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RELATED VIDEO Technology removes restrictions in fencers' movements Windows Media 28K 80K Wireless fencing: revolutionary technology for the sport Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

January 28, 1999
Web posted at: 6:07 p.m. EST (2307 GMT)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (CNN) -- The sport of fencing has changed little during the last six decades.

But wireless communication technology may soon help improve the way the sport is officiated, and three engineering students in Canada are on the forefront of this technological revolution.

A new system being developed by Matt Stewart, Tim Norman and Jack McKee -- all three in their fourth year at Simon Fraser University, outside Vancouver -- could constitute a major improvement over traditional scoring methods.

The old system involves a network of wires and reels that attach the fencers to a central control box.

Each fencer wears a body wire that plugs into his or her sword.

The threesome's new approach uses radio waves instead of wires and reels.

The central control box for the wireless scoring system

Miniature radio transmitters send signals to a central control box that keeps score, leaving the swordsmen unencumbered. ( 374 K/06 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

"All the components for this system are off-the-shelf," Norman says. "The only thing we have to do ... is program it."

So far, fencing officials are encouraged by the students' results.

The International Fencing Federation says it plans to hold a tournament this year to allow the students to demonstrate their system. And the federation hopes to feature wireless scoring at the 2000 Olympics.