Antenna specialist Novocomms has solved a longstanding challenge facing users of ultra-high band frequencies, developing a solution that allows players and balls to be tracked in real time.
This allows coaches to analyse the performance of athletes, managers to improve team performance, and viewers to enjoy an enhanced experience of the sport they are watching.
Design engineers at the Birmingham-based company were faced with the problem of building antennas that created a high rate of pulses, but with sharp ‘edges’ that could be measured – both within a broadband environment.
Much of the development work was based on the Fourier principle, which states that a complex waveform can be broken down into a series of sine and cosine waves. In practice, this required the development of aerials and antennas that could receive high radio wave signals, without corrupting the incoming data.
Colin Tucker, chairman of Novocomms, said: “In effect, we are trying to perfect a radar system that can deal with not one, but two moving objects at the same time – the player and the ball. We also need to generate a lot of power and gain in order to accurately position fast moving objects, such as rugby balls, cricket balls or footballs, in real time. Thanks to our team’s proprietary technology, unrivalled skills set, in-house test facility and sheer determination, we got there in the end.”
Being able to ensure this high level of position, navigating and timing (PNT) accuracy across a whole football or rugby pitch required a significant increase in the gain of the antenna.
However, in order to remain within strict legal boundaries, this meant that a delicate trade-off between signal quality, gain and power, while eliminating any signal distortion was vital.
This UK innovation is now being rolled out across the world of sport, improving performance and viewer enjoyment.
