RFID data processing in a real-time monitoring system for marathon

• Main Authors: Suchart Joolrat, Kanda Runapongsa Saikaew, Mongkon Tengrungroj, Patcharaporn Jiranuwattanawong, Channarong Janpanich, Kittiphan Sornsakda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Khon Kaen University 2016-06-01
• Series: KKU Engineering Journal
• Subjects: Real-time monitoring; RFID; Information tracking; RFID for marathon
• Online Access: https://www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/kkuenj/article/view/38619/45456

In all marathon events, an organizer needs to determine the winners. However, this is a complicated process in a marathon event that has many participants and starting points with limited space. In such condition, runners cannot start running concurrently and thus the runners who cross the finish line first are not always the winners. To judge the top runners with accuracy and fairness, the organizer needs to acquire a net time in ranking participants. The net time, which is the difference between the time recorded at the finish line minus the time recorded at the start, can be calculated for each runner. Currently, the advances in RFID technology are widely used to record times and determine awarded runners in several marathon events. However, most RFID-based solutions in marathon events are commercially available and licensed on a yearly basis. The cost of a commercial product can be as high as 2,000,000 Baht. This article presents an implementation of RFID technology for a marathon organizer to determine the winners by recording times of the check in point, the start point, the checkpoint, and the finish point. Furthermore, the developed system also reports the results of the marathon series in real-time via a web application that can be viewed on any online electronic device. The proposed solution estimated cost is about 200,000 Baht and can reduce the processing time from one hour to just five minutes which is about one-tenth of that of a commercial product.