Sailing-America's Cup viewers get to 'see' wind shifts before crews
By Alexander Smith
BARCELONA, Oct 18 (Reuters) -As New Zealand and Britain set out to sea for their latest America's Cup head-to-head, both crews will be scanning the surface for wind shifts to gain an edge in the tricky Mediterranean conditions off Barcelona.
Back ashore, viewers are able to track the breeze on screen thanks to a software developed by one of the America's Cup sponsors to try to attract a wider audience.
This "visualisation of the wind" also links up with a race boat simulator to include a "ghost boat" showing which team is likely to gain an upper hand, giving commentators a crucial advantage over the two teams vying to win the "Auld Mug".
Although their state-of-the-art AC75 boats have every type of electronic gizmo giving them their speed, direction and "flying" height on their foils above the water, the one thing the crews are not allowed on board is live weather data.
The wind "Lidar" system IT company Capgeminihas set up in Barcelona uses pulses of light which reflect back off particles in the air, enabling them to calculate speed and direction.
"Each of the Lidars that we've got emits 10,000 pulses per second. We've got three of these machines, so we're effectively pulsing the Barcelona bay with 30,000 beams every second," said Keith Williams, Capgemini's chief engineer for WindSight IQ.
The beams are "completely eye safe", Williams added of the equipment, which he said is often used for planning wind farms or to detect significant wind shear at the end of a runway.
"We're effectively putting just under a quarter of a million wind sensors on the course," Williams, who is a keen sailor, told Reuters, adding that the system uses an algorithm to give an accurate representation of the wind field in real time.
The big question is: are the crews getting it right?
"Quite often we look at it and say: 'that was not the right call'," Williams said of being able to watch the tactics as the races unfold and the wind patterns develop.
"For people who are not familiar with the sport, understanding what the wind is like on the course, that makes a big difference," Williams said, adding that the application could be used by almost any sport where wind is a factor.
"I think you've got applications both in the broadcast of sport, but also in the R&D (research and development)inside sport," he said, naming American Football, Formula One, golf, rugby and even ski-jumping as some sports where the technology could be used.
Other potential applications include air taxis in built-up urban areas and tackling wild fires, he said.
Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
