Magneto-Track System

Magneto-Track System: 3D Tracking of an American football location and orientation

Referees may soon have a new way of determining whether a football team has scored a touchdown or gotten a first down. Researchers from North Carolina State University and Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Disney Research, have developed a system that can track a football in three-dimensional space using low-frequency magnetic fields.

The technology could be particularly useful for situations when the ball is blocked from view, such as goal-line rushing attempts when the ball carrier is often buried at the bottom of a pile of players. The technology could also be useful for tracking the forward progress of the ball, or for helping viewers follow the ball during games with low visibility – such as games played during heavy snow. See the videos below that demonstrate the system in action. Research publications can be found at the bottom of this page.

Research papers related to this work:

D. Arumugam, J. Griffin, D. Stancil and D. S. Ricketts, “Three-Dimensional Position and Orientation Measurements using Magnetoquasistatic Fields and Complex Image Theory,” Antennas and Propagation Magazine, IEEE, April. 2014.

Arumugam, D.D.; Ricketts, D.S., “Passive Magnetoquasistatic Position Measurement Using Coupled Magnetic Resonances,” Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, IEEE , vol.12, no., pp.539,542, Apr. 2013.

Arumugam, D.D.; Sibley, M.; Griffin, J.D.; Stancil, D.D.; Ricketts, D.S., “An active position sensing tag for sports visualization in American football,” RFID (RFID), 2013 IEEE International Conference on , vol., no., pp.96,103, April 30 2013.

Arumugam, J. Griffin, D. Stancil and D. S. Ricketts, “Error Reduction in Magnetoquasistatic Positioning Using Orthogonal Emitter Measurements,” Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, IEEE, vol. 11, 2012.

D. Arumugam, J. Griffin, D. Stancil and D. S. Ricketts, “Experimental study on the effects of groups of people on magnetoquasistatic positioning accuracy,” IEEE Int. Symp. on Antennas & Propagation, Jun. 2012.

D. Arumugam, J. Griffin, D. Stancil and D. S. Ricketts, “A wireless orientation sensor using magnetoquasistatic fields and complex image theory,” IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium, Jan. 2012.

D. Arumugam, D. Stancil and D. S. Ricketts, “Proximity and Orientation Sensing Using Magnetoquasistatic Fields and Complex Image Theory” IEEE Vehicular Technology Conf., Sept. 2011.

D. Arumugam, J. Griffin, D. Stancil and D. S. Ricketts, “2-Dimensional Position Measurement using Magnetoquasistatic Fields,” Int. Conf. on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications, IEEE, Sept. 2011.

D. Arumugam, J. Griffin, D. Stancil and D. S. Ricketts, “Higher Order Loop Corrections for Short Range Magnetoquasistatic Position Tracking,” IEEE Int. Symp. on Antennas & Propagation, Jun. 2011.

D. Arumugam, J. Griffin, D. Stancil and D. S. Ricketts, “Long Range Magnetoquasistatic Position Tracking using a Simple Active RFID Tag,” IEEE Int. Conf. RFID, Apr. 2011.