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1.
OUTLINE
Catapult’s Ultrawideband (UWB) Clearsky technology can be used to track the Catapult Smart
Football in
real time and give coaches insights into the number of times the ball has been thrown, the distance it
travels, the speed at which it travels and how fast it spins amongst many other metrics.
When removed from the Catapult Smart Ball Charger, the ball starts transmitting UWB frames and will
periodically listen for transmissions received from Clearsky infrastructure. If it can detect that it is within
line-of-sight of a Clearsky receiver, it will continue to transmit at a pre-configured rate. The Clearsky
receivers then record timestamps of received ball transmissions and backhaul them to a location engine,
which computes the position of the ball in real-time using pre-surveyed receiver positions.
When positioned on its charger, the ball will turn off its UWB sub-system and turn on its Bluetooth Low
Energy (BLE) sub-system. When in this mode, the ball can be upgraded over-the-air (OTA) and its
configuration can be polled and updated using BLE data transfer.
2.
Catapult Smart Ball Charger
The Catapult Smart Ball Charger uses innovative power-at-distance charging technology to charge
compatible balls using the 915 MHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band.
The charger is powered by the provided USB-C to mains adapter and USB-C cable. Upon insertion, the LED
will be coloured white to indicate that the charger is operational. When a Catapult Smart Football is
placed on the charger, the LED will change colour to red to indicate that the ball is charging. Once the
football is fully charged, the LED will change colour to green. No user interaction other than plugging the
cable into the charger and placing the ball on the charger is required.
3.
Catapult Smart Football
As explained in the previous section, The Catapult Smart Football can be charged using the Smart Ball
Charger. When the football is placed on the charger, its firmware can be upgraded, and it can be
placed in a deep-sleep state for shipping. Both can be initiated
using Catapult’s mobile app.
When the football is removed from the charger, its UWB transceiver will be activated, and it will
commence transmitting small frames called “blinks”. To verify that it is in range of a Catapult Clearsky
system, the football will attempt to receive blinks from a Clearsky system. If it fails to receive any
within ten seconds, then it will cease transmission and go into a standby state and then periodically
attempt to receive Clearsky transmissions.
The football also has an accelerometer and gyroscope, which are sampled at 100 Hz, and the data
transmitted in the UWB blinks. By monitoring the accelerometers, the football’s firmware can detect
if it is being moved; if not, it will go into a standby state where it will monitor for movement and then
wake up and commence transmitting.
