HOW TO SETUP WEBSCORER PRO FOR RFID CHIP TIMING

Webscorer PRO supports RFID readers from the following vendors:

Alien Technology - 
http://www.alientechnology.com
ACS - https://www.acs.com.hk
Chainway - 
https://www.chainway.net
Emit -
https://emit.no
Feibot - https://www.feibot.com
Impinj - 
http://www.impinj.com 
Invelion - http://www.invelion.net/
Motorola / Zebra - http://www.zebra.com 
Nordic ID - https://www.nordicid.com
MyLaps - https://www.mylaps.com
RaceResult
https://www.raceresult.com
RFID Timing Systems - https://rfidtiming.com
ThingMagic - 
http://www.thingmagic.com
Thinkifyhttps://thinkifyit.com

If you have a reader that's not listed above, you’ll want to check from the manufacturer’s specs that the specific model includes support for the LLRP (Low-Level Reader Protocol) which is how Webscorer PRO communicates with the RFID reader.  The LLRP protocol was invented in 2008, and adopted by the leading RFID vendors in the years following, so older RFID reader models may need a firmware upgrade to support it.  The support for Emit, Feibot, MyLaps, RaceResult and RFID Timing Systems readers is implemented with their respective (proprietary) protocols. 

The active chip timing systems (wire loop antenna & chips with a battery) supported are Emit, Feibot, MyLaps and RaceResult. 

All readers will multiplex power to its antennas (if more than one antenna is used) such that only one antenna is active at any given time.  Based on our latest testing, we would recommend the Impinj readers (R220 and R420) with multiple antennas.  The Impij readers use a dynamic algorithm to cycle power quickly enough for a race timing applications.  Motorola / Zebra FX7500 and FX9600 support software-set antenna switching which is set at 0.1 seconds per antenna.  The other readers have a slow fixed length antenna cycling interval of 0.3-0.4 seconds which is too slow to reliably capture moving chips.  They'll work fine with a single antenna which is the optimal setup for timing as that ensures the antenna is powered 100% of the time.  You can use multiple readers - Webscorer PRO allows the addition of multiple reader IP addresses to the chip timing setup, no upper limit.

The setup is identical for all manufacturers, provided that the RFID reader is set to obtain its IP address automatically (using DHCP) from the WiFi router - which is the default settings for all new RFID readers. 

COMPONENTS NEEDED

You will need the following components to setup the Webscorer app for RFID chip-timing:

- Any Android, iOS, Mac or Windows device capable of running the latest version of Webscorer PRO
- An RFID reader
- At least one RFID antenna
- RFID chips
- A WiFi router providing a local WiFi hotspot
- An Ethernet cable (or two - see below)

You can use an AC power supply which converts AC power to the reader's own voltage which is typically 24V DC.  Or you can use a battery to skip the AC-to-DC conversion.  Note that most new RFID readers support power-over-ethernet - which is a convenient way to provide power to the RFID reader over longer distances:

- You’d purchase an adapter such as this: 
   http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DWL-P200-Power-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B0002MH3HO 
- Connect the power-over-ethernet adapter to an AC power source using its power adapter
- Connect the RFID reader to the POE port of the power-over-ethernet adapter via an Ethernet cable
- Connect the WiFi router to the LAN port of the power-over-ethernet adapter via another Ethernet cable

LIVE RESULTS

If you want to provide LIVE results, you'll need a WiFi router model that provides the internet uplink.  The mobile device you'll use for Webscorer PRO chip-timing can only be connected to one network at a time (it is not an IP router) so when the WiFi connection is used to communicate with the RFID reader, the cellular data connection is off - unless you turn on the WiFi hotspot feature and purchase a WiFi router model such as https://cradlepoint.com/products/mbr95 that can use a WiFi hotspot as its own internet uplink.

An alternative is to run Webscorer PRO on a Mac or Windows, and use a direct Ethernet connection from the laptop to the Impinj or Motorola / Zebra reader - or via an Ethernet-to-Ethernet router - which will then free up the computer's own WiFi connection to be used for internet access and LIVE results.

HARDWARE SETUP

1. Power on your WiFi router
   - Most new WiFi routers work out of the box without any additional setup steps
   - The WiFi hotspot is typically available without a password, but you should add one

2. Create a WiFi connection from your mobile device to the WiFi router
   - Check via the device’s settings that the WiFi connection is active
   - Note that your device can connect to only one network at a time, i.e. WiFi or cellular
   - For simultaneous internet connectivity (e.g. for LIVE results), the WiFi router must provide the internet uplink

3. Power on your RFID reader
  - Using its own power adapter, or
  - Using the power-over-ethernet capability described above

4. Connect the RFID reader to the WiFi router via an Ethernet cable
  - Make sure to use one of the numbered ports
  - I.e. do not connect the WiFi router to the port labeled “Internet"

WEBSCORER APP VERSION

Make sure you’re running the latest app version (presently v5.5)
If you don't have a PRO suscription, activate the free PRO Trial on the app
- The PRO Trial supports all features, including chip timing
- There is no expiration date for the PRO Trial
- The only limitation is that start lists are limited to max 5 racers
If you’re an existing PRO subscriber:
- Create a new Webscorer account
- Sign in with the new account to the app & activate the PRO Trial

