There’s plenty of obscure sports in the world. Many of them could benefit from bespoke equipment like scoring displays, but are too obscure to support commercial efforts in this regard. Radio controlled glider competitions fit into just this category. This led a man named [Mickey] to develop what he calls Mickey’s Big Timer, to aid in the running of such events.
Glider events run outdoors in full sunlight, so the system uses big bright LED matrix displays to show its timing information. The system, built around the STM32 Discovery platform, uses several of the microcontroller boards to drive several displays as well as the main controller which handles timing. It also packs in an audio system for issuing instructions to competitors. It can also display pilot names as well as instructions such as when competitors should land at the end of a heat.
Some code is available on Github for those interested in how it all works. Word around the RC forums has it that [Mickey] built several systems, some of which ended up as far afield as New Zealand where they helped run many successful glider contests over the years.
We’ve seen plenty of scoreboard projects over the years; a little portable one could be useful for adding some spice to your pickup neighbourhood games. Video after the break.
[Thanks to quploid for the tip!]
Wow ! This is a fantastic build !
I’ve build a system for glider contests many years ago. We got our hands on 25cm large “flip” signs, pretty noisy, but readable at all times, no matter the lighting conditions. No idea where we salvaged the signs from, but if you need to build something like this, I highly recommend keeping your eyes open for flipdot displays and alike, they are amazing for outdoor full sunlight conditions.