A Technology Solution to a Technology Problem

[roadtoad]

Older NBA fans remember the days when the clock would go from 1 second remaining, to zero. Under that system, Wednesday’s game would have ended with Tim’s last second shot. However, digital time keeping was implemented to make sure that games did not end with time remaining on the clock. The problem is that although the league has the ability display time remaining in tenths of seconds, it cannot accurately link action on the floor to those small time increments.

Here is a possible technology solution to a technology created problem. RFID! Radio Frequency IDentification uses super small microchips the about the size of a grain of sand. Each RFID is assigned unique ID code. The chip listens for a radio query and responds by transmitting its ID. It gets power from the radio signal that it is responding to; therefore RFIDs do not need batteries. Big retailers like Costco’s and Wal-Mart use this technology to know the exact location every item that it buys and sell each year. This is very inexpensive. Each RFID cost only a few cents. It has to be inexpensive if it as widely used as it is.

Here is my proposal:
1. Attach a small separately coded RFID transmitter to each player and to each rim.
2. Tag the ball with a RFID Microchip. (The chip will “report” its location relative to each RFID transmitter).
3. Let the computer track time and ball location
4. Start of play -- The computer would start the clock (game and shot) as soon as the RFID transmitter on the player receiving the inbound pass/jump ball reports that he has the ball.
This procedure would take the human out of the loop. It would be much more accurate since reaction time alone makes it almost impossible for the Ref to start the clock the instant the player touches the ball.

Using Wednesday’s game as an example this system could have made sure the game did not end in controversy. The computer would have looked the time log from the RFID transmitter on the Spurs goal to get the exact time Duncan’s shot went thru the basket. The exact time remaining would then be known. No human error. The clock would have started automatically the instant Fisher touched the ball. No human error. The computer would look at the time log on Fisher’s transmitter to get the time he shot the ball. No human error. He either got it off in time or not.

Roadtoad

[cheebahmunkey]

you should send this post to the league office but I have a feeling it would be uber expensive.

[Mr. Ash]

Problems:

1. Passive RFID tags do not transmit locational data - they have no way of knowing direction, and distance would be troublesome.

2. There is no way for these tags to know if a player has "possession" of a ball - merely that a transmitter passed nearby.

3. Response time from a tag may take up to a tenth of a second, which doesn't really solve the problem.

4. Certain players will not want to be tagged with chips that will enable their bodyguards to know when they're sneaking out of their room to have relations with bellhops.

I hope I don't come off as a wet blanket. You sound like you've spent a lot of time thinking the problem though.

[Spurbanana]

It's a good idea, but what if one falls off?

[roadtoad]

Originally Posted by Mr. Ash

Problems:

1. Passive RFID tags do not transmit locational data - they have no way of knowing direction, and distance would be troublesome.

2. There is no way for these tags to know if a player has "possession" of a ball - merely that a transmitter passed nearby.

3. Response time from a tag may take up to a tenth of a second, which doesn't really solve the problem.

4. Certain players will not want to be tagged with chips that will enable their bodyguards to know when they're sneaking out of their room to have relations with bellhops.

I hope I don't come off as a wet blanket. You sound like you've spent a lot of time thinking the problem though.

Not at all, Mr Ash. Especially, since I am far from an expert on this technology. It only seems to me that this technolgoy, or something like it could be developed and refined for this kind of application.

It makes no sense to me to allow for play in time increments tenths of a second, but be unable to reasonably determine when an event occured.

Maybe the league should develop the tools to access what occurs in tenth of second increments, or let the clock go to after 1 second.

Roadtoad

[JadesMomRocks]

It seems to me as advanced as our technology is today that there could be some sort of microchip in the ball itself to activate the clock once it's touched .. Of course external forces would have to actually let the chip know that it is about to be activated , and that's where human error comes into play once again ...

[ThomasamohT]

The idea here is a novel one and one I'm sure has been thought of many times. I know I've personally considered this a few times so let me share my thoughts.

1. Having an rf tag in the ball would be a great way to know exactly when a ball goes through the hoop. I know I've seen plenty of instances late in games where the clock doesn't stop immideatly after the ball goes through the hoop. Although it may not be a big factor in deciding a game, every second (or tenth of a second) counts when you're trying to win a game.

I don't see any real problems with implementing this technology, just stick a transmitter in the ball and match it to the location of the rim. All you have to do is be sure some fan can't trip the frequency.

2. Having a tag to start the clock would be a bit more tricky. First it would have to be set to know when it needs to start the clock which could easily be triggered by the timekeeper (or a ref). Second it would have to respond to touch. This would require a sensor over the entire ball (or inside of the ball) which would keep track of pressure applied to the ball. A problem here is starting the measurement the moment after the player inbounding the ball releases it. I think this is probably simple enough, however the issue is whether or not the technology exsists that we could do this without affecting the feel of the ball.

3. I would add a pressure strip to the sideline and 3 point line so that players stepping on the lines can be exactly called. This technology would not be too difficult to implement and would help take the question of "was he really out?" or "are you sure he was on the line?" out of debate.

[screamatorium]

Considering that stadiums sometimes have problems keeping the lights and clocks running, I imagine adding something as complicated as rfid would be near impossible. "Game has been delayed due to blue screen of death."

The simplest thing might be some kind of Infrared sensor, or a camera that is keyed in on the specific color of the ball. The problem being whether or not the system could detect the difference between a shot going through the bottom plane of the hoop, and an airball doing the same. Maybe they could put a sensor at the top of the hoop, and another at the bottom. But the question of technology comes up again. Will it cause more problems then it will fix?

In the end I think the league will decide that 0.2 seconds and the hurt feelings of the spurs fans will be enough of a reason to spend millions on it.