Alien RFID Goes The Distance For Racetimer

For more than a decade, event timing systems used LF RFID or bar code solutions to time competitive athletes. Those technologies were commonplace among the early generation of timing systems available for event organizers.

With these older systems, each registered athlete in an event would be assigned a unique identification (ID) tag number. The unique ID primarily consisted of bar code labels or LF RFID tags attached to the laces of runners' shoes. In conjunction with the tags, costly and cumbersome mats were sometimes required. Race organizers would have to transport these mats to each event and spread them on the ground to track runners on the course. The mats incorporated an integrated radio frequency antenna to track an athlete's time at designated checkpoints.

At the finish line, each runner would line up to be scanned, so the system could accurately record their official time.

Racetimer started looking beyond bar code and LF solutions to find a way to improve event timing systems. The company decided after ample testing that the UHF RFID products available from Alien Technology were the right solution.

Racetimer configured a timing event system using Alien ALR-8800 series readers and disposable UHF passive, EPC-compliant, Gen 2 Alien Squiggle tags. "We tried the Alien RFID system with a local running club," explains Lagergren. Racetimer continually tested and tweaked the configuration for about two years, constantly improving it.

The company decided the best place for the disposable UHF RFID tag was in the runner's numbered bib vs. the shoelaces, which is where the old LF tags had to be placed. Racetimer embeds the RFID tag in the runner's race bib, in a small flap that sits a few millimeters off the body (to avoid interference to the signal from the water contained in a runner's body). The tag/bib combo makes preparation easier for the runners, as they don't have to don two separate items: the bib and the timing device.