Pulse Jam

Rescue Technology For Winter Sports

 In the wake of the most tragic start to the avalanche season in North 
American history -- 23 fatalities in the past few weeks -- avalanche 
awareness, safety, and rescue equipment is becoming a necessity for 
skiers, snowboarders and outdoor enthusiasts heading to the mountains 
across the continent.

Working with more than 200 outerwear, ski boot and helmet manufacturers,
RECCO has developed technology that increases safety at mountain resorts.
The popular winter sports products incorporate a pinky-size RECCO tab that 
returns harmonic radar signals emitted by a RECCO detector operated by 
ski patrollers and mountain rescue teams for rapid pinpoint location. The reflectors are available in 
wearable products available through multiple popular brands, including The North Face, Arc'teryx, 
Helly Hansen, Volcom, Atomic Ski Boots and PRO-TEC Helmets. The cool thing is these reflectors 
don't require a battery as they are integrated into products worn on the body.

The dual function, hand-held device can greatly reduce the search times from hours to minutes. 

Saving lives is about saving time, and searching for someone buried in an avalanche is similar to looking
for a needle in a haystack. RECCO's advanced rescue technology can now make rescuers' jobs faster 
and easier, providing another chance for buried victims.

Smart Speed

We hear it all the time, technology is the future, technology is the future.  And as you know, we've been highlighting technology products and solutions focused on sports and performance.  Here's an interesting and innovative wrinkle, technology focused on athletic testing.  I have talked with many coaches, trainers and athletic facilities who are looking to streamline this activity and we are beginning to work with a few to create custom solutions.  As we expand our portfolio of technology tools, we will most certainly begin working with Fusion Sport and their Smart Speed application.

Smart Speed may be the future of athletic testing. Instruments that can record an athlete`s ability in an instant to a computer - no paper, no clipboards and saving time on reporting, organizing and indexing.  A pain point, isn't it?

A number of sports programs are beginning to use this as their everyday coaching assistant - expanding their fitness testing for speed/power, agility and endurance.  Furthermore, given the automatic data collection Smart Speed becomes a useful tool for Combines and Showcases.

It's refreshing to see the technology advances in athletic testing and we look forward to identifying additional solutions in this very important area.  Please let us know of any new applications, as we would love to highlight them for whole athletic community.

Football Engineering

As we approach the NFC and AFC playoffs, has anyone considered what technologies could enhance US football?  Or, how can we be sure the team made the first down on 4th and inches?  Well, the folks at Carnegie Mellon are actually working on research projects focused on developing new technologies that can assist referees in making calls during specific game situations (e.g., determining the position of the ball when forward progress is stopped, determining whether a player has control of the ball). These key decisions can often change the momentum of a football game dramatically, and it would be useful to supplement the referee's decision-making process with additional information.

Using a combination of sensors, wireless protocols, and embedded devices, they are currently working on developing a smart football that can be tracked in real time in 3D space, even when it is obscured under a pile of players (making computer vision techniques difficult to use in such situations).  Additionally, they are working on enhancing other athletic equipment (e.g., gloves worn by the players) that is used during the game in order to track the players' contact with the football to determine their control and possession of the ball.  All of the sensory capabilities that are provided to the football equipment will allow the extraction of key statistics (e.g., hang time) that will inevitably be useful in training and coaching games, and not just on game day.  These technologies truly become enablers for sports intelligence, something we are very passionate about, and accelerate improvement for the athlete and the organization.

What A Difference A Floor Makes

Mondo, a global leader in sports flooring, just celebrated their 60th birthday.  However what is remarkable is that more than 230 world records have been set on Mondo tracks and more than 1,100 Mondo tracks and more than 800 Mondoturf fields have been installed in athletic venues around the world.

Among the highlights of its 60th year were the five world records set at the Beijing Olympics on Mondotrack, the company's newest and most advanced track surface.

So, what's the big deal?

Mondo has been developing cutting edge technology for it's Mondotrack.  For example, the surface was designed to convert the amount of force generated by athletes' foot strikes to energy for maximum energy return, which helps athletes achieve faster times compared to running on other surfaces. In addition, the track's elongated hexagon backing makes the surface more comfortable for training than other tracks, resulting in a perfect blend of speed and safety for the athletes.  And, as we all know, injury prevention is vital.

