A detailed explanation of the Algebraic modeling using SQL for a Race Timing System

Running-a-Race
I know I’ve given an overview of what I did to create the timing system but here is the kernel explanation of the algebra modeled in SQL that does the real heavy lifting in my system and probably most other timing systems as well.

A review of the problem firstly;
The data works on the principle of a chip passing a matt. As the chip passes the matt times are recorded in a timing box which will then be passed through to a database.

Problem is that the timing matt will give multiple readings every time a runner runs across the matt and he or she may be running across multiple times the results only need the first of those passes and not any of the other reads as they are duplicates of a single pass.

If we take a simple example.
Imagine a race with two runners Runner 1 and Runner 2.

Runner 1 and Runner 2 start at the same time 01:00:00 by both passing a matt

Runner 1 finishes across the matt first at 01:30:00
Runner 2 finishes second at 01:35:00

The timing box picks up all following times
ID RFIDtag Time
1 Runner1 01:00:00
2 Runner1 01:00:07
10 Runner2 01:00:00
11 Runner2 01:00:05
15 Runner1 01:30:00
16 Runner1 01:30:10
17 Runner2 01:35:00
18 Runner2 01:35:01
19 Runner2 01:35:02

The first step would be to sort these by the Runner

So that we get
MyTable (sorted first by RFIDtag then by time.
RFIDtag Time
Runner1 01:00:00
Runner1 01:00:07
Runner1 01:30:00
Runner1 01:30:10
Runner2 01:00:00
Runner2 01:00:05
Runner2 01:35:00
Runner2 01:35:01
Runner2 01:35:0

We then need to somehow programmatically or via a query identify times that are relevant against times that are not relevant. So how is this done? Well the trick here is to algebraically model this in SQL using alias tables. You compare the table above against itself and only select for those times where the runner is the same. Here we use a 20 second window or gate and ID field is added back into MyTable (ID field MUST be automatically incremented and unique ie a primary key)

SELECT T1.*
FROM MyTable T1
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT T2.*
 FROM MyTable T2
 WHERE T2.RFIDtag = T1.RFIDtag
 AND T2.ID   <  T1.ID
 AND T2.Time <= T1.Time
 AND T2.Time >= T1.Time - TimeSerial(0, 0, 20));

In my database application I create a variable for the 20 number which in this example equates to 20 seconds and I have made it easy to alter this period through a simple user interface. I call this period the GATE and it means that for a given race an appropriate gate can be set. In this way the application easily copes with lapped races.

A really beautiful and simple pattern which must be used very widely.

The devil is always in the detail – Setting constants to Russian cyrillics in VB

With programming the devil is always in the detail. Just out of curiosity I was thinking about the code that I have posted that randomises information in a database and I was thinking why don’t I try to randomise the names using the Cyrillic alphabet?

Totally unnecessary I know but what I did discover is that Visual Basic for applications does not support Russian Cyrillics in the coding window and therefore constants cannot be statically set to Russian Cyrillic values.

As ever people have figured out how to get around this omission.

Here’s some code from the net that may help… (haven’t tried it yet)

strString = ChrW(decimal value) & ChrW(decimal value) & ChrW(decimal value) & ChrW(decimal value) & ChrW(decimal value) etc.

http://unicode-table.com/en/

Search for the characters you want then hover over the symbol to see the decimal number.

It of course raises lots of questions- what alphabet do coders in Russia use as a general standard? – I’m sure other IDEs will support non western alphabets but I suspect many programming languages are Latin alphabet centric. Come to think of it that must present quite a challenge for any individuals with a language not based on the latin alphabet wanting to be programmers. Full respect I guess they first need to learn English to really get to grips with programming.

Security the double edged sword.

TribesandTechnology

I had a dream about wildlife parks and tribes this week and I realised in the morning that sometimes when we are all crowded around a computer we don’t all know as much about the systems in place that we should.

What’s the best way of remedying this? – giving everyone access to break down barriers or setting up security cordons and only allowing access to the privileged few?