Stonehurst Regatta Race Timer Preliminary Design Review
Project 05511 November 12th, 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOC 1
List of Figures 3
List of Tables 3
1. PROJECT OVERVIEW 4
1.1 Introduction 4
1.2 Background 4
1.3 Current System 6
1.4 Problem Definition 6
1.5 Team Goals 7
2 NEEDS ASSESSMENT 7
2.1 Sponsor 7
2.2 Needs Assessment 7
2.2.1 Prototype 7
2.2.2 Addresses Problems 7
2.2.3 Budget 8
2.2.4 Ease of Use 8
2.2.5 Reliability 8
2.2.6 Survivability 8
2.2.7 Durability 9
2.2.8 Future upgrades 9
3 REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS 9
3.1 Design Objectives 9
4 CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT 10
4.1 Initial Design 10
4.2 Current Design 11
4.3 Features 11
4.3.1 Stopwatch 11
4.3.2 Real-Time Clock 12
4.3.3 PIC Microcontroller 12
4.3.4 Keypad 12
4.3.5 Confirmation of Results (LED’s) 13
5 FEASABILITY 14
5.1 Original Feasibility Assessment 14
5.2 Final Feasibility Assessment 15
6 ANALYSIS 20
6.1 Site Visit 20
6.2 User Interfaces 21
6.3 Hardware Modules 21
6.4 Temperature Effects on Components 21
6.5 Mechanical Material Selection 23
7 SYNTHESIS 23
7.1 Review 23
7.2 Visualization 24
8 PROJECT PLANNING 27
8.1 Planning 27
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 A crew on the water 4
Figure 1.2 The Race Site 5
Figure 1.3 Seiko S129 6
Figure 4.1 Bow Ball 10
Figure 4.2 Final Concept Sketch 13
Figure 6.1 Boats Crossing the Finish Line 20
Figure 6.2 Schematic of PIC in a similar use 22
Figure 7.1 Pro-Engineer model of housing 25
Figure 7.2 Pro-E model, side view 25
Figure 7.3 Basic Dimensions 26
Figure 8.1 Project Planning Timeline 28
LIST OF TABLES
Table 5.1 Preliminary Feasibility Study 16
Table 5.2 Final Feasibility Study 17
Table 5.3 Preliminary Cost Estimate & Bill of Materials 18
Table 5.4 Final Cost Estimate & Bill of Materials 19
1 PROJECT OVERVIEW
1.1 Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to present the design work conducted by Senior Design Team 05511 for a preliminary design review. The team was initiated during the fall quarter of the 2004-2005 academic year at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and consists of four members, all in their senior years at the Kate Gleason College of Engineering: Doug Carr (ME), Juan Gonzales (EE), Jeff Lisco (EE), and Bob Magnant (EE). The team has been given the challenge of designing a system for the Stonehurst Capital Invitational Regatta to improve upon the current method of recording, tracking and communicating the results of the race. The project’s sponsor is Mr. John Bowen, of Photon Gear Inc., and the project advisor and faculty mentor is Professor George Slack of RIT’s electrical engineering department.
1.2 Background
The Stonehurst Capital Invitational Regatta is a collegiate rowing race (see figure 1.1 for an example of a crew in action), held every year in the fall on the Genesee River in Rochester, New York. The race is actually comprised of two separate races called the head race and the sprint race. During the head race, which occurs in the morning, boats compete down a five-kilometer stretch of river starting approximately at the Jefferson St. Bridge near RIT and ending at the Genesee Waterways boathouse, in Genesee Valley Park near the University of Rochester campus (fig 1.2). This segment of the regatta is a “race the clock” type of event, where individual boats, in men and women’s divisions, are sent through the starting line in ten-second intervals, competing for the best overall time down the course. The results from the head race are compiled during the early-afternoon lunch break; and a list of boats, ordered according to the fastest times down the course, is made in preparation for the second half of the day.
The sprint race then occurs in the afternoon. Pairs of boats, beginning with the two slowest from each division and continuing on through the fastest, race each other down the course. This portion of the race course is comprised of two side-by-side lanes with a shorter overall course length of 1,500 meters, ending again in the Genesee Valley Park, near the UR campus. Although the teams are still technically “racing the clock” for the best time in this event, pairing the crews up against their closest time rival from the morning adds an extra element of competition to the event, and is a unique feature of the Stonehurst race. The boats enter the course at full speed, and are guided to and aligned with the starting line by a race official on a pace boat; the pairs enter the course at one minute intervals. The times for the morning and afternoon races are then combined to yield a total score for the race, which determines the winners. The formula for the final overall time is:
Figure 1.2 – The Race Site
1.3 Current System
The current system for recording start and stop times involves using Seiko S129 (fig 1.3) stopwatches which print individual “lap” times on a small receipt-like piece of paper. The order in which boats cross is recorded on a separate sheet of paper by a second individual writing down each boat’s number as it crosses the start or finish line. At the end of each division the results are communicated to the results booth using a cell phone. The stopwatch operator reads the times and boat numbers off of the hard copies over the phone to the person managing the final record in the results booth, who then enters the data by hand into a laptop computer program which sorts and orders the data in preparation for either the next race (in the case of the morning race) or the final results (for the afternoon race.)
1.4 Problem Definition
Using stop watches and cell phones, while it is an economical system, has unfortunately yielded some serious mistakes. In the past boat numbers and times have been very reliably recorded at the start and finish line with only one boat being missed in the entire history of the race – an estimated grand total of nearly 10,000 recorded times – however, these times have not always been effectively communicated to the results office. Unfortunately, manually double-checking the results by comparing the original hard copies to the transcribed data in the software is a time consuming process that usually cannot be completed until several hours after the awards have been handed out. There have been multiple occasions where discrepancies have been caught during post-race checking, resulting in medal recalls and re-assignments that are frustrating and disheartening for rowers and race officials alike. RIT Men’s Crew has had the unfortunate experience of having their medals taken away in this fashion.
