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Virtual tracking shots for sports analysis

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Bennett, S 
Purnell, T 

Abstract

Reviewing athletic performance is a critical part of modern sports training, but snapshots only showing part of a course or exercise can be misleading, while travelling cameras are expensive. In this paper we describe a system merging the output of many autonomous inexpensive camera nodes distributed around a course to reliably synthesize tracking shots of multiple athletes training concurrently. Issues such as uncontrolled lighting, athlete occlusions and overtaking/pack-motion are dealt with, as is compensating for the quirks of cheap image sensors. The resultant system is entirely automated, inexpensive, scalable and provides output in near real-time, allowing coaching staff to give immediate and relevant feedback on a performance. Requiring no alteration to existing training exercises has boosted the system's uptake by coaches, with over 100,000 videos recorded to date.

Description

Keywords

software rail camera, sports analysis, subject tracking, video stitching, virtual tracking shot

Journal Title

Electronic Imaging, Computer Vision Applications in Sports

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2470-1173
2470-1173

Volume Title

2017

Publisher

Society for Imaging Sciences and Technology