The 2015 NFL season kicks off tonight in Foxborough Massachussetts and the Patriots and Steelers players will be tracked using RFID technology. Zebra MotionWorks chips are installed in the shoulder pads to give visual feedback to referees, coaches and fans about player position and speed.
The MotionWorks technology sends a signal fifteen times per second to receivers mounted in every stadium. Algorithms take snapshots of the player data and send it through the analytic software for user viewing. Data goes everywhere from jumbotrons to smart phones to tablets used by referees to a new Xbox app.
Anyone is now able to see the distance traveled, either total distance or split into walk / jog / run / sprinting distances. Maximum speed, average speed, acceleration, deceleration, intensity and mechanical load can also be reported. An additional biomedical device can show total calories burned and heartrate.
The chips operate between 6.35 and 6.75 GHz and are accurate to within plus minus four inches when data is averaged. The Linux server that houses the data uses two 3.1 GHz Xeon processors with sixteen cores each and can store up to fifteen terrabytes of information. HD 720p video is processed through an NVIDIA Quadro K5000 graphics card.
This is an awesome extension of technology into high dollar, high intensity sports. Speaking in early 2015 at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints even suggested that the next generation of quarterbacks will need technology training to stay competitive. I’ve written about the partnership between football and augmented reality before but after a test season in 2014 the full implementation this year is exciting.
(Tom Spendlove supports the Detroit Lions, the Michigan State Spartans, and the Ottawa Redblacks.)