FinishLynx Interface?

[Peak Performance Timing]

Does anyone know how or if it is possible to make this system interface with FinishLynx like so many other RFID systems do? There are many RFID systems that will interface with FinishLynx, but detailed setup instructions seem hard to find except for the IPICO system which FinishLynx has on their website.

[Todd Gould]

I am not sure I understand your question.  Do you want to connect a FinishLynx Camera to ART?  Or do you want to connect ART Hardware to the FinishLynx Software?  Or do you mean something entirely different?

[Peak Performance Timing]

I would like to connect the ART hardware (Software too?) to FinishLynx whatever it takes to pick up the chip reads for finishers in XC or splits in track. FinishLynx interfaces this way with MANY systems, but the one they promote is the IPICO system. 

[Alan Bingham]

I have lap-time option and I believe that is where it's setup at, I haven't tried it yet, if I was going to use it just for lap counting, I might simply use ART software and setup a TV screen to display to that athlete's their lap count and split time. ie separate setup.

In my lynx software I am running unseeded events, and simply assigning a time to the heat and lane, I collect an address label off the athlete and we enter the competitor number in the heat and lane after the athletes have ran, doing it this way I never know in my lynx software who the actual athlete is.

In our finals we preseed the events and only run 1 heat so that's easy and it would be nice to have the RFID system pick up the splits right into the lap-time mod in Lynx,

I also have ResultsTV so it would be nice to have that data sent to the announcer immediately so they can announce the leaders split time.

Lynx does not document their equipment very well, and much of it is figure it out, they don't even really tell you much about how to setup their system and networking it with other computers. For example, at one time we were capturing on one computer and judging on another (when we first started out) to speed up the meet, our camera capture operator's only job was to load the correct event, and make sure the camera was set to capture when the athletes finished and then to correctly save the event and load the next so that as soon as the athletes were cleared off the track the next heat could start, I started judging the event as tags were being collected and got to the point of being able to save the event and cut out the judging computer, in most cases I was finished before the last athlete had their tag collected and they were off the track, and I was able to save and load the next heat and be waiting before the new athletes took the track. - (200s are tight as they stack the heats on the track over there and the athletes have set their blocks in that 25 seconds).

I'm not yet set on using RFID for XC meets, as my Camera taking1000 frames per second can't be beat for breaking ties. it really is faster than the human eye. and with Indentilynx it is a solid system.

My ART and RFID system we got mainly for 5k/10ks and lap counting of our track meets and I think when I do that, I am going to put a shoe or hip chip on them by their lane assignment, and only use the ART system to count the laps, I'll still use the Lynx for the final time. (Note our junior college runs a 10k on the track (25 laps) I'd like to make sure that the lap counting is done automatically).

[Kenneth Peters]

We use a 2 camera FinishLynx timing system for our track team.  I have been asked by several coaches if we could FinishLynx RFID system with our ART hardware.  Our state runs a camera and RFID system at the state meet so coaches would love to see this.  Would be awesome since we went with ART because we could not afford the IPICO system and we have loved it.  If we could combine the systems that would be awesome!

[rtspt.usa]

Brian,

not sure if you want to mess with this but attached is a sample of data that will stream into FinishLynx using their generic interface.

i have it working where i export data from ART (hytek lif or a regular excel export) run a macro in excel and then push it in via a utility that i have.

Not ideal but it does work --spent about an hour on it last night..

as you can see the file is a simple comma delimited file. the spaces after the time are not needed..just the comma...

ideally it would stream directly from ART via tcp/ip. so we would need a user configurable ip address field (ip address of the FinishLynx computer) and a user configurable port field (port number that Lynx will listen on and ART will send on).

everything on the FinishLynx side is standard (LapTime) operational setup and operation that i can test and support for you if you decide to mess with this.

sean

[Peak Performance Timing]

Thanks so much rtspt.usa! I really hope Brian can make this happen!

[Peak Performance Timing]

Rtstp, what utility are you using and how exactly are you doing this?