UWB loaded into World Cup soccer

The World Cup is one of the hottest topics these days, especially after Argentina were disallowed three goals, and many people tore off their lottery tickets in a profanity.

SAOT (semi-automatic offside recognition) technology

The World Cup is using VAR (video assistant referee) and SAOT (semi-automatic offside detection) technology to help referees make decisions through multiple cameras.

However, in addition to cameras, there are a lot of high-tech, it is reported that the stadium has a real-time positioning system, which is based on UWB and IMU sensors as the core of the construction of the solution and Football App, can collect relevant data and send to the coach, the media.

As an iot practitioner, it is not difficult to capture several keywords from the above — real-time location system, UWB, solution, data. And the large number of sports related audience and attention, also can not help people smell business opportunities. Looking at the big picture, UWB+ football business is actually real-time positioning + sports.

Sports location systems have been in the spotlight since 2020, when they were analyzed in a 279-page report by consulting firm MARKETS AND MARKETS.

Real-time positioning + sports, the market size of 10.3 billion

MARKETS AND MARKETS said in its report that the market for real-time sports location systems will surge from $3.4 billion in 2020 to $10.3 billion in 2025, representing an average annual growth rate of 24.8 percent. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the market economy, the news is a shot in the arm for both the sports industry and the communication and positioning industry.

Today, technology continues to infiltrate sports and events, and while there is some talk that technology is destroying the purity of sports, overall the benefits of these tools outweigh the problems.

Looking at the professional field, the collection of sports goods (such as balls) and real-time positioning data of players has become a rigid demand, and the market segmentation has been mature enough. Current positioning technologies include common Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi and UWB. The scenarios are divided into training scenarios and competition scenarios. Similarly, there are many technology giants specializing in sports. In the international market, STATSports dominates Europe, North America and Asia, while Zebra Tech dominates the American market.

Looking at the amateur field, the main channel of the sports industry is its supporters (fans), which also gives birth to a large number of sports enthusiasts and amateurs. The two giants, along with Australia’s Catapult Sports, are already laying out sports equipment and data systems.

According to STATSports co-founder Michael O ‘Connor, the intrinsic driver of the amateur sports market is that amateurs want to measure their athletic ability by comparing themselves with the pros using big data, and people are no longer satisfied with simply running distance, pace, etc., but want to have the same comprehensive data comparison as the pros.

Real-time positioning can also focus on high-end business sports. As early as 2013, domestic companies have developed golf products with positioning chip implantation.

However, the amateur sports market has the highest commercial value compared to the three sectors.

On the other hand, by geography, the Asia Pacific region is expected to see the fastest growth in sports real-time location systems over the next five years. In its report, MARKETS AND MARKETS revealed that 43% of the market growth will come from the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China and Japan. In sports, fitness and marathon-led amateur sports in China, the growing popularity of connected wearable devices for professional athletes and amateur sports enthusiasts, as well as the growing demand for sports analysis platforms, will be the “locomotive” driving this emerging industry forward.

To sum up, sports real-time positioning system market potential is huge, especially in the domestic, there are many companies eyeing this track. At the same time, among many technologies, UWB has been put into use as a mature technology, and there are many successful cases in the recent Winter Olympic Games.

UWB positioning has long been applied to sports, not just football

At the beginning of this year when the Winter Olympic Games was held, the reporters of Wulian Media had visited several companies providing UWB solutions for the Winter Olympic Games, including Whole Trace Technology, Pinplatinum Technology, QQ.com, Huayun Space Time and other companies.

It is understood that UWB is mainly used in three scenarios in the Winter Olympics — athlete training, competition monitoring and epidemic prevention and control.

In the athlete training scene, data visualization training based on athletes has gradually emerged in recent years, especially in the regulation of athletes’ action details and action routes, seeking the optimal solution can effectively improve the performance of the competition. At the National Speed Skating Stadium, “Ice Ribbon,” a solution based on UWB technology is deployed to help national team athletes track their individual glide paths and synchronize the data to their coaches, making training more efficient.

In the game monitoring scenario, UWB plays a very important role in protecting the safety of athletes. Due to the “extreme” nature of sports events, accidents often occur in the field, such as the maximum speed of the Winter Olympic bobsleigh event more than 130 kilometers per hour, the terrible inertia will endanger the personal safety of athletes. But accidents cannot be avoided, and efforts must be made to remedy them. Pinfall Technology uses UWB technology to locate athletes in real time in “Snow Dragon”, which can rescue them in the first time when accidents happen.

In the epidemic prevention and control scenario, Zhang Qingrong, senior solution manager of QQ.com, told reporters that the Winter Olympics needs to carry out mandatory management for all the people entering the games, such as vehicle management outdoors and track tracking based on UWB indoors. The main way of implementation is to track the trajectory of all people. When the positive person of nucleic acid appears, it can quickly locate the “secret contact” person.

These are some recent cases, and according to related media reports, the application of UWB combined with sports dates back to 2016. In NBA training, KINEXON, a foreign company, developed iball intelligent basketball with built-in sensor chip, which can track the movement trajectory and speed of the basketball and feed back the data in real time, helping players and coaches to know the court situation more intuitively from the data.

It is not difficult to see that UWB has developed a chemical reaction with sports, because the real-time positioning technology it represents just solves the difficulties of sports events and the surrounding areas.

As a low-cost, low-power and high-precision positioning technology, UWB is quietly entering People’s Daily life. Whether it is Tag products, digital car key products, or “sports black technology” popular in the Internet of Things circle, UWB will soon usher in its spring.

conclusion

Sport has become an indispensable part of our daily life. It can be used as leisure activity, as entertainment, as well as as a career. Nowadays, with the rapid development of science and technology, people’s requirements for sports are gradually increasing, and the demand for professional and customized experience is increasingly strong, which also drives the development of sports economy.

At the same time, driven by the Internet of Things technology and ideas, UWB or real-time positioning is just a starting point. Amateur athletes and professional athletes will further stimulate the development of sports economy in the future, and at the same time contribute to the positioning industry and the Internet of Things industry.

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