Alien Technology Finishes First in Off-Road Championships Down Under

Alien Technology, an industry leader in UHF Gen 2 radio frequency identification (RFID) products and services, and KWIKSCORE Race Timing systems have been selected by South Australia’s motorcycle controlling body, Motorcycling South Australia (MSA), as the timing system of choice for the South Australian Off-Road Championship Series.

The system enables detection rates in excess of 99% by use of an accurate, reliable and cost effective, disposable passive RFID transponder (tag) solution. Not only are the tags substantially less expensive than traditional tag offerings, but because they are passive, batteries are not required. This eliminates recharging headaches, and best of all, there’s no need to collect the transponders after the event – again saving infrastructure cost.

Tagging motorbikes can be a challenging application, given the high speeds and variability in tag presentation as the motorbike passes through a read zone, but add to that the rigors of an off-road championship where the tags are further exposed to high vibration, dirt, mud, rain and even more variability on a dirt track. But no worries with Alien’s high sensitivity Higgs-3 based tag engine (IC) within the Squiggle tags and the ALR-9900 Enterprise category reader, where performance is exceptional with plenty of margin to spare. The performance from the Higgs-3 based tag was a key reason why Motorcycling South Australia’s sports manager, Gerry Jongebloed, selected it as the timing system of choice to take the series forward. Despite the harsh conditions, the Alien tags take a beating and keep on reading, and combined with the KWIKSCORE time keeping system, it’s as effortless as throwing another shrimp on the barbie.

“After years looking at all timing offerings, we found nothing to compete with the KWIKSCORE Race Timing System and Alien’s RFID product offerings,” Jongebloed said. “The passive RFID system offers all the advantages of a transponder at a fraction of the cost and without the recovery, or battery charging burdens. We have had a full year of use out of the system and it has proven to meet all our requirements, giving us low cost, instant results, accuracy and reliability – it’s a winner.”

“The series requires multiple timing points, sometimes several kilometers apart and often without mains power. It was designed to be mobile and deployable with highly reliable motorbike detection at race speeds, even amidst exposure to the outdoor elements,” explained KWIKSCORE developer Adam Hardin. “It has taken years of development in actual race conditions to optimize system parameters and produce an all-weather solution.”