When fencing in a tourament, it is often useful to use electronics to help the director and judges determine who hit who, when, and if the hit was a valid target.
There are three different weapons used: foil, épée, and sabre. All three have their own rules, targets, and even their own method of connecting to the control box.
In foil, the target area is the body: from below the mask, inside the sleeves, past the waistline, and above the legs. Foil proceeds with what is known as "right of way," which basically means that if one person begins an attack, the opponent must defend--if the opponent attacks instead, and both fencers hit a valid target, only the attack made by the fence with "right of way" scores.
To attach a foil fencer to a control box, two of the three wires is plugged into the weapon and the third is clipped to the lamé, an additional piece of clothing that is made of a metalic weave that covers only the target area.
In épée, anywhere on the body is a target and the first fencer to hit is given the point. In the event of a tie (both fencers hit each other within (insert time length), both fencers receive a point.
To attach an épée fencer to a control box, all three wires are plugged into the weapon (is one of them not connected/shorted to another?).
In sabre, the upper body is the target area: anywhere from the waist up, including the hands and mask. Sabre also has (make some link to describe right of way in a small window)"right of way."
To attach a sabre fencer to a control box, two of the three wires are connected to the weapon and the third is clipped to the (again, make some link to describe the lamé in a small window)lamé. Also, the fencer wears a gauntlet made of the same material as the lamé on the weapon hand to make sure that area properly registers a hit and a short lead connects the lamé to the mask, which is metal and has metalic weave to ensure hits register properly.