
Bringing IoT to sports analytics - gvb
https://blog.acolyer.org/2017/04/24/bringing-iot-to-sports-analytics/
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jwr
The resolution of UWB radio ToF measurement is not 15.65ns, but 15.65ps. That
corresponds to a 64GHz counter.

I wonder which UWB radios they use for positioning. It's clear that this is
IEEE 802.15.4 UWB PHY with the ranging extension, but I'd love to know what is
the chip vendor.

EDIT: read the original paper, it's Decawave, same chips that I use :-)

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Jugurtha
Out of curiosity, what do you use it for and do you have any project you can
share?

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jwr
For positioning and communication :-) — unfortunately I can't provide any more
details than that right now.

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Jugurtha
I figured. That's why I said "any project you _can_ share" :) Thanks for
taking the time.

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Zombieball
I believe NFL already heavily uses UWB sensors for analytics as well. Could
someone describe how this is different? Is it just extending to the rules and
semantics of cricket?

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kitd
It's used in rugby too, but it's only player tracking involved. That's a much
simpler problem and, as mentioned in the paper, is fairly easily solved.

I think the USP here is being able to measure the path, velocity and spin of
an object in flight, and how this is much more easily done using instrumented
equipment, rather than ultra-expensive cameras.

I can imagine this solution could also be applied to many other ball sports,
eg baseball (as mentioned), golf, tennis, etc. Maybe also for T&F throwing
events.

In my own sport, rowing, equipment to measure stroke angles and force curves
is become ever more readily available and cheap (important in a sport with not
much money flowing around). Low-cost ubiquitous IoT in sport is definitely a
growth market.

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Zombieball
Sorry should've elaborated. I know there are UWB RFID tags in NFL player
shoulder pads. I was also under the impression that the ball itself is
tracked. Is this not the case?

I imagine a football is easier to sneak sensors into than a cricket ball
though. Restrictions of the ball itself. Which I realize now that you call it
out.

Out of curiosity, could you link to some of the rowing sensors? A quick google
brings up [http://www.smartoar.com/](http://www.smartoar.com/) i'd be
interested in seeing what there is in the way of cheap options you've used.

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kitd
[http://www.nkhome.com/rowing-sports/empower-
oarlock](http://www.nkhome.com/rowing-sports/empower-oarlock)

This comes from a manufacturer of standard rowing equipment and is priced at a
level suitable for small programs or individuals.

2 others that are currently under development:

[http://www.sweetzpot.com/](http://www.sweetzpot.com/)

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1605381989/the-
rowing-a...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1605381989/the-rowing-
app/description)

Both of these use smartphone apps for the UI.

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ak93
I wrote my thesis on biomechanics analytics under sports equipment department,
which primarily focused on improving the motion for people suffering with
lower body injuries. I think the field need more exploration I believe with
advent of AI in this field can even boost its reach.

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ssivark
For those who're not familiar with Cricket, it's very similar to baseball, to
first order. The most substantial differences that I can think of:

Instead of throwing the ball directly towards the batter's upper body, it must
usually bounce once on the ground. There must always be two batters, one at
each end of the strip. The batters whack the ball and run up and down the
strip instead of around a diamond. Each batter keeps going till they get out
(and they don't get out for playing and missing a few times).

\--

And, of course, refer:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket)

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phillc73
The key difference between throwing and bowling is that a bowler's elbow must
not extend or hyperextend at an angle greater than 15 degrees during the
bowling action.[1]

If interested in cricket analytics there are two very nice R packages
available to support this.[2][3]

Cricsheet is a good source of data.[4]

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_(cricket)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_\(cricket\))

[2]
[https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/cricketr/index.html](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/cricketr/index.html)

[3]
[https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/yorkr/index.html](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/yorkr/index.html)

[4] [http://cricsheet.org](http://cricsheet.org)

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ziikutv
Finally, something interesting coming out of the Gentlemen's game. Nice read.

