33rd America's Cup – Pushing the boundaries of technology and time
Tuesday March 23, 2010
The ARL Virtual Eye team was on hand in Valencia last month to deliver their award winning live 3D-tracking graphics to the world at the much anticipated 33rd America’s Cup, under challenging circumstances.
The event in itself was a milestone, primarily for the complete redesign of the match racing yachts from single hulled 82ft yachts to 90ft trimaran and catamaran weapons, capable of speeds of over 40kts1. With masts as tall as 17 storey buildings, the boats can experience forces of up to 50 tonnes in places. This force enables the boats to travel at speeds much faster than the available wind. During a practice day, the team clocked BMW Oracle travelling at 20-25kts in a breeze of just 5-7kts. “The sea was like glass.” said Ian Taylor, CEO of ARL, from one of the media boats in Valencia. “We saw the actual numbers but would have to kill you if we told you what they said.”
The speed capabilities of the yachts resulted in a very large course being set. “The start line was 30miles off shore,” explains Taylor. “Our relay boats travel at around 8-10kts so they had to leave the port at 6:00AM to get in position in time for the 10:00AM start.” This distance provided a complex challenge to overcome in getting the data from the boats back to land, in a reliable manner.
Each yacht had two µTrak units, created by local Dunedin company, Igtimi, which sent information about GPS position, speed, pitch and roll via UHF and cellphone networks. This data was received by two strategically positioned repeater boats, then combined and sent out to a land station on Monte Picayo using UHF and satellite. The data then travelled by microwave link to the Virtual Eye control room in the America’s Cup Port, where it was visualised and broadcast to the world via live television and internet2.
As if the speed of the yachts and size of the course wasn’t overwhelming enough, the time constraints certainly pushed the team to their limits. ARL was given the green light on the contract on January 16th, with racing commencing just 23 days later. In this short space of time, a team was established and mobilised to Valencia, along with 800kg of computers, tracking and broadcast equipment.
Back in Dunedin, a team of modellers worked overtime to create digital replicas of the highly guarded yachts using a combination of images and videos found on the internet, and their own knowledge of boat movement and characteristics.
The final product was a seamless integrated coverage package that allowed viewers from around the world to follow the racing between BMW Oracle and Alinghi. An estimated 2.16 billion viewers, across 216 territories watched via their TVs, while 656,000 logged on to the official website to experience the live feed online3. BMW Oracle took out the series 2-0, to retain the America’s Cup.
Article written by Rachel Ryan, ARL Ltd
1“Size, speed present new America’s Cup challenge” 7 February 2010, www.reuters.com
2“The Virtual Countdown” 11 February 2010, www.americascup.com
3“The 33rd America’s Cup in numbers” 15 February 2010, www.americascup.com
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