The Yellow Line of Football
The yellow line process is similar to business and life. On sunny days, good things happen almost automatically. But on days of mud & fog, smart humans need to get involved, make decisions, and get things done.
How They Do It
In a nutshell, here’s how the yellow line is drawn:
- High precision optical sensors measure five camera parameters (pan, tilt, zoom, focus, and extender).
- The data is sent over a vacant audio channel to a control computer.
- The control computer uses the camera parameters and the first down position to draw a yellow line video frame sixty times every second.
- Human operators review the video to ensure that the computer draws the line correctly.
Color filter software examines each frame to determine where to draw the line. It draws on the green field while avoiding the players, and that gives the illusion that the players are moving on top a line drawn on the field. Mark Bowers, SportsMEDIA Director of Engineering, explains the yellow line process in this 3:27 video.
Dealing With the Weather
Foggy days and rainy days are more difficult to handle. The mud on the field and density of the fog confuse the computer, and the human operators need to correct the results more often. But on sunny days, when every color is bright and well defined, the computer handles things well.
Things happen automatically on sunny days. What a great metaphor for business… and life.