Looking at Chinese science and technology from the Winter Olympics: what is the mystery of the high-speed camera that the whole people thank?

2022 At the Beijing Winter Olympics , Be thanked by the whole people , In addition to the chief director of the opening ceremony “ Zhang emo”, Namely 4K HD camera system “ Cheetah ” 了 .

Especially in China, short track speed skater Ren Ziwei won men's 1000 After the meter gold medal , Set up in the national speed skating Museum “ Ice ribbon ” Internal “ Cheetah ”, It is considered to be a great contributor to making fouls invisible . however , CCTV, which built the cheetah system, soon came out to refute the rumor ：

1.“ Cheetah ” Not the referee system , It is specially used for the broadcasting of speed skating events in the Winter Olympics , That is to say, it serves our audience .

2. Ridiculed by netizens “ Han jianchou ” The camera , Catch 2 month 7 Japanese Short Track Speed Skating men 1000 Fouls in the rice finals , It's actually located in the capital gymnasium “ Flying cat ” System , from 40 platform 4K Ultra HD camera array plus 3 platform 8K VR Camera composition , Except for broadcasting , It can also assist in sentencing .

3. The referee system that really serves for the judgment of the game , It is a set of dedicated cameras set up independently in key shooting locations , To capture the movements of athletes , The picture of this system is not the live picture we see on TV .

Be thanked by the whole people “ Cheetah ”, Although it has nothing to do with the result , But with high-speed and flexible posture , Capture wonderful pictures in real time , Help Beijing Winter Olympics become the most watched Winter Olympics in history .

At the daily press conference of the Beijing Winter Olympics held not long ago ,OBS CEO Ian nice · Eksakos revealed ,2022 Beijing Winter Olympics , It is the first time to use it in the Winter Olympics UHD and HDR technology , That is, Ultra HD and high dynamic range 4K Technology to broadcast and produce . On the fourth day of the race 6000 Many hours of content , Including the game itself , And interviews with athletes after each game , Media reports on different platforms , It has set a new record in the broadcasting history of the Winter Olympics .

From this perspective , Whether it's “ Cheetah ”, still “ Flying cat ”, Are very grateful .

however , Just as high-speed cameras can capture things that are invisible to the naked eye , A high-speed camera system that highly restores the moment of the game , In fact, it is a large-scale comprehensive science and technology project , There are also a lot of little-known technological innovations behind it , Today we are going to talk about it , Those behind the scenes technology heroes who are also worthy of thanks .

The Winter Olympics under the high-speed camera

As early as 2021 year ,“ Cheetah “ The system has been applied on the ground , And the Olympic Broadcasting Service Company of the International Olympic Committee （OBS） Recognition . This winter Olympics can be broadcast for a long time 、 Write new records on the way of content production , The high-speed camera has obviously contributed .

As a method that can be less than 1/1000 Seconds of exposure or more per second 250 A device that captures a moving image at the frame rate of a frame , High speed camera （High Speed Camera） Because the framing rate is high , So after recording , When images stored on media are projected at normal speed , Can provide “ Super slow motion ” The viewing experience of .

（ The picture of the fighter breaking the sound barrier taken by the high-speed camera ）

Once published , It has been widely concerned , And it is not uncommon in daily life , For example, in charge of speed measurement on the highway , Responsible for observing impact tests in automobile manufacturing , Shooting animation special effects and so on ……

Since it is widely used , Why in this winter Olympics , The high-speed camera is so eye-catching ？

For example, in the speed skating competition of the Winter Olympics , Top athletes can reach speeds of nearly... Per second 19.5 rice , If you use your usual mobile phone or wechat to capture the roaring picture , In the end, there is likely to be only a large fuzzy color patch . The high-speed camera can sample fast-moving targets many times in a very short time , So that the audience can live 、 Clearly see the wonderful pictures that are difficult to capture by the naked eye .

“ Cheetah ” The system allows the high-speed camera to 360 Meters long U On the track , Per second 25 Run at the speed of meters , Follow up the ice and snow sports in real time , Bring a better viewing experience .

There is one saying. , Since the first modern Olympic Games 100 For many years , Photography is closely related to sports events .1900 At the Paris Olympic Games , It uses a new technology of timing photography , You can shoot several frames , So as to analyze the movements of athletes . here we are 1952 year , Slit camera used in track and field event timing system , The resolution is 1/100 second .

