The British Olympic Bobsleigh team is pioneering surveillance technology, originally designed to help police forces convict criminals, in its quest to improve the performance of its athletes and win a medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Scyron, a security and surveillance company, is providing an advanced surveillance system that allows the team, whilst still on the slopes, to analyse frame-by-frame their performance and make adjustments to shave tenths and hundredths of a second off their run times.
The system comprises four cameras positioned along the 1,365 metre track . The broadcast quality, digital video is transmitted wirelessly to a central reviewing station where specially designed software allows the team to study the performance in detail on a computer. With multi-screen, split screen, frame-by-frame and overlay functionality, the system provides immediate and high quality performance information for the coaching team and athletes to improve performance.
The Scyron system is derived from technology employed by 43 police forces around the country for the intelligent, targeted analysis of surveillance footage and presentation of video evidence in court. To date many convictions have been secured using the technology.
Richard Simmons, performance director for the British Bobsleigh Team, says, “We can now analyse the run instantly. By the time the athlete gets back to the start, we can go through their performance and work on areas for improvement. Previously, this would have happened several hours later in front of a TV a long way from the track.
“The instant feedback we’re getting provides a competitive edge, and is proving particularly useful for perfecting our starts where the slightest error can cost you a place on the medal winners’ rostrum. Teams from other countries are now showing a lot of interest but we won’t be sharing the technology!” The British Bobsleigh team was using the performance-enhancing technology in pre-season training in Calgary, Canada, ahead of the first World Cup race there from 26 November to 2 December.
Scyron has a three-year contract with the British Bobsleigh Association as a Main Sponsor. As well as developing and providing the technology, the Birmingham-based company has seconded a technician as a full-time member of the Bobsleigh team until the completion of the 2010 Olympics.
“Our primary motivation is to help the British team achieve success,” said Mike Wilks, CEO of Scyron, “but at the same time this is both an excellent test-bed and showcase for our precision, analysis technologies in a demanding and exacting environment. Performance is everything whether it’s crime-busting or medal-winning and we foresee potential applications for athletes in other sports.”
Scyron plans for the system to incorporate telemetry data transmitted from an onboard computer in the bobsleigh. This will enable the overlay of additional information such as speed into turns, g-force, lines into bends etc.
About Scyron
Scyron is a security and surveillance services company, privately-owned and headquartered at the University of Birmingham Research Park. Customers include 43 police forces in the UK as well as foreign police forces, private security firms and government agencies, including the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security.
