Goal-line Technology Design Process Technical - Research Paper Example

Different football stakeholders around the world have made the calls for the technology. These calls have intensified since 2010 in the English Premier League (EPL), recent World Cup games, and the just concluded Euro 2012. However, the calls to implement the technology started in 2000 after referee error in judging penalty shootout between Nigeria and Cameroon enabled the latter to win the Africa Cup of Nations (BBC Sport, 2012). The television replays showed that the ball completely went over the goal line after hitting the cross bar but the referee failed to award the goal.

Similar errors were also reported in the EPL and the recent World Cup (Conway 2012). The notable matches that have led to intensified calls for the technology include Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur (2005), Germany and England FIFA World Cup (2010), and Ukraine and England in Euro 2012.  Hawk-Eye Company, based in England, developed the goal-line technology. The company has offered similar services in other games such as tennis and cricket. FIFA has adopted the use of the technology and plan to implement it during the 2014 World Cup, hosted in Japan.

It is notable that several other companies are also working on developing this technology under different names. FIFA plans to use Goal Control system in 2014 World Cup while the EPL already contracted the Hawk-Eye Company to provide the service in the current season.  The goal-line technology (GLT) is aimed at assisting match officials in making decisions. on when to award or deny goals in cases when it is not very clear whether the ball has crossed the goal line (FIFA 2012). The technology provides information in relation to whether the ball has completely gone over the goal line.

Match officials use the information to make their final decisions. The societal need the technology seeks to serve is therefore to eliminate the errors that referees make while officiating matches (FIFA 2012). Awarding a goal wrongly to one team remains the greatest injustice in competitive football matches. In addition, refusing to award another team a goal when the ball has completely passed the goal line also hinders the chances of such teams from winning the games and this is a great unfairness to the team and players.

The Goal-line Technology Product Design and Operation The Hawk-Eye Company created their first technology in the year 1999. The company has continued to improve the product over the years through testing and application. The company has experience in developing the technology as it has created similar ones for tennis and cricket games. The technology is founded on triangulation principles (FIFA 2012). It integrates pictorial images and timing statistics. The technology uses high speed video cameras put at different locations around the field of play.

However, most of the cameras are normally located near the goal. The technology integrates high frame rate cameras, which triangulate and follows the trajectory of the ball. It has software, which also calculates the location of the ball (FIFA 2012). The software does this through pinpointing the