Sunday, September 16, 2007
Missile technology to track football
Euro 2008 sponsor Castrol, is piloting a cutting edge tracking system, developed by UEFA, to analyse live football action in real time.
The technology, originally used in the aerospace and defence industry and developed to track missile targets, has now been adopted for pitches in Austria and Switzerland at next summer's showpiece tournament.
The Castrol Performance Index will use the data to produce a definitive index of performance that will help fans get under the skin of the game by providing detailed analysis of player and team performance.
In simple terms, two sets of eight cameras are set up three or four hours before the game. They are calibrated to cross each other so that any movement, through image processing, can be picked up on every inch of the pitch. Each individual player is given a code which the cameras can recognise instantly.
Alexandre Fourtoy, UEFA Media Technologies Chief Executive said: "In the old days you had the squeaky pen from the studio analyst, now, within a couple of seconds fans can have access to clear graphics and statistics, letting them make their own mind up on how the game is unravelling."
The technology, originally used in the aerospace and defence industry and developed to track missile targets, has now been adopted for pitches in Austria and Switzerland at next summer's showpiece tournament.
The Castrol Performance Index will use the data to produce a definitive index of performance that will help fans get under the skin of the game by providing detailed analysis of player and team performance.
In simple terms, two sets of eight cameras are set up three or four hours before the game. They are calibrated to cross each other so that any movement, through image processing, can be picked up on every inch of the pitch. Each individual player is given a code which the cameras can recognise instantly.
Alexandre Fourtoy, UEFA Media Technologies Chief Executive said: "In the old days you had the squeaky pen from the studio analyst, now, within a couple of seconds fans can have access to clear graphics and statistics, letting them make their own mind up on how the game is unravelling."
