K1IR Enterprises Announces RoboRef^TM

Groundbreaking new technology gives amateur radio contest sponsors unprecedented ability to detect rule violations in real time

Sudbury, MA May 23, 2008 [K1IR Enterprises] -- K1IR Enterprises announced today the immediate availability of RoboRef^TM, it's groundbreaking new automated adjudication system for sponsors of amateur radio competitions.

RoboRef^TM is a family of integrated, stand-alone systems that combine a variety of leading edge software and hardware technologies in an affordable, easily deployable package.

RoboRef^TM solves the problem contest sponsors have faced for more than 50 years - catching rule infractions without being able to "be there". RoboRef^TM changes that forever. Operating in an unattended mode, the new system hears and records all transmissions on all contest bands simultaneously. Advanced database analysis techniques allow RoboRef to identify many rule violations at the moment they occur, providing human judges with information that can be used immediately as the basis for warnings, reclassifications and disqualifications.

With RoboRef^TM technology deployed, contest sponsors can now, instantly and painlessly, detect the following rules infractions in real time: 

• Simultaneous transmissions by a single station on the same band
• Self-spotting
• "Outside the circle" violations where multiple dispersed stations are being used under the same callsign
• Band change violations
• Excessive transmitter power [gross violations]
• Pirate operations
• Frequency change violations [Sprints]

Upon receipt of electronically submitted logs, RoboRef reveals the following additional violations:

• Packet abuse by single-ops operating in the "Classic" subcategory
• Rubber clocking
• Unique call sign fabrication

These capabilities are made possible through K1IR Enterprises' unique and patented integration of software defined radio [SDR], data mining, statistical analysis, digital signal processing, active antenna, IP networking and computational processing technologies.

The RoboRef^TM SB package is perfect for a single-band event and includes the following components:

• Server with sufficient memory, storage and processing capability to capture and analyse a 48 hour, single band contesting event
• Single active antenna
• Single software defined radio [SDR]
• Single channel audio card
• Skimmer for callsign identification
• Integration with multiple packet cluster and master callsign database data sources
• Rules engine for all major contests
• Cabrillo compatibility for post-contest log analysis
• Contest sponsor user interface and violation alerting engine

Sponsors of all-band contests will want to look at the RoboRef^TM MB package, which adds the following:

• Upgraded server with increased memory, storage and processing capability to capture and analyse a 48 hour, six band contesting event
• Five additional software defined radios [SDR]
• Front-end active splitter to disrribute the antenna output to multiple SDRs
• Two additional sound cards for a total of six channels
• Upgrade to the software engine to process multi band violations

RoboRef^TM WW is designed for use in a worldwide networked environment. RoboRef^TM WW correlates on-the-air data captured from various points around the world, providing a variety of enhanced capabilities:

• Complete, propagation-normalized QSO capture for increased accuracy
• Additional direction finding [DF]-driven violation detection

RoboRef^TM customers can add a second active antenna to enable local direction finding capabilities to any of the RoboRef^TM packages.

"I don't see why contest sponsors are so worried about participants taking advantage of all these new technologies when its clear that the pendulum swings both ways," said Jim Idelson, CEO of K1IR Enterprises, commenting on the new product offering. "We are very thankful for the breadth and depth of capabilites provided by technologists like VE3NEA, W1VE, K1LT, the whole SDR community, and a host of other brilliant and creative people who support our philosophy that every mold is made to be broken."

Future product capabilities that will result from current activities in K1IR Enterprises' RoboRef^TM Advanced Development Labs include the RoboRef^TM ED and SS options. The ED capability [projected for availability in 2010, just prior to WRTC Moscow] is known internally as the Ego Destruction option. ED is designed to allow sponsors to offer an added-value informational service to contest participants. With their UBN or LCR report, participants subscribed to the ED service will also receive a list of all the callsigns they missed while running pileups throughout the contest. The system will calculate what the participant's QSO rate couldawouldashoulda been at every point in the competition. Additionally, the ED Multiplier Report will provide a list of new, unworked multiplier stations that were calling CQ on the same band the participant was on at the time. Calculated impact of these lost multipliers will be provided in the report. RoboRef^TM SS is a global signal strength report, which maps the subscriber's average and peak signal strength numbers on a world map. Subscribers will be able to request a competitive signal strength map which highlights differential signal strengths versus selected competitors.

Contact the company for additional information and RoboRef^TM pricing.

About K1IR Enterprises

K1IR Enterprises specializes in changing the game in amateur radio contesting through the application of new, disruptive technologies. The company advocates the use of new technology wherever it can enhance scores and provide increased levels of satisfaction for the technically oriented individuals who typically pursue this avocation.

Contact:

Jim Idelson, CEO
K1IR Enterprises
http://www.k1ir.com

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