag encoding and printing on the latest Datamax and Zebra RFID thermal printers.
• Reasonable pricing on control box and antenna mats.

What is UHF?
UHF stands for Ultra High Frequency. Ultra uses UHF RFID to communicate between reader and tag around the 900MHz spectrum. The FCC standard for USA is 902-928 MHz whilst Europe is more stringent with just less channels near 868Mhz. Countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia use a similar spectrum between 920-926 Mhz. Readers are preconfigured to these spectrums and country specific protocols (ie. frequency hopping or fixed frequency).

What is EPC Class 1 Gen 2 Protocol?
Ultra utilises the Gen2 Protocol adopted worldwide for passive UHF readers and tags. There are many vendors manufacturing hardware that can read the same tags in most countries. As the name suggests, this is the second protocol that has been released which gives far better tag reading performance over legacy protocols. The reading of 100 tags per second in difficult environments with the one reader is now quite achievable using Gen2.

What advantages does UHF have over low and dual frequency?
The number of vendors that manufacture UHF tags is large. That means UHF tags are some of the least expensive of RFID transponders on the market owing to manufacture volumes, competition between vendors and minimal use of copper and silicon. This makes the UHF tag priced low enough to make it disposable.

What is the lifespan on the BAP?
The battery on the BAP lasts for 2.5 years when kept at temperatures below 20 degrees Celsius. The tag can still be read with a dead battery and will act like any other passive UHF tag after this time.

Do the BAPs work in the rain?
Yes. We have tested the read rates of BAPs under wet and raining conditions and there is no compromise in performance under these conditions. The BAPs themselves are waterproof when applied to a normal wax style race bib commonly used in running races.

RFID RACE TIMING – BIKE RACING

Bussleton half iron man bike race being timed with RFID RACE TIMING -2 MAY 2009

RFID RACE TIMING –  SWIMMING RACE

Bussleton half iron man swim race being timed with RFID RACE TIMING -2 MAY 2009

RFID RACE TIMING

bussleton half iron man finish timing by RFID RACE TIMING – 2 May 2009

The Texas Instruments half duplex 134kHz transponder is a litte miracle. The ‘batteryless’ internal circuit derives power from the electromagnetic field generated from a special antenna in the mat. After powering the transponder up, the mat antennas listen for the transponders unique tag code transmission. This is achieved in 50 milliseconds in all environmental conditions. Transponders can even be read under water!

Transponder timing bands can be bought outright from any TI distributer and their are no further lease fees associated with their use. The one transponder times all types of events so you don’t have to fork out for a different type of transponder if you want to time a triathlon. You can choose where are when you use them in your events. If you need a larger number of transponders for a particular event we can hire these out to most countries.

The transponders are embedded in a tough plastic housing so that they cannot be damaged. The housings are either threaded onto a soft neoprene ankle band or can be tied onto the shoelace. The whole neoprene ankle band weighs less than 15g and is barely noticeable by the athlete whether they are swimming, running or cycling. Many years of research and development have led to a neoprene band that causes absolutely no chafing.

The Dual Antenna System comes with 2 mats and the HDD System can optionally come with 4 mats. Mats can be layed in any orientation to maximise the read rate of competitors.

The new HDD System incorporates the latest 134kHz technology in a sturdy portable case. The HDD uses special digital circuitry with 16 stand alone readers on one PCB board to avoid issues with tag-collision when there is a high density of athletes on the timing mats. Up to 300 individual transponder codes can be read per second from the reader array making it virtually impossible to avoid detection when crossing the mat. The HDD System has been designed to be easy to setup with an inbuilt ethernet switch, single combined data and sync cable and single tuning knob. The whole system can be deployed in several minutes and has all the capabilities to handle any density of runners or walkers in an event.

The HDD comes with one 4m x 2m mat that can be rolled out in seconds or optionally, 4 EVA jigsaw mats can be attached to a single unit (3m x 2m). The HDD is designed to be versatile in all environments and the maximum timing point width is 8 metres using two HDD units. We strongly recommend a backup mat placed 1 metre after the primary mat.

Data can be streamed live via ethernet to our powerful RFIDServer software which manages the connections of each HDD unit. Data is safely stored inside the HDD and can be ‘rewound’ at any stage. Many 3rd party scoring packages can interface with the RFIDServer providing a total timing solution.

The heart of the Dual Antenna System is the Control Box containing all the hardware required to drive two antenna mats and record transponder ID and time. The Control Box is a hard-wearing waterproof Pelican case housing the RFID components and Rabbitcore computer. The Rabbitcore minicomputer capitalises on the latest resurgence in miniature, single board computers with onboard ethernet. A 7 button keypad and LCD screen provide a simple human interface with the proprietary Logger software. After tuning the antennas, the Control Box is ready to read transponders. The simple Logger menu makes changing settings a breeze while data is safely stored on battery backed RAM for later download to a PC running your favourite race scoring software. To date, the RFID Race Timing System is compatible with the 3rd party software packages Runscore, Racetrak, RaceDirector and RaceTec.

The Control Box contains a rechargeable sealed lead acid batter

y which will drive the timing system for at least 5 hours. Larger external batteries or AC power can be used if the timing system has to be left on for longer periods.

Battery status can be seen on panel LED’s and observed remotely using RFIDServer. An audible beep is also given every time a transponder is read.

The MKIII system has an inbuilt ethernet switch which allows units using TCP/IP to send chip codes and times direct to a race scoring program. This enables results to be calculated in realtime and a host of other services like SMS, display signs and internet sites to display results instantly. Many of these services are routinely used today by our customers. An optional 3G VPN router can be used to send data in real-time to anywhere in the world.