RACE RESULT Ground Antenna With Third Party Readers
Our ground antennas can be used with any UHF RFID reader, but some additional precautions should be taken when ordering.
Antenna Frequency
We produce antennas specifically according to the UHF frequency range used in your region (EU: 865-867Mhz, US: 902-928Mhz), make sure you order the correct antennas for your reader / region.
Antenna Connection
Our antennas are normally produced with BNC connections, your system may have different connections such as TP-TNC.
If you require antennas produced with any connection type other than BNC then these can be made for 100EUR per set.
We do not recommend using adapters as there will be significant detection loss with these.
Some readers expect an antenna with a 10k resistor for automatic antenna detection, this is included in our design.
Chip Orientation
Our antenna is optimized for a linearly polariszed chip, this is different from some other systems. (Our chips should be stuck vertically on bibs). You must ensure to use chips which are correctly polarized and for this reason it may not be possible to mix antennas from other systems with ours in the same event.
DISCLAIMER
When using the RACE RESULT ground antenna with third party readers we will not guarantee the same precision or read rates as when used with a race result decoder since other readers may not use such advanced detection algorithms.
Extra Wide Timing Points
It is possible to have a single timing point up to 16m wide using the RACE RESULT ground antennas, when placing one decoder on each side. You can match any combination of mat lengths (4.8m, 6m, 8.4m) to create extra wide timing points.
If joining multiple mats in the middle with 2 different decoders you should ensure to leave at least 1 blank, or disconnected, antenna element in the middle section where the 2 mats join, this is because a transponder can only communicate with 1 decoder at any one time so this reduces the cross reads which occur.
If using an EU decoder then it is also necessary to set the UHF Channels to A/B for each system to reduce the interference between the 2 systems.
Find more information about this in this article about Combining multiple ground antennas and decoders
Side Antenna Use
RACE RESULT Side Antennas or High Gain UHF Antennas can be an alternative to our ground antenna when conditions may not be suitable to use a ground antenna but there are some additional precautions which should be made when using these setups. In most setups the High Gain UHF Antennas offer better performance than the Side Antennas.
Setup
A side antenna set includes 2 tripods each with 2 antennas, 2 x 2m cables and 2 x 10m cables, they are intended to be setup with one tripod on each side of the detection area, connected to a single decoder.
High Gain UHF Antennas and cables are sold separately allowing for more flexible setups. The antenna includes the unique clamping device for securing the antenna to posts or tripods.
You must NOT connect antennas to multiple decoders when facing each other, this will result in extreme reduction of read rates as transponders cannot communicate with 2 different decoders simultaneously.
To achieve maximum detection rates then you should ensure that the detection range is minimized as much as possible, we advise a maximum 4m timing point width when using side antennas.
Detections
UHF RFID relies on clear line of sight between the antenna and transponder, for this reason when used at dense timing points detection rates may be reduced since there may be no clear line of sight from antennas to participants in the middle of a pack.
As the width of the UHF field is much wider with side antennas the accuracy of times will also be reduced, therefore side antennas are not suitable where precise timing is required such as finish lines.
With free space it can be possible to record detections at distances up to 20m; however, the side antennas are greatly influenced by the environment around them. Depending on the transponder, side antennas can read everywhere around the antenna (even behind them). Important is the gain of the antenna.
Recommended Uses
Side antennas / High Gain Antennas can used for the following applications:
- Mass participation cycling events using Helmet Tags, Seat Post Tags or Bike Plates
- Running event split at low density point
- Running event announcer point (This may produce additional data from other participants standing nearby)
Other Uses
Due to the design of side antennas on their tripod we do not advise using them in the following scenarios.
- Running event dense timing points such as Start / Finish lines
- Running events using Shoe Transponders
- Events using HuTags