Perspective Development Labs · Automatic timing hardware
TrackPhase FAT: a GPS-disciplined automatic timing system for track and field
A macOS-native FinishLynx alternative for high school and club meets, architected around a GPS-PPS-disciplined shared timebase, multi-source start capture, and a hash-chained audit log behind every result. Available now for pilot deployments at Electronic tier.
Pricing
The TrackPhase FAT system is $2,500, quoted and invoiced individually against your meet's requirements — this page does not take hardware orders online. TrackPhase FAT Pro is a separate $500/year software license you can buy immediately below. Request a quote below and we will follow up with a written quote.
| Item | Price | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| TrackPhase FAT system | $2,500 | One-time, quoted and invoiced |
| TrackPhase FAT Pro (macOS license) | $500 / year | Annual subscription — buy online Buy FAT Pro — $500/year |
TrackPhase FAT Pro is a separate annual software license, not included in the $2,500 hardware price. The free build of TrackPhase FAT certifies at Open tier only; Pro raises the ceiling to Electronic, Photo Finish, and Championship tier when the matching hardware is on the meet network. Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later on an Apple silicon Mac. Full FAT Pro details, requirements and activation.
What's in the system
The $2,500 system ships at Electronic tier — the hardware floor for reference-grade timing accepted for personal-best logs, club records, and conference results.
- Operator station — any Mac running TrackPhase FAT. Electronic-tier certification needs a FAT Pro license (see Pricing).
- Pi5 hub on its own dedicated Wi-Fi access point (the FAT-Timing AP).
- Pico 2W start node with a microphone input and an electronic contact closure.
- Pico 2W wind node.
- Area-scan finish camera — a Pi HQ camera over CSI on a finish-line SBC, or any UVC USB camera on the Mac.
Technical credibility
Built around one problem: FinishLynx makes the operator the recovery mechanism when a start is missed. TrackPhase FAT is designed so the system carries that job instead.
- Start capture, architected for three sources — v1 fuses an electronic contact closure with an operator-armed press into one start event. A microphone input is designed in as the third source and lands as node firmware work catches up.
- GPS-PPS-disciplined shared timebase across every node, designed to a ±5.5 µs timing budget.
- Disputed Start — when the electronic-contact and operator-press signals disagree beyond tolerance, the hub raises a Disputed Start state instead of silently guessing, and surfaces each source's evidence to the operator. The same check is designed to extend to the microphone source once it lands.
- No dongle by design — licensing is planned as a signed certificate in the macOS Keychain rather than a USB key.
- macOS-native — a native Apple silicon app. No Windows box, no COM ports. Code-signing and notarization land ahead of general release.
- Hash-chained audit log (
fat_audit.jsonl) and a signed meet sign-off pack for every session.
Where this differs from FinishLynx
Sourced from FinishLynx's own FAQs, support pages, and pricing pages.
| FinishLynx, as documented | TrackPhase FAT |
|---|---|
| Windows-only. FinishLynx's own FAQ: "not compatible with Apple, iOS, Android, or Linux." | macOS-native app. Code-signing and notarization land ahead of general release. |
| USB-to-serial and COM-port issues documented in FinishLynx's own support pages. | No serial port by design — node discovery is architected on Bonjour/Wi-Fi, landing as the Pi5 hub ships. |
| Requires a Keylok USB hardware dongle, with a separate dongle for ResulTV and NetExchange. | No dongle by design — licensing is planned as a signed certificate in the macOS Keychain. |
| Cameras documented to drop off the network mid-meet, per recurring operator forum reports. | Pico nodes retry with PTP resync; dropouts are flagged in the operator UI instead of failing silently. |
| Missed-start recovery is manual: a one-shot RadioLynx resend, or a manual-start key press and a hand-timed image event. | Electronic-contact and operator-press signals are fused into one start event; disagreement raises a Disputed Start state instead of guessing. A third (microphone) source and an audio scrubber are on the roadmap (M3). |
| Public pricing tops out at listed packages ($5,375–$25,000); anything else is "contact us." | Price is published on this page: $2,500 per system, $500/year FAT Pro license. |
Roadmap
Further milestones are planned and not yet shipped. Nothing below is available today.
- Three-source start fusion + audio scrubber (M3) — folding the microphone in as a third start source, plus a rolling pre-trigger audio buffer so a questioned start is scrubbable from the waveform. Not yet shipped.
- Photo Finish (M4) — a GigE Vision line-scan finish camera and multi-camera composite. Not yet shipped.
- Championship (M5) — pressure-sensor starting blocks for SIS-compliant false-start detection. Not yet shipped.
Status
TrackPhase FAT is a validated prototype, available now for pilot deployments at Electronic tier. Three-source start fusion, Photo Finish, and Championship tier are on the roadmap and not yet shipped. No FAT, World Athletics, USATF, or NFHS certification is claimed at any tier — those conversations have not started.
Request a quote
Tell us about your meet and we will follow up with a written quote. Reply within two business days.