MotoTally UHF RFID Scoring Lane Re Users Manual HF RFID

MotoTally UHF RFID Scoring Lane Reader
Users Manual
MotoTally Scoring Lane Reader
Inside the case…
Power injection module and cables
Introduction
The MotoTally UHF RFID Scoring Lane Reader can be used in the scoring lane (finish line) of hare scramble type events
(lap races) to automatically record the passing of racers with a corresponding UHF transponder. RFID stands for Radio
Frequency Identification. When the reader is on and in read mode, it sends out RF energy in front of the integrated
antenna. The transponder has no battery (is passive), but it has very small power requirements. The RF being emitted
from the reader is just enough to “power up” the circuit on the transponder so that the reader can determine the ID of
the transponder.
The transponders you are going to be using have a permanent 24 character hexadecimal value stored on the
transponder. When you enter a racer in an event and associate the transponder with that rider, MotoTally reads the ID
that is on their transponder and stores that in the database. When the racer comes through your scoring lane, the
reader will read the ID off the transponder. MotoTally will then receive the ID from the reader and look up that ID in the
database to determine which rider is going through the scoring lane.
The reader has an integrated antenna which radiates RF energy in the 900mHz (UHF or ultra high frequency) range out
from the front of the reader (the front of the reader and case is the side with the MotoTally sticker). The radiation
pattern is roughly a half sphere, meaning that the best read range and read rate will be in a “dome” shape projecting
from the antenna. In other words, it will read transponders in the front of the antenna, and to a lesser extent, the side
of the antenna, but not necessarily behind it. Read range can be as high as 25’, but in the orientation and conditions you
will be using it in, approximately 10-15’ is about what you can expect out of it.
Communications and Power
All communications and power to the reader are supplied by a single Cat-5 Ethernet cable. This reader is powered by a
concept called “Power Over Ethernet” or POE for short. Normally, Cat-5 cables don’t have power supplied on them. A
Cat-5 cable has 8 individual wires in it. Only 4 of them are used for communications. The other 4 can be used to supply
power to an Ethernet device, hence the term “Power Over Ethernet”.
Included with the reader is a “Power Injection Module”. What this does is take a normal Cat-5 cable with no power on
it, and puts out a cable that passes on the communications directly while also putting power on the other 4 wires for the
RFID reader.
This RFID reader actually has a small computer on board that runs the embedded Linux operating system. Because of
this, the reader actually has to “boot up” when you give it power or turn it on, just like a regular computer. This boot
process usually takes about 45-60 seconds. During the boot up process, the reader will attempt to acquire an IP address
from the router so that it can communicate with other devices on the network (specifically and most importantly, the
computer that you are running MotoTally on!). What this means is that MotoTally can’t communicate with the reader
until the boot process is complete AND the reader has acquired an IP address. The reader is configured to automatically
attempt to obtain an IP address via DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). This is where the network router
comes in to play. Most all routers are configured out of the box with DHCP on, meaning the router can hand out an IP
address if a connected device requests it. What all of this means is that you must have the RFID reader and your
computer connected to a network router (with DHCP enabled).
Note that it is possible to manually configure an IP address for the reader. The only reason you would need or want to do this is if you are going to
be running more than one reader on the same subnet (e.g. You are using a separate reader for tech inspection). Manual configuration of the
reader is an advanced topic and will not be covered in this document.
Hooking up the Scoring Lane Reader
Armed with the information you have already learned, hooking up the RFID reader is a pretty simple operation. The
reader ships with the power injection module, power cable, and two Cat-5 Ethernet cables. The short yellow cable is
used to connect the power injection module to an available port on your network router. Note that you must use one of
the numbered ports, not the ‘WAN’ port, on the network router. Plug the other end of the cable in to the “J2 Data” port
on the power injection module. The long tan cable is for connecting the reader to the power injection module. The end
with the ruggedized plug is used on the reader (push in till it clicks, might require a little force) and the other end goes
into the “J1 Data & Pwr” port on power injection module. Remember, your network router is what hands out the IP
address to your reader when it boots up, so you must have the router powered on before you power up the scoring lane
reader.
LED Status Indicator Behaviors
There are four LED status indicator lights on the front of the reader. If you are having problems with your reader, these
might offer a clue as to why. Please note that the LED light tends to bleed through and you may see light coming from
one of the other indicators, making it look like others are lit up when they really aren’t.
Power off, no power being supplied to
reader
After power up and in the boot
process. Takes about 45-60 seconds.
Once the boot process is complete, all
four LEDs will flash in sequence a
couple of times, and then just the
power indicator is on. This means you
can now connect to the reader.
RF On indicator flashing means that
MotoTally has instructed the reader
to start reading tags. You should see
this when in tech inspection, or when
the race screen is open.
When both the RF On and the Read
indicators are flashing, it means there
is a transponder in the field that is
being read.
Fault indicator is red and means
something bad has happened. You
can try rebooting the reader to see if
it fixes itself.
Connecting to your Reader with MotoTally
Once the boot process is complete, you can configure and check your connection to the reader in MotoTally by going to
Settings -> Auto Config UHF (Alien) RFID Reader/Display.
