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, plus $500 per year for support and updates. Every system is quoted and invoiced individually against your meet's requirements — this page does not process payment or take orders online. 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 |
| Support and updates | $500 / year | Annual, quoted and invoiced |
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.
- 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 support. |
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.