EJS (ELECTRONIC JUDGING SYSTEM)

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. 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 microcomputer situated at the bottom of the lights, analyzes afterwards the signals from the gates, measures time and turns on the lights.

Directions for Line judges on controlling EJS

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. 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.

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.

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).

Zbynek Chalupnicek - creator of the Czech EJS

Manual of EJS you can find HERE. EJS which was built for EFC 2008 will be for sale. More information at chalupnicek@jimaz.cz .