Track Timing Technology

Overview

I've been running track for a while, but I always have trouble timing myself while training. The problem with commercially available systems is that they tend to be very expensive, and meant more for races then training, so I decided to build my own system. As I was building my system, there were a couple design criteria that I wanted my project to meet. I wanted it to be easy to set up and move around, relatively cheap, and be able to not only find the time to cross the finish line, but also the amount of time to cross the start line once the countdown ended. As a sprinter, my start can mean the difference in a race, and it is something that I've been trying to improve on lately. I ended up building two modules. Each one uses a laser to see when the line is crossed and a LoRa radio to communicate with the other module. The start module uses and LCD to display the time results. It also has a button to start the countdown and a speaker to play the sounds for the countdown. While working on my project, I had to come up with a solution to the false positives from sunlight and the radio sending delay times. While most of my project was code, some of it was also physical.

Competition history

• CSEF 2026 Electronics & Electromagnetics (Junior Division) · Entry J-10-23

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