A System for Radio Tracking of Team Sports Players
Lukáš Kencl, Marcelo Pias, Stephen R. Pennock, Alan N Bramley, David George Kerwin, Peter R. Shepherd, Grant Trewartha · 2004
In this poster submission we present a high-level overview of a radio-based sensor system for tracking participants and equipment in ball games. We state the motivation for building such a system and describe the individual components in brief. We conclude by discussing the research challenges and the general applicability of the tracking system. MOTIVATION AND OBJECTIVES The state-of-the art sports tracking technology is largely based on severely limited video image processing. Inspired by advances in the field of real-time sensor data gathering, this proposal addresses the tracking issue by using radiobased sensors to deliver true real-time performance. The objectives of the system discussed are as follows: • to provide a system for real-time radio-based accurate tracking of the position of the ball or other equipment and of the players in team ball games; to extend the system to measure physiological signals such as heart rate, blood pressure and body orientation; • to communicate the tracked data securely and reliably in real-time to an interpreting component of the system; • to process the tracked data in real-time and determine the occurrence and order of pre-defined significant events (i.e., a particular action by a particular player); • to analyze and visualize the processed data, to instantaneously react to predefined events (e.g. signal an offside event to a referee) and to make the data available to further user applications; The possible applications include, among others: • improving refereeing decisions by delivering automated real-time game rules evaluation; • improving coaching decisions by supplying detailed realtime statistics about the games ’ participants; • improving the spectator experience by displaying detailed immediate game statistics and enabling the spectator to take the participants ’ perspective of the game; • improving media broadcasts on sports events by supplying real-time statistics and enabling immediate detailed analysis of the game’s events.