1.5 Team Goals
Our team is results oriented. Our two primary goals are: to design a system that meets the needs of our customer by addressing and improving the problem, and to simultaneously satisfy the necessary requirements for completion of Senior Design class. If our design meets these goals, we hope to build and deliver a fully functional system that can be used as soon as next fall’s race.
2 NEEDS ASSESSMENT
2.1 Sponsor
The project sponsor, Mr. John Bowen, hails from Rochester, NY where his company Photon Gear Inc. specializes in optics design and engineering. He has volunteered with the regatta for many years, organizing and implementing the gathering and tracking of race results. Improvements have been made to the system every year based upon the previous years’ experience, such as the upgrade to stopwatches that print results in order to have a reliable hard copy for verifying results. John’s goal in this project is to continue the improvement of the system in the hopes of making the process easier while some of the sources of previous errors.
2.2 Needs Assessment
2.2.1 The system is a prototype:
In discussions with our project sponsor it was concluded that we will only be expected to create a working prototype, not necessarily a full system. Should we design a system that would need to be implemented onto each individual boat, such as a boat mounted identification tag or timing unit, it would not be necessary to make a complete set to outfit the 100 plus boats at the regatta.
2.2.2 The system addresses problems with data entry:
The major function of the prototype will be to remove the process of manual data entry (i.e. keying in results being read over the phone) from the current method. According to John Bowen, this step is the most subject to human error, and is where the most mistakes have occurred in the past.
2.2.3 Budget:
The budget for this project is $500, which places certain constraints on how far this project can go. For instance, it is not possible to make a system that would identify the boats and take the times automatically, without human involvement. Based upon this we decided that electronic data capture of results triggered by a human start or finish line judge should be the major focus of our project.
2.2.4 Ease of use:
Another major point that was emphasized is that the final product should be easy to use. The people that run the timers during the race are typically volunteers from the community who are trained at the race, and often have little or no technical background. Even the most experienced repeat timing personnel only use the timer once a year.
2.2.5 Reliability:
The design should take as much user error out of the picture as possible. The final design must be reliable, as this competition is a big event with several hundred teams competing and many thousands of people watching. Initially the new system will be used as a backup to the current stopwatch and cell phone system. If the system we design proves that is works reliably, then it will become the primary system with the cell phone system will be used as a backup.
2.2.6 Survivability:
The Stonehurst Regatta takes place in October on the Genesee River so weather is a serious concern in any design. We have set design goals in this regard to attempt to encompass all possible conditions. The design should be able to function properly in temperatures from -10 to 40 degrees Celsius or around 15 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It should also be able to withstand wind, rain, snow, bright sun, humidity or any other weather conditions common to Rochester, NY.
2.2.7 Durability:
The system should be durable. It will be carried around by hand and used outside so an impact from a drop or bump will not be uncommon.
2.2.8 Future upgrades:
It is distinct possibility that the regatta Committee many decide to continue this partnership with RIT based on the results of our project. Future systems may want to integrate into our system, making documentation very important. If a future senior design team takes on this project in the future, they should be able to easily understand what has been done and how it works.
3 REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS
3.1 Design Objectives
· Accuracy of final result must be within 1/10 second
· Failure rate must be less than 1 in 10,000 boats
· Must handle multiple boats in close proximity
· Must be able to encompass start and finish lines 100-ft in width
· Quick display of results desired but not required
· The operation must be simple
· Must be easy to set up
· Must operate in varied weather conditions
· Must have indicator feedback to ensure functionality
· Results must be confirmable
· Integration into the current stopwatch system is desirable
· A standard or familiar user interface is desirable
4 CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
The main priority in the design is to limit human interaction when dealing with the communication the race results.
4.1 Initial Design
The initial concept was an attempt to completely eliminate human interaction by implementing an automated method of identifying each boat and recording each boat’s time via RFID communication. Radio Frequency Identification technology is in fairly common use, and generally consists of a passive transponder which can be powered and activated by passing it through an electromagnetic field. Once activated the tag emits a unique radio signal that can be detected by a nearby antennae. Similar technology exists for tracking marathon results, and is also commonly used as an anti-theft tool in department stores.
The design called for securing one of these RFID tags to the tip of the bow of each individual boat by embedding it in a plastic device that would fit over the boat’s “bow ball.” (Figure 4.1) An emitter antenna would be either draped over the top of the start/finish line or underneath the water, and would trigger the tags as the boats crossed the line. A nearby receiver antenna would then detect the signal from the tag and activate a stopwatch device what would electronically store the time in a data buffer. Times would then transmitted automatically by a wireless method to the results office where they would be stored on a program on a laptop computer. Unfortunately our order of magnitude cost estimate for this design measured around $3000, due to high part volume and expensive antennae technology. Though one of our options was to build a simple prototype and not a fully functional system, the team’s personal goals were to build a system that will actually get used in upcoming events. Based on this reasoning, this design was deemed not feasible and thus a simpler design was needed.
4.2 Current Design
Given our cost constraints, the group determined that the most feasible plan for creating a reliable system would be to find a way to integrate into the current system in such a way that the results would be captured electronically. This means that our device will interact with the Seiko S129 stopwatches that are currently used to record results. The concept that we have developed around this groundwork is to build a centralized platform that would integrate the following devices and features together into a cohesive system.