Selecting this menu item will bring up the Auto Config screen.
You will need to have the “Use UHF Scoring Lane Reader” box checked, and also (if you have more than one network
interface card (NIC)) select the correct (wired) NIC. The IP will either be blank (never connected to a reader before) or
will have the last good IP address used to connect to the reader. In this case, the last time the reader was connected to
it was using an IP address of 10.1.1.155. Since we are using a router to dynamically assign an IP address each time the
reader boots, this address can change. You do not have to come to this screen to configure the reader every time you
use MotoTally, but it is handy to check and make sure that you can connect to the reader.
MotoTally doesn’t keep a connection to the reader open, so when you open this screen, the connection indicator will be
grey until you Auto Configure Ports. The reader sends out a “heartbeat” across the network that tells anyone listening
that it is available and ready to be connected to, along with its IP address. When you click on the “Auto Configure Ports”
button, MotoTally will first attempt to connect to the reader on the last known good IP address. If this fails, then it will
attempt to locate the reader (by listening for the heartbeat) and connect to it.
Once a heartbeat has been received, MotoTally will try connecting to the reader on the reported IP address.
If the connection to the reader was successful, then you should get a green status indicator.
In an emergency situation, you can use the scoring lane reader to associate transponders with riders in signup. This is a
pretty difficult thing to do because you can only have one transponder in the read field at a time when associating
transponders with a rider! But if the need arises, this option is available and can be enabled by checking the box. You
may have to put the reader behind you and facing away from you, and reach around behind you with a transponder to
make this work.
Finally, you should not have any of the LF/Texas Instruments RFID readers enabled, or the UHF stuff won’t work!
Transponders
The preferred transponder mounting location is on the underneath side of the helmet visor. These transponders will not
work if mounted on metal or other RF absorbing materials (e.g. carbon fiber/Kevlar helmets or your body). If the helmet
has a “chrome” layer of paint in it, the transponder won’t work in the helmet visor. Two possible alternate locations are
on the back side of the rider’s chest protector (spaced as far away from the body as possible) or on the back side of the
number plate. Since it is likely that either of these locations could get blasted with a power washer, it might be a good
idea to put a layer of duct tape over the transponder to help protect it.
It is very highly recommended that you mount the transponder on the helmet visor before you associate the
transponder with the rider in the signup line. First of all, this ensures that the transponder can in fact be read when
mounted on the material and in the location you have chosen. If you can’t get a read off the transponder with the
signup reader in the signup line, then you can fix the issue right then and there. Secondly, this ensures that the
transponder gets mounted in the location that you want it mounted in, and that the rider isn’t going to forget to mount
the transponder in his helmet before he gets out on the race course.
MotoTally will only read MotoTally transponders. There is other scoring software out there now that uses the same
type of readers and transponders. MotoTally will completely ignore those transponders, so you don’t need to worry
about messing up your scoring because of that. In other words, a rider having another transponder from another series
that does not use MotoTally will not affect your scoring at all and having a MotoTally transponder and another
software's transponder in the rider's helmet is OK. Also, these UHF readers will not read LF transponders (e.g. credit
card or cigar style) and are completely unaffected by them, even if you have one of each in the rider’s helmet.
Scoring Lane Tuning
Setting up the scoring lane is kind of an art form. If you’ve never done it before, it will probably take you at least a few
tries to get it “just right”. The scoring lane should be as narrow as possible to slow the racer down as much as possible
but still allow them to pass through without crashing or hitting something. I recommend using “T” posts (barbed wire
fence posts) with surveyors ribbon or course marking tape to delineate the scoring lane. Racers tend to respect a “T”
post more than they would cones or barrels and slow down a little more. A chicane in the scoring lane (have a turn
before and after) will also do a good job of getting racers slowed down sufficiently. You want your racers going through
in first gear, not necessarily for the need of the RFID, but so that your backup sheet folks have time to read and write
their numbers!
You will find in practice that you will want your RFID reader to be about 20-25 feet in front of your Rider Race Display. If
you are mounting the RFID reader with “U” bolts on the recommended PVC scoring gate, then you can easily adjust the
angle of the RFID reader to get the read range you want. In general, you want the reader pointing somewhere between
straight down and straight out toward the rider’s back as they pass through the scoring lane. A good starting point is to
try about a 60-70 degree angle (if straight down is 0 and straight out is 90). If you point the reader toward the
approaching racer, you may be picking up the tag reads sooner than you would like (before they can even see the Rider
Race Display!) and you also have the chance of picking up two riders right on top of one another in the wrong order. So
it is a good idea to test and tweak your setup at each event. Of course, you can always adjust it once the racing starts if
it is picking up to early or too late.
Finally, you will want to keep other racers away from the scoring area while a race is in progress. Racers have a
tendency to come visit the scoring area if there is a problem with their score or placement. They will usually do this
immediately after they are done racing, and they usually won’t take their helmet off. Attempt to keep them out of the
scoring area the best you can. You will also generally want to keep the scoring area free from other vehicles or parking.
UHF tends to reflect off large metal surfaces (cars and trailers) and bounce around. You may pick up transponders in
places you never dreamed if things are parked just the right way.

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