Sistema de cronometraje digital automático para eventos deportivos de ciclismo de velocidad

Abstract

This work presents a solution for the automation of measurements of time for cycling competitions in the National Bicycles Velodrome and their traceability to the National Time and Frequency Standards of Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad. It was decided to use PC based systems due to the resources available in these. These resources include manipulation of timing devices and communications with external circuitry via parallel port. An external circuit was designed to control the sensors that detect the crossing of bicycles in several parts of the Velodrome track. This circuit also provides protection for the parallel port against short circuits and over voltages. The correction in precision of the PC based clock implemented was checked against time standards of the Metrology Laboratory. The programming allows this correction to be included in the calculations in order to have a minimal error in the reported results. The final prototype can handle improved timing precision compared with a normal PC and the different combinations of measurements according to different competitions.