Is Bowling Too Easy?

When you think of bowling, does the image of a chubby guy with a comb-over and polyester pants come to mind?  The reality is bowling is one of the most tech centric sports today.  Robotic pinsetters  and computerized scoring were just the beginning.  Today, synthetic lane surfaces provide a more consistent plane than the original wood lanes we've grown up playing on.  Balls made of reactive resin have the ability to grab lanes through the oil layer for harder hooking into the pocket — which conserves more of that sweet kinetic energy for the pins.

These new balls and surfaces mean more strikes, which means higher scores and more perfect games. However, there are bowling purists who are not that thrilled with all the advancements.  Whenever everyone bowls a perfect game, than no one bowls a perfect game.  Sure, other sports have tech. A titanium shaft and weighted clubhead will let you hit 300-yard drives until your spine unhinges, but they'll still slice. With bowling, the equation is simpler. More tech equals more strikes.

After the United States Bowling Congress conducted tests with a robot to determine the true ramifications technology has had thus far, they concluded that bowling bowl composition had to be reined in.  Starting in April 2009, precise limits will be set on how porous a competition ball's cover stock can be, standardizing how it adheres to the lane. Technology will be hobbled for the sake of the game.

Radar Guns

Have you ever wondered about the technology behind radar guns and it's applicability towards sports?  Radar guns are everywhere, whether we want them to be or not. They are pointed at us on the highway by patrolmen, and gunning our way during baseball practice. Have you ever stopped to think about radar guns as a whole?  Let's just say, I have that unique opportunity and it wasn't by choice.

What is a radar gun?  Radar itself is an acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging, and a radar gun is a radio transmitter and receiver. It sends out a signal and returns the same signal, reading its frequency to find out the speed of the object it was pointed at.  Radar guns come in different sizes and strengths. Smaller guns, such as the Speedster II or the Bushnell Velocity, are used for baseball, soccer, and other sports where extreme precision is not necessary.   These sports radar guns usually have shorter sample times (shorter detection range), wider beams, and sometimes less radiated power.  Sports which use radar include; baseball, softball, tennis, golf, archery, and car racing.

On the other hand, by "friends" in highway law enforcement use high powered radar guns such as the Decatur Genesis VersaPak. 

Never Get Lost With Snocator

Whether you’ve been skiing or snowboarding once or a hundred times, it’s easy to get lost and forget how to get back to the run or trail you started on. Unfortunately, trail guides resorts give you for situations like these are cumbersome to unfold and read – and even if you do find where you want to go, you don’t always know where you are in relation to it!

Google Maps can provide some assistance but the lack of detail in these maps might send you down a closed trail or into some very deep powder. So how can someone find their way back to the lodge for an overpriced mug of hot chocolate?

Meet Snocator.

Snocator (pronounced snow-kay-ter), developed by Denver-based Useful Networks, is the only iPhone app to use location-enabled ski maps uses to show skiers and snowboarders exactly where they are on the mountain so they can plan out their next rendezvous or even find the fastest path back to the lodge for a rest and a cup of cocoa.

The application uses interactive GPS trail maps of ski resorts in the U.S. and Canada and provides users with snow reports, mountain cams and weather forecasts – all from the convenience of their iPhone. The detailed maps and information available on Snocator blow Google out of the water!

To begin Snocating, visit the iPhone App Store and search for Snocator under the Sports category, or text “snow” to 90999 from your iPhone, or simply click this link to launch iTunes

on your computer and go straight to the Snocator info page. Snocator is available on the iPhone App Store for just $5.99 and is perfect for novice and professional snow sports enthusiasts alike and even neophytes like me.

How Technology Changed Football

The use of technology in the National Football League has come a long way since that October day in 1920 when the Dayton Triangles beat the Columbus Panhandles 14-0 in the first NFL game in history.

Instant replay. Sky cams. Radios transmitters in the quarterback’s helmet. Statistical analysis by the screenful. All are now taken for granted as an indispensable part of today’s sports scene. But it wasn’t always so.

