ejs

The amazing device, which is called Electronic Judging System, is hiddenes under the mysterious abbreviation EJS. It is almost unthinkable to organize a regular Flyball tournament without EJS now, and we are very pleased that we are in possession of this device since autumn 2004, thanks to Zbynek Chalupnicek and Michal Jelinek, who had constructed it for us by their own hands.

The most visible part of EJS, so-called semaphores, consist of three columns with lights:

	1/ the middle column, which is common for both teams. As soon as the run is started, the upper red light starts shining, followed by the upper yellow light (after one second). Then the lower yellow and finally the green light lights up. The first dog cannot cut through starting/finishing line sooner than the green light shines, or else an error – a premature start - is signalized. 2/ lateral error lights which signal all dogs errors. The upper white light lights up automatically in the case of a premature start or incorrect change of two dogs on the starting/finishing line. At the same time, such error is signalized by an acoustic signal. The coloured belong to the individual dogs: the red one to the first dog in sequence, the blue, yellow and green lights to the second, third and fourth dogs, respectively. If a dog makes an error (drops the ball, doesn’t jump over all hurdles, etc.), the Line judge switches on the respective light and lets it on until the dog runs out again, in order to correct the error.

Another - and possibly the most significant - part of EJS are gates with optical sensors, situated on the starting/finishing line and monitoring the dogs, i.e, whether their starts and changes conform to the rules. The chage of dogs in the top teams on the starting/finishing line is so narrow that the human eye cannot see an incorrect change. And exactly this is where the EJS helps the most.

Dogs usually learn very quickly to run between the gates (the gap is ca. 1,5 m) and after two or three attempts they have no problems with it.

The microcomputer situated at the bottom of the lights, analyzes afterwards the signals from the gates, measures time and turns on the lights. Each Line judge has his/her own control panel (small box). On the panel there are buttons to activate the starting lights, switches to control error lights on the respective track and a display. On the display, the half times of the individual dogs can be seen, as well as the total time of the team (after the run was finished). During the competition, all data can be transferred into a personal computer, saved on its hard disk and graphically reproduced after the each finished run. Also, times of the individual dogs and their may be analyzed there. These data are exportable to Microsoft Excel for a further processing.

Directions for Line judges on controlling EJS

After the activation of the power supply, the Power indicator (at the right top) lights up and stays on during the competition. The time indicator (displayed at the upper half of panel) is turned off. It is necessary to turn all switches of the error lights over, so that the corresponding lights on the semaphore get switched off.

Controlling:

Line judge shoul test whitr fault lights on semaphore before he show's he's reday to main judge. When the white light is switched on the gate is not setup correctly.

As soon as the Head judge starts the run, it is necessary to push the Start button. On the control panel, the Run indicator switches on and the red light lights up on the semaphore, followed by the first and second yellow light and finally the green light. When a dog runs into the track, a time difference between the lighting up of the green light and time of the dog’s start (a start reserve) is displayed on the Time indicator. If a dog runs prematurely into the track, a minus figure is displayed. Simultaneously,the white light on the back side of the semaphore starts shining and the acoustic signal sounds.

The dog grips the ball, jumps over all hurdles and runs out through the gates. The total time of his run is displayed on the Time indicator. Similarly, with the start of the second and third dogs, the overall running times of each of them are displayed on the Time indicator, namely, from the moment when the preceding dog has run out of the track till the moment when the next one has left it (i.e., including the pass time).

If a dog runs prematurely into the track, the white light on a side of the semaphore lights up and an acoustic signal sounds.

In case a dog makes an error (drops the ball, runs around the hurdle etc.), the Line judge signalizes it by turning over the switch (lever) of the dog’s error light. The red light belongs to the first dog, the green light belongs to the last dog in team. The dog which made an error has to run again, at the end of the tema’s run; it is necessary to turn the error light off so that it was possible to signalize the dog’s next error.

When there is two and more second pass interval between outrunning dog and dog, which is running in, the EJS will indicate fault. But this is not real fault and judge may not signalize fault.

At the soonest at the moment when the last dog has left the track and at the latest after the Head judge has finished the competition, is it necessary to push the Stop button. Measuring of time on the corresponding track is thus finished and the total time of the team is displayed on the Time indicator (after two seconds). Run indicator stops shining. Measuring of time is finished separately for each track – it is necessary to push the Stop button on each control panel. This applies also to the case of a team not finishing their run (e.g., the dog which made an error doesn’t correct its run, etc.). If the last dog leaves the track outside the gate sensors, the measured time is empty - only three dogs times were measured.

After last heat it's necessary to switch off fault lights to eliminate discharging of battery and semaphore damaging by overheat.

The Reset button is used to revert the EJS into its initial state (e.g. after the first bad start), as well as for resetting all times (on both tracks).