WEBSCORER PRO SETUP

To turn the RFID feature on, set “Chip timing = On” in the “Hardware Setup” panel and select the type of RFID reader you have:

 



Chip ID = Bib

Turn this setting to “On” if your chips are programmed to match the bib number
This makes the start list setup easy as you don’t need to configure chip IDs for each racer
Example: chip ID 000000000000000000000022 will be interpreted as bib 22

Chip IDs per racer

- Leave this setting as 1 when
   - Each racer will have just one chip, or
   - Each racer has 2 or more chips programmed to the same chip ID
- Change this setting to 2 when
  - Each racer will carry two RFID chips with unique chip IDs

Use partial chip ID

Turn this setting “On” when
- Your chips are programmed such that only the last x characters are unique, or
- You don’t want to enter the whole 24-character chip ID for each racer on your start list
- Example:
  - You set to match the last 5 characters of the chip ID
  - The full 24-character chip ID is of form 300833B2DDD9014000004578
  - You'd enter 04578 as the "Chip ID" for the racer
Turn this setting "Off" when
- You’ll be configuring each racer’s “Chip ID” field with the the full 24-character ID

Chip timing system

- Select "Chip timing system = RFID-LLRP"
- The app also supports NFC chip timing where the iOS or Android phone acts as the reader

Reader IP address

- The easiest way to get the reader’s IP address correct is by using the “Scan for reader” feature
- You can also enter the IP addresses by typing them into the app, if you don’t want to use the “Scan for reader” function
- Once your reader is connected to the WiFi router, you can find its IP address automatically
- Tap the “Scan for reader” button, and then tap the “Scan” button
- The app will step through all local IP addresses of the WiFi router until it finds the RFID reader
- The LLRP protocol uses a known port number, and that’s what the app is looking for

Example:
- The WiFi router’s base address is 192.168.1.1
- The scan would start at 192.168.1.1 and continue until 192.168.1.254  
- If the RFID reader’s IP address is e.g. 192.168.1.6, the scan will find it quickly
- However, if the RFID reader’s IP address is e.g. 192.168.1.200, it may take 2 minutes until the reader is found

If the scan does not find the RFID reader, check the following:
 1. Check that your RFID reader model / firmware supports the LLRP protocol
 2. Check that the RFID reader is connected to one of the local ports on the WiFi router
 3. Check that the RFID reader is configured to get its own IP address from the WiFI router via DHCP
    - You can use a fixed IP address for the RFID reader provided the address is within WiFi router’s address range
 4. Check that the RFID reader does not have resident software loaded that may have disabled the LLRP support

Multiple RFID readers

You can attach multiple RFID readers to the same Webscorer PRO app
An example is a triathlon where you may want to have a separate RFID reader for each exchange
You’d first attach all RFID readers to the same WiFi router
And then tap the “Scan” button to find the first, and again tap the “Scan” button to find the next
There is no upper limit on the number of simultaneously connected RFID readers

Do not detect any chips after start for

This setting is to avoid incorrect chip detects in 2 situations:

(a) Your racers may go through the finish area after the start
    - You don’t want anyone’s chip detected until a minimum time to complete the race course has passed
     - E.g. in a 5k race, you’d set the timeout to 5 minutes (or less)
(b) If you're recording chip start (see below)
     - You'd use this timeout to set the time period during which chips are detected for start time
     - E.g. in a 5k race, you'd set the timeout to 5 minutes
     - Before 5 minutes, any chip detects are considered as start times
     - After 5 minutes, any chip detects are considered as finish times

Do not redetect same chip after lap for

This timeout can be specified in a race with laps to prevent inadvertent chip detects:

 - A racer may stop near the antenna after completing a lap
 - You don’t want this racer to get another (quick) lap time
 - You’d set the timeout to a value that’s expected to be the quickest possible lap time (or less)
 - In a typical lap race, you'd set both timeouts to less than the time to complete a single lap

Note that when testing before the race, you’ll want to set the value to a short period, e.g. 10 seconds
If you set the timeout to 5 minutes, the app will ignore all chip detects until the race clock says 00:05:00

Test connection

To double-check that the connection is setup correctly, tap the “Test connection” toolbar button
If you setup multiple RFID readers, the “Test connection” function will go through each reader
The "Test connection" toolbar icon is also available on the "Race Start" panel

Chip start

You can record each racer their own chip start time by using the "Chip start" option.

In the attached example, the system will work as follows:

1. You’d start the race by tapping the “Start race” button on the “Race Start” panel of the app
2. Racers whose chip is detected within the first 5 minutes will get chip start time
3. Racers whose chip is not detected within the first 5 minutes will get app start time
4. Racers whose chip is detected after 5 minutes will be recorded as finished
5. The results will show both the gun time and chip time:
   - Post the results to Webscorer.com
   - Navigate to the results page
   - Click on the dropdown on the column header that says “Finish time” and select “Chip time”
6. Example results with chip times: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=1493

The chip start works also in wave starts - the "Do not detect any chips after start" timeout is calculated separately for each wave:

1. Let's assume the timeout is set to 5 minutes
2. Say first wave starts at 00:00 and the second wave starts at 10:00
3. Anyone in the first wave will get a chip start time if the chip is detected before 05:00
4. Anyone in the second wave will get a chip start time is the chip is detected from 10:00 to 15:00