Augmented Reality at the America's Cup, the Technology Behind AC LiveLine

Augmented reality was first used in live broadcast sports with the Fox Trax highlighted hockey puck introduced at the Hockey All-Star Game in 1996.  Far more popular was the Yellow First Down Line which was introduced in 1998 and is now ubiquitous on broadcast football.  AC LiveLine is the latest use of augmented reality to enhance the live broadcast of sport but is a significant development beyond prior systems because the video to be augmented is all taken from a helicopter mounted camera which introduces significant challenges.

The technology will be described that was developed to track the America's Cup catamarans to within 2cm, 5 times per second, and superimpose graphics elements such as ahead-behind lines and laylines on the live helicopter footage of the race. Previous America's Cup broadcasts have only featured graphics visible in an animated view of the race. The LiveLine graphics package was designed to help viewers follow the intense action of the AC72s as they flew around the race course on foils, all in live action. 

In addition to use for broadcast, this tracking system was used by the America's Cup Race Management team to revolutionize the on the water management of the sport. With the ability to track the America's Cup catamarans within two-centimeters on the race course, event organizers quickly saw the opportunity to leverage the system for on-the-water management of the sport. Telemetering of the course allowed for rapid movement of marks and controlling course limits, while use of real-time overlap and zone-entry determinations  enabled umpires to make the most accurate umpiring decisions ever possible in sailing.

The technical and operational developments that lead to LiveLine graphics system and the related race management and electronic umpiring systems will be described along with the problems and pitfalls.

Speaker: Stan Honey