Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS
Novel soccer information
Precise Real-Time Information
Three groups of users stand to benefit from new types of soccer-related information: coaches, broadcasters and, ultimately, television viewers. In-depth information about players and games will be at coaches’ fingertips; broadcasters will be able to better present soccer content; and viewers will find soccer broadcasts more enjoyable.
A system that delivers these benefits has been implemented in the WiTrack© project. For this purpose, the entire wireless infrastructure, comprising beacons, receivers and data processing units, was installed in Nuremberg’s Easy Credit Stadium. The system operates in the 2.4 GHz band and is able to calculate the position of every transmitter on or around the playing field up to 200 times per second. Accuracies of a few centimeters are possible. Up to 144 transmitters (for instance 132 transmitters worn by players, 6 beacons and 12 transmitters embedded in balls) provide a complete real-time overview of the game.
Developing this technology was a challenge: The transmitter needed to be small and light enough to be embedded in a ball. At the same time, it needed to be sufficiently robust to withstand high accelerations.
A system that delivers these benefits has been implemented in the WiTrack© project. For this purpose, the entire wireless infrastructure, comprising beacons, receivers and data processing units, was installed in Nuremberg’s Easy Credit Stadium. The system operates in the 2.4 GHz band and is able to calculate the position of every transmitter on or around the playing field up to 200 times per second. Accuracies of a few centimeters are possible. Up to 144 transmitters (for instance 132 transmitters worn by players, 6 beacons and 12 transmitters embedded in balls) provide a complete real-time overview of the game.
Developing this technology was a challenge: The transmitter needed to be small and light enough to be embedded in a ball. At the same time, it needed to be sufficiently robust to withstand high accelerations.