Football Enhancement to Use Fiber Gyros

KVH Industries Inc. of Middletown, R.I., has announced that it will supply its fiber optic gyroscopes to Sportvision Inc. of New York. The gyros will be incorporated into the company's 1st & Ten Yellow Line system for use in professional and college football broadcasts this fall.

The 1st & Ten system, which debuted on ESPN's Sunday Night Football program in September 1998, inserts a virtual first-down line into the video signal from a game. Computers monitor the position and movement of the live camera with respect to a 3-D model of the field and determine where the first-down line would be visible. The system paints yellow those pixels in each frame that match a color palette for the field, while it leaves unchanged those colors representing a player, referee or inserted graphics such as the time and score box.

KVH's fiber optic gyroscopes will compensate for the effects of stadium vibration and maintain the accurate placement of the virtual line on the field. The upgraded system will be used in broadcasts on the ABC, Fox and ESPN networks.