News Technology & Live Sport
SpiderCam at Euro 2008
Providing a bird’s-eye
view of the action
normal controls of the pan/tilt head, the
camera and lens to operate, plus the status
information from gyros and other stablising
devices that feed into the control system. All
this has to be operated from down below at
a pitch-side control centre. That’s a lot of
data passing to and from a dolly suspended
anywhere between 20 and 40 metres above
the ground and flying from one end of the
pitch to the other. And then there are the
pictures too.
From the beginning of the development
work on SpiderCam it was clear that we
needed an intimate knowledge of the camera
in order to develop this level of control, and
to create an efficient and reliable transfer of
control data and the digital picture signals.
During the development process we found
Panasonic to be totally open minded about
JENS PETERS, technical director of SpiderCam-Austria,
this, and this is what won us over to
working with Panasonic cameras. There are
reports.
some manufacturers who are very reluctant
he Euro 2008 soccer tournament eye view of the action, no matter how fast- to divulge any details about the way their
T
featured higher quality television moving it is. cameras work, but Panasonic was extremely
coverage than ever before and one Since its launch in 2005 SpiderCam has cooperative.
of the innovative contributions been used to cover sports including tennis, In early incarnations of the rig, we used
came from the use of Panasonic cameras basketball, volleyball, skiing, biathlon, as the 300 series with copper cabling for the
‘flying’ over the pitch at high speed in well as other large-scale events such as control and picture transfer. With the
SpiderCam rigs. Suspended on four cables music festivals and concerts. From the start, introduction of HD and the AK-HC1500 we
extending from pylons positioned at each we have specified Panasonic cameras at the upgraded both the control cabling and the
corner of the stadium, the SpiderCam dolly heart of the rig and for the first time at Euro picture cabling to optical fibre, which gives
can move in 3D at up to 9 metres per second 2008 broadcasters required HD SpiderCam us greater performance and reliability. We
and cover the entire pitch to give a birds- signals. We have been working with use our own external converters on the
Panasonic’s AK-HC1500 compact dolly to make the necessary conversion for
multiformat HD cameras for two years now, this, and this added to the very complex set
and the combination of performance, image of interface requirements involving not only
quality and reliability with light weight has the camera but also the pan and tilt head.
proved ideal for the SpiderCam rig. All the command set for that also has to
Controlling and getting pictures from a pass through the multiplex control cable,
camera moving around at high speed above together with other status information such
the pitch and subject to whatever the as the battery condition. The gyroscope up
weather throws at it, is a complex business. there to control the positioning of the dolly
In addition to the physical control of the also sends status messages back to the
dolly’s location in 3D, there are all the control system. So all this information is
40 IBE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008
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