Cairos system to track soccer balls and players

June, One of a number of technologies set to revolutionise how sport is viewed, prepared for and played, is the German Cairos system which involves putting miniature transmitters in the soccer ball and in each shin-pad of every player and umpire on the pitch, with a view to tracking every movement on the field of battle. Trials are underway in an attempt to persuade FIFA to adopt the Cairos system in the 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany.

This real-time data acquisition and publication system is enabled by sensitive antennae which pick up the signals of the transmitters and relay their position to a central computer. The aim of the system is to provide real-time data for coaches, media and spectators.

The system will enable the players and ball to be tracked within millimetres 200 times a second, and offers a wealth of information relating to every step a player takes. The logical extension of this technology is for the central chip on each player to capture data on the position of arms and legs, and it will ultimately be possible to map an entire game in three dimensions.

In this scenario, which has been the subject of much development on all continents for a decade, each player’s physical attributes would be developed into a three dimensional model with their playing number, hair colour, size and any other distinguishing features and those models would be “controlled” by the real-time information coming from the sensors.

In this manner, a game could be completely captured and played back in three dimensions and three dimensional walk-throughs might be available immediately on all continents as an adjunct to the television coverage or as another channel for digital television.

Camera flights through 3D animated match scenes, right up to the entire game, are available within a few seconds for the spectator.

This would enable a coach and player to walk together within a replayed game. The system will also assist umpiring, and offer coaches the ability to track the position of every player relative to the ball and the opposition, and to supply a range of previously unavailable information in the creation of interesting graphics for television coverage.

Cairos plans to make all the statistical information about a game available online in a central databank with feeds available via the Internet, on mobile terminals (UMTS) and for digital television.

If this system is adopted it will certainly lead to a far more detailed understanding of the game of soccer and any other field sport which uses its technology to unravel an incredibly complex and sophisticated team game.

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