Comparison of a computer vision system against three-dimensional motion capture for tracking football movements in a stadium environment
Robert J. Aughey, Kevin Ball, Sam Robertson, Grant M. Duthie, Fabio R. Serpiello, Nicolas Evans, Bartholomew Spencer, Susanne Ellens, Emily E. Cust, Jade Haycraft, Johsan Billingham
Abstract
Abstract Three-dimensional motion capture systems such as Vicon have been used to validate commercial electronic performance and tracking systems. However, three-dimensional motion capture cannot be used for large capture areas such as a full football pitch due to the need for many fragile cameras to be placed around the capture volume and a lack of suitable depth of field of those cameras. There is a need, therefore, for a hybrid testing solution for commercial electronic performance and tracking systems using highly precise three-dimensional motion capture in a small test area and a computer vision system in other areas to test for full-pitch coverage by the commercial systems. This study aimed to establish the validity of VisionKit computer vision system against three-dimensional motion capture in a stadium environment. Ten participants undertook a series of football-specific movement tasks, including a circuit, small-sided games and a 20 m sprint. There was strong agreement between VisionKit and three-dimensional motion capture across each activity undertaken. The root mean square difference for speed was 0.04 m·s −1 and for position was 0.18 m. VisionKit had strong agreement with the criterion three-dimensional motion capture system three-dimensional motion capture for football-related movements tested in stadium environments. VisionKit can thus be used to establish the concurrent validity of other electronic performance and tracking systems in circumstances where three-dimensional motion capture cannot be used.