If you have read this other post in which we explained the active and passive timing systems and their differences, you might now be asking, is this an intensity-based or phase-based active system?
The answer is: none of the above.
Our transponder begins to emit Bluetooth (BT) signals as soon as you take it out of the transport tray and will do so until you place it back in the tray. The chip can always be detected by a mobile phone using the timingsense application and sending its readings to TSCloud, that’ s why the tag is always broadcasting. This is the reason why we say that with a mobile phone you have a timing device.
A reading device with a loop antenna is emitting a low frequency signal constantly. The tag, when approached to the device, detects this signal and modifies its BT emissions, which are received by the reader. In this way, detection occurs when the tag passes over the loop.
At timingsense we enjoy testing innovative solutions and after trying many types of calculations, we decided to take another direction. We acquired a photocell system and set up a machine learning based system that learns with every pass.
In a machine learning based system, the computation feeds back and changes itself according to the objective solution. This is known as Supervised Learning System using the time of the photocell to obtain the ideal time.
In this way, we have made it possible to achieve a real precision of around 0.02 seconds, placing the transponder on the waist trying to maintain the conditions. When the tag is worn on the ankle, knee, wrist… the oscillations inherent in the race mean that it cannot be as precise.
What other great advantages does the timingsense active system have?
You can time an intermediate point with just one Android mobile phone. The chip does not stop broadcasting until you put it back in the tray. The tag emits its ID code approximately 10 times per second when it is not on top of a loop. As it is constantly emitting its ID via Bluetooth, we can receive these signals with a 150€ mobile phone. And the Android application he have developed receives these signals and sends them to our TSCloud.
The Bluetooth signal is much more erratic than the signal received by the transponder from the loop, on which we have applied the machine learning, so it is complicated to have a higher accuracy with a simple phone.
The transponder’s battery lasts up to 10 days at full capacity, so you can time any type of race no matter how many days it lasts or how many stages it has.
The tags do not wake up arbitrarily and erratically with any electromagnetic “noise” as in other active systems as we told you in this other article, but we have perfected them so that they wake up based on patterns and therefore the chip’s battery is not wasted, which makes the chip last more years.
Wireless loading system (Qi), with the neoprene, placed and not taken out of the transport tray. We have made sure that loading the active chip is not a pain. We have developed a 25 transponder charger. You only have to put the transport tray on top of the charger and the chips will start charging. In 2 hours you will have a charge of approximately 80%, enough for a whole week of 10 emissions per second without a pause.
If we take the Mylaps active chip as the first active that was truly revolutionary, the timingsense active transponder is the second for functionality and performance:
- Timing with a mobile phone.
- Load the chip with the neoprene without taking it out of the transport tray.
- The real precision we have achieved is 0.02 seconds.
In addition, here is another very interesting feature: if a swimmer wears the chip on his or her wrist, we are able to time a timing point with a mobile phone on a boat with an accuracy that can be under 5 seconds. We have also timed with a water loop, but this is more common.
The best is yet to come because in 2021 we are going to see very interesting developments in the active chip market and timingsense will bring out the next generation of active timing systems with a completely revolutionary concept. Stay tuned!
