Electronic Machine Being Developed For Making Accurate Line Calls During Tennis Matches

High tech company developing system more reliable than human eye.

Throughout this report there are scenes filmed at the Wimbledon tennis tournament showing players including John McEnroe disputing line calls with the umpire. External view of the 200-year-old barn converted into premises for high tech company Erlebach Technology Ltd at Ashwell near Royston, Hertfordshire. The company specialises in automatic measurement and control systems and their clients include the Ministry of Defence, The Admiralty and British Aerospace. Directors John Blackwell and Deepum Bhatia are seen testing their prototype for an application to detect and analyse tennis line calls. They bounce a ball to one another across a table marked with lines to demonstrate the system and the electronic components. Deepum Bhatia explains that an electro-optic sensor in the camera detects the position of the ball and the signals are sent to an oscilloscope and processed electronically for display on a small computer. This indicates whether the ball was in or out, and identifies the line crossed. Anglia TV reporter Stuart Jarrold says that Wimbledon have used laser beams just on the base line which have not always been accurate. The Erlebach sensor can potentially be used on all lines and it can distinguish between the ball and a player’s foot, racket or arm. The computer scientists are working on a mathematical equation to cope with the ball skidding on the line. Investment is needed so they can test a few more sensors and try the system on a tennis court. They feel they could have a completed product in a year or eighteen months. Deepum Bhatia says it would be more reliable than the human eye and would remove some of the aggravation experienced on tennis courts. This short video was made to be shown in a news story on Anglia Television early evening news / magazine programme About Anglia.

Keywords

Computer technology; High tech companies; Tennis; Line calls; Umpires; Measurement; Software; Cambridge Phenomenon

Additional Description

Throughout this report there are scenes filmed at the Wimbledon tennis tournament showing players including John McEnroe disputing line calls with the umpire. These scenes would have been acquired by Anglia TV for the news report, but not filmed by Anglia. Live electronic line calling will be used at Wimbledon from 2025.