Your days of being a drunken referee abuser of the football kind may soon be over. Dr. Priya Narasimhan, professor of computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, is experimenting with GPS-embedded footballs to bring a new dimension of accuracy to officiating.
The footballs, which are embedded with a GPS chip and accelerometer through a slit cushioned with upholstery foam, currently are only accurate to about 30 feet and send tracking data once per second but eventually could be accurate to millimeters–and send tracking data four times per second. If this occurs, video play reviews, referee arguments, and player fights–especially over first downs–should be a thing of the past.
Players are also fitted with gloves that have 15 wireless touch sensors connected to a pod on the back of the arm. Information can then be collected regarding “real-time ball handling grips, detailed ball trajectories, and its speed and relative position on the field. This could also help teams determine which players are better at safely cradling the ball during a run.”
Just imagine the ramifications this data could have on visual analysis used by commentators on TV and the realism of football-focused video games.
(Image Credit: Eyeshotpictures)
