MCRA in St. Louis is working with a company who is making major inroads into RFID timing. This is a company that had over $600 million in sales last year and has offices in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and of course the US.
I know that Loudon has been doing some work with Zoomious with mixed results. My understanding of the system at Loudon was that it used only 1 antenna to read the signals from an off the shelf RFID transponder.
The company we are working with uses an array of 8 antenna at the Start/Finish line with a transponder custom designed for speeds up to 200 mph.
The good news - the cost of each transponder ? $1.75 These transponders are designed for 1 weekend use and then throw them away. The transponders are designed to attach to the top of your helmet and are a paper thin, waterproof material in the shape of a T and approx 3" wide by 3" long that attaches with a super strong adhesive.
Race more than 1 bike? No problem - no transponder to switch - it's on your helmet. Team Challenge? No problem - each Team member gets a transponder that is coded with the same bike number just for the Team Challenge.
Some other good news ...... results, lap times and running position will be available live throughout the event and post event via wifi.
Plans are being finalized to test this equipment at Track Days at HPT - Topeka on July 10th and again on August 13 & 14. If you're attending any of these events check in with us and you may be able to try out the system to help provide test data to prove the system.
FYI.... for those currently owning AMB transponders. AMB recently sold to a Dutch company who is disappointed in their financial results. You can read between the lines on what the future may hold for them.