In addition to the continuous progress of pixels , The functions of photographic equipment have also become more diversified , For example, in order to let the audience see the information of water sports , Cinematographer Garrett · Brown invented “ The first vertically descending camera system ”, Can shoot underwater 53 Foot picture , And in 1996 It made its debut at the 2008 Olympic Games .2008 Years and 2012 The Olympic Games of , Eagle eye is used Hawk-Eye System , To track the trajectory of the ball , Let the referee quickly and accurately judge whether the ball is on or off the court .2018 Pingchang Winter Olympics and 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games , Intel introduced a new computer tracking system for track and field events , And through 8K Clarity True VR The camera provides several events VR watch .

so to speak , The Olympic Games itself is also a venue for photography . During the Beijing Winter Olympics , The reason why high-speed cameras can make the public proud , With its demonstrated technological innovation ability ：

1. Clearer .

The use of high-speed cameras in the past , Like the highway 、 Scientific experiment, etc , Low resolution camera snapshots are often used , Instead of high-definition video , The playback picture is inevitably a little fuzzy . Most of the broadcast pictures of the Beijing Winter Olympics are 4K Ultra HD image quality .

“ Cheetah ” The full name is “ Superhigh speed 4K Orbital camera system ”,  The technical standard is per second 25 The speed of meters , amount to 90 Kilometers per hour , stay 360 Meters long U Running on track , Follow the athletes closely , Take a clear picture of the athletes' every move , HD image quality makes the broadcasting effect more impact and immersion . This is also the first time in history that the Olympic Games have been fully 4K Signal production and live broadcast .

besides ,8K As a future television broadcasting standard , It was also introduced in some important competitions at the Beijing Winter Olympics .

2. More real time .

“ Come on , Let's see how the Korean team fell ？”2 month 5 Japan , The Beijing Winter Olympics short track speed skating Mixed Team Relay finals have ended , Commentator Wang Meng just finished this sentence , The next second, the HD playback of the game screen appeared on the TV .

More immediate viewing experience , It is also a special experience of the Beijing Winter Olympics .

At the Tokyo Olympic Games last year , Regular basketball match in Saitama super arena, Japan , Bullet time technology system captured by high-speed camera is also used , adopt 38 A camera to provide 360 Angle of view and rotation angle . But this technology is limited to replay , It can't be used for live broadcast .

At the Beijing Winter Olympics , Thanks to the stability of the camera system , as well as 5G Technical support , It can process and output massive HD video data in real time , So that 360 The picture of degree perspective brings the audience .

3. More intelligent .

As the most advanced Winter Olympics by far ,2022 The Beijing Olympic Games also adopted a more intelligent camera system , Help athletes 、 Referees and others reduce the difficulty of homework .

In the pleasing figure skating competition , Because the action is complex , It is often difficult for layman audiences to fully understand what happened , It also tests the professional ability of commentators . We saw it on the figure skating field , A network of motion sensors and cameras are deployed around the ice , It can provide jumping height 、 A detailed analysis of distance and complexity , In addition to helping athletes better analyze competitive strategies 、 Optimize the action , It can also provide more comprehensive information for the audience , At the same time, reduce the pressure of referees .

In Zhangjiakou sub division , The Beijing Winter Olympics also absorbed the difficulties of shooting alpine skiing in the Pingchang Winter Olympics , Developed by Beijing University of Technology “ High speed moving target tracking and shooting system ”, Through the high-speed camera , Record the speed as high as 170 Kilometers of alpine skiing process ; And the automatic tracking system , Then quickly lock the skater , Reduce the difficulty of manual shooting ; Through the matrix composed of multiple cameras , The whole process of mobilization sliding down from the top of the mountain can be photographed , Even if it is inaccessible 、 Shooting bad sports , It can also be brilliantly presented to the audience .

Continuous innovation of photography technology , It has changed the content of our appreciation of winter ice and snow sports 、 Way and effect , Let nature give way 2022 The Beijing Winter Olympics is particularly eye-catching .

The technology chain behind the camera

Of course , New technologies are always accompanied by new challenges . therefore , High speed camera system and other camera technology can play a successful and wonderful role , Change the stage of the Olympic Games , Need a strong team to fight .

A complete set of high-speed imaging system , It is a chain connected by technology ：

1. Terminal equipment .

The high-speed camera should capture the instantaneous dynamic process that human eyes cannot see clearly , Keep up with fast and unpredictable objects , And it can play a stable role in complex outdoor lighting environment , The requirements for optical equipment are very high . The resolution of the 、 Sensitivity 、 Component size, etc , Have a great impact on performance .

Although high-speed cameras are not like lithography “ thetime ”, But for the production environment 、 There are certain requirements for the accuracy of production line equipment . Europe, America and Japan started earlier 、 Higher technology accumulation , at present , The world's leading high-speed camera enterprises are mainly concentrated in the United States 、 Japan and Europe .《2021 In depth Research Report on global and Chinese high-speed camera industry 》 Show , Leading enterprises include American Vision Research、Integrated Design Tools、Monitoring Technology, Japan Photron、NAC, Germany PCO AG、Mikrotron GmbH And Switzerland AOS Technologies etc. .