Today’s technology not only helps the fan see more and know more about the game, it also helps coaches and players. Here are a couple ways technology has impacted professional football today:

1. Instant replay, of course.
The first use of instant replay in a football game came on Dec. 7, 1963, near the end of the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia when Army quarterback Rollie Stichweh scored on a 1-yard run. Famed CBS director Tony Verna had come up with the idea for “video replay” (as he called it) to fill dead air time between plays. After three quarters of frustrating glitches trying to get the technology to work, Verna finally told announcer Lindsey Nelson, “Here it comes!” as Stichweh faked a handoff and darted into the end zone. “This is not live,” Nelson told his viewers as they watched the Army quarterback’s run again. “Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again.” A new era was born.

2. Sports Intelligence
Thanks to the computer, football is joining baseball as a generator of reams of highly specialized and sophisticated statistics about teams, players and trends. Now numerous Web sites feature specialized statistical breakdowns of players in almost any game situation as well as seasonal and career numbers.

Stats are not just for fans either, but are becoming a tool for coaches and general managers as well.

As the emphasis on sports intelligence begins to expand it is very likely that we will see Sabermetrics type formulas for football personnel stats and evaluations of rosters.  At Pulse Jam, we've been developing a platform that we will introduce to a few limited partners next month as we further enhance this very important discipline

Good Call! Sports Technology Helps Referees

The loneliest men in sports have not been making any friends lately. 

Both referees and umpires have been making news, despite their often repeated goal of never wanting to be involved in the outcome of the game. 

So, assuming officials want some kind of automated technical assistance, what sports technology is available?

First, pure video instant replay gives officials a second, slower chance to see the play again and possibly adjust their live call. All four major sports leagues in the United States use replay at some level. 

In addition to judging if a shot was taken before the buzzer, the NBA uses video replay to differentiate 2-point versus 3-point baskets. MLB commissioner Bud Selig has put a stop to the spread of replay beyond the home run/foul ball call for now, but public pressure may change that. The NHL's use of replay focuses mainly on different goal scoring scenarios. The NFL is the most advanced user of replay to judge multiple situations.

Second, an emerging selection of decision-support tools can make the actual call for the officials using location-based technology. In tennis, the Hawk-Eye system is being used at such high-profile events as Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. A system of six high-speed cameras records a ball's movement, which is useful when it bounces near one of the court lines. It feeds the cameras' input to a central computer that analyzes the data from all angles and then creates a motion graphic that simulates the ball's location when it bounces on the court, either on the line or next to the line, with a judgment of "in" or "out."

In soccer, Adidas and Cairos Technologies have partnered to create an "intelligent" ball that includes a microchip that transmits its location on the field to a computer. 

The system also places a thin, underground electrical wire that surrounds each goal. If the ball's location is sensed to be completely inside the boundary of the goal, a signal is sent to a watch worn by the referee indicating that a goal has been scored. 

Even if the refs and umps don't want to use the technology, sports television producers look to empower the fans.

In baseball, ESPN's "K-zone" and Fox Sports' "Fox Trax" show a virtual representation of pitches and the strike zone to let us judge the accuracy of the home-plate umpire's calls. Think that last called strike was a bit outside?  Watch the computer generated replay that is accurate to within one-half inch. 

NY Yankees Take Cisco Out To The Ball Game

Now, here is sports technology at work for the benefit of the fans.  The new Yankee Stadium, set to open April 2009, is being outfitted with state-of-the-art Cisco technologies, giving New York Yankees fans the most wired, connected and video-enabled stadium in all of baseball.  Building on its legacy of innovation, the New York Yankees will integrate video, voice, data and wireless services into one seamless next-generation network connecting the team to its fans in entirely new ways.

The new technology is called StadiumVision™ and will be central to the fan experience at the new ballpark. In addition to broadcasting live game footage, StadiumVision will be capable of simultaneously providing up-to-date sports scores, Yankees trivia, news and weather via more than 1100 IPTV monitors throughout the stadium. At the conclusion of games, these monitors will allow the Yankees to direct patrons to the nearest exits and provide up-to-the-moment traffic information.

The New York Yankees are also keeping an eye toward the future to ensure that the new stadium remains state-of-the-art for years to come.  For example, the new stadium is equipped to support future fan use of mobile devices for ordering concessions from their seat, viewing instant replays or chatting in real time with friends inside and outside the stadium.

This is exciting.  We are now seeing technologies being implemented for the benefit of fans, sports organizations and athletes.  Sports Technology - gotta love it.