New York City in early November ushered in a grand sports feast - the New York City Marathon, more than 50,000 participants from 148 countries around the world. In this great race, in addition to the passion and perseverance of the participants, there is a high-tech technology has become the focus of attention - RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tracking technology!
RFID technology has brought unprecedented convenience and precision to this marathon. A tiny RFID chip is embedded in each participant's bib, and this tiny technological device takes on the important task of recording the participant's race time, track and other key information. When a participant passes a specific point on the course, the RFID system quickly captures this information and transmits it in real time to the race's data centre. The marathon route covered all five districts with checkpoints every 3.1 miles. Checkpoints occur more frequently near the end of the race. There are a total of 30 timing points and 64 timing controllers along the entire route. Approximately 50 race staff members are dedicated to tracking.
The strength of RFID technology lies in its efficiency and accuracy. According to Impinj and ChronoTrack (the company responsible for tracking this week's marathon), the system can identify 1,000 items per second with an accuracy rate of over 99 per cent. This means that the RFID system captures race data accurately, regardless of the speed of the participants.