Independently developed by CCTV “ Cheetah ” popular , With the expansion of daily application , It may drive the continuous upgrading of China's high-speed camera industry chain .

（ Major league baseball stadium , Workers are installing a weatherproof housing for the high-speed camera ）

2. The storage system .

Ultra HD high-speed camera , It means that high-resolution images are constantly generated , The resulting file is larger , So the amount of data is amazing . In particular, the Olympic venues are also spread across many competition areas , It is necessary to transmit remote data in real time .

The storage system partners of the Beijing Winter Olympics are unknown , Dell was used in the Tokyo Olympics Dell EMC PowerScale series , Will Japan's two NBC Produced by the production site PB Level data , Unified remote storage on the file system located in the United States .

3. Real time broadcasting .

Cheetah is running , It will start and stop at any time according to the rhythm of the game 、 Speed up 、 Slow down , The generated power load will also fluctuate in real time , You can't strike because of power shortage . So during the Winter Olympics , In order to ensure “ Cheetah ” Work at your best , The power guarantee team also specially installed a special transformer for it , It can adapt to sudden changes in power load , At the same time, it is equipped with standby power supply , Ensure high reliable power supply .

and “ Cheetah ” The picture taken , Also thanks to 5G Wide coverage of the network , It realizes ultra-low delay live broadcast at home and abroad 、 attachment . According to the team of China Unicom, the partner of the Beijing Winter Olympics , The Winter Olympic venues are in the traditional 5G Based on the Internet , It also introduced 200M Carrier aggregation 、 Super up 、 Network slicing and other new features , Provide better 5G Web experience .

At the daily press conference of the Winter Olympics , Olympic Broadcasting Company OBS CEO Ian nice · Eksakes , Will also broadcast the record breaking results of this winter Olympics , Thanks to China's leading 5G technology .

meanwhile , As the first time in the history of the Olympic Games to achieve full cloud , The Beijing Winter Olympics has also made a sports entertainment program dependent on mass production , It has evolved into countless briefs that can be easily made on the cloud 、 Diverse programs , People can watch it freely anytime, anywhere .

Make content remotely through the cloud , And timely transmit , Many reporters do not need to go to the venue of the event to produce and output event related content , Adapt to user preferences of different platforms . This also makes many overseas audiences pass YouTube and Tik Tok、 facebook 、Instagram Such as platform , Watch the highlights of the event in time . Michael, a media historian at the University of Maine · Socolo （Michael Socolow） Think , Considering the hundreds of millions of views of the digital platform , The Beijing Winter Olympics will eventually become one of the most watched video events in American history . Coupled with a broad interest in China , The Beijing Olympic Games may become the most watched video program in world history .

4. software analysis .

In addition to real-time event broadcast , Most videos captured by high-speed cameras , Must upload to the server , Use specific software for analysis and processing , Serve various application scenarios .

During the game , In the past, the judgment was mainly based on the subjective consciousness of the referee , There is a mistake / Wrong view, etc , Through intelligent action visual tracking and evaluation system , It can provide the necessary motion capture for the referee 、 Evaluation and criteria , So as to judge whether the action conforms to the competition rules . During the Winter Olympics , Multi Channel HD cameras are deployed in the cubic venue , introduce “ Curling trajectory capture ” technology , Monitor and capture the curling track in real time , And projected onto the large screen in the field through rendering .

In daily training , These event video big data can also be used to continuously improve athlete training , Improve your performance . One of the common motion analysis systems at present , It is a video system based on multiple semi-automatic HD cameras （VID）, Record the details of the athletes' movements that are difficult to detect during training , Then, the analysis is assisted by intelligent image processing technology .

During the Winter Olympics , I used “3D+AI” technology , The big diving platform of Shougang was carried out in 1∶1 3D reconstruction and virtual restoration , At the same time through AI Summarize the video 、 Action extraction and other processing , Quickly summarize and sort out , Let the audience understand the game easily and immersively .

before , The way people perceive high-speed cameras , It's more likely to be when paying a ticket for speeding . The Winter Olympics , Maybe it's the high-speed camera in the entertainment media 、 Sports and other fields , Closer to the public . From industrial application to public vision , The high-speed camera brings more fairness 、 More reassuring 、 More exciting watching experience , It's not an epitome of China's technology industry .

From the hardware device 、 Transmission pipeline , Then to the software system , Technological breakthroughs in every link , Every relevant industry strives to be the first , Together support a different 、 High standard Olympic Games .

Behind sports , It is an equally intense and wonderful all-round scientific and technological competition .