BeSpoon SAS today launched BeSpoon Sport Edition, an ultra-precise position-tracking system that allows teams to measure and analyze player movement in three dimensions and provide immediate feedback to improve performance.
Designed for professional and other high-level competitive teams, BeSpoon Sport Edition generates key metrics such as distance run faster than 7km/h, average acceleration and jump height in real time. These next-generation statistics immediately give coaches, players and fans new insight into the action on the field.
BeSpoon’s impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) technology, which can track individuals’ or objects’ positions and movements to within a few inches, measures the time of flight of an UWB signal, and is impervious to interference by nearby people or objects. The technology is ideal for tracking movement both in terms of accuracy and robustness.
BeSpoon Sport Edition, which combines BeSpoon’s technology and SportTracking Fusion software, is being used by Chambery Savoie Handball, a professional team in France. BeSpoon recently uploaded a YouTube video showing its tracking engine at work to improve player performance.
Installed in Le Phare, the team’s 4,500-seat indoor arena, the system instantaneously computes the position of players, who are wearing tiny chips, in three dimensions and feeds the SportTracking Fusion engine. Using portable computers near the team’s bench, coaches and players are able to optimize training and step up their game. The system also generates player statistics during games for fans to view.
“It was amazing to see how quickly the tracking system was implemented by our team,” said Laurent Munier, general manager of Chambery Savoie Handball. “After a few minutes, our athletes and coaches figured out how they could take advantage of the immediate feedback and engaged with the tool to improve their performance.”
“BeSpoon Sport Edition is a new, practical and affordable way to apply the benefits of innovative microelectronics in everyday activities,” said BeSpoon CEO Jean-Marie André. “The systems’ next-generation data can dramatically improve athletes’ performance and enhance sport-fans’ experience with real-time statistics.
“In addition, sports is just one example of the many domains where inch-level tracking technology can bring disruptive changes. In logistics, our customers are now able to automate challenging and expensive operations, as well as improve security in the warehouse. Retail stores are implementing location-based operation, a radical improvement in the way stores are managed daily. Defense organizations are using the technology for location tracking, which drastically enhances soldier safety. These are just a few areas where precise-location has already started to change the game. Industry, health care and museums are next on the list.”
BeSpoon, a fabless semiconductor company that also offers system-level products and support, solved the problem of indoor position tracking with a proprietary chip that can track items or individuals to within a few centimeters. Developed in cooperation with CEA-Leti in Grenoble, France, the location process measures the time of flight of an ultra wide band (UWB) radio signal with a precision of 125 picoseconds, opening a vast range of opportunities for asset monitoring, precise indoor location in professional and consumer environments.