At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, apart from the opening ceremony chief director "Zhang emo", the person who was thanked by the whole people was the 4K high-definition camera system "Cheetah".

 

Especially after Chinese short track speed skater Ren Ziwei won the men's 1,000-meter gold medal, the "Cheetah" installed in the "Ice Ribbon" of the National Speed Skating Stadium was considered to be a major contributor to making fouls invisible. However, CCTV, which built the Cheetah system, quickly came out to refute the rumors:

 

1. "Cheetah" is not a referee system, but is specially used for broadcasting the Winter Olympics speed skating events, which means it is specially designed to serve our broad audience.

 

 

2. The "Han Jianchou" camera that was ridiculed by netizens captured the foul action in the men's 1,000-meter short track speed skating final on February 7. It was actually the "Flying Cat" system located at the Capital Gymnasium, which consisted of 40 4K ultra-high-definition cameras. The camera array plus three 8K VR cameras is not only used for broadcasting, but also assists in decision-making.

 

 

3. The referee system that truly serves game decisions is a set of special cameras independently installed at key shooting locations to capture the actions of athletes. The pictures of this system are not the live pictures we see on TV.

 

The "Cheetah" who was thanked by the whole people, although it had nothing to do with the penalty result, relied on his high-speed and flexible posture to capture wonderful scenes in real time, helping the Beijing Winter Olympics to become the highest-rated Winter Olympics in history.

 

At the recent daily press conference of the Beijing Winter Olympics, OBS CEO Iannis Exakos revealed that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be the first time that UHD and HDR will be used at the Winter Olympics. technology, that is, ultra-high definition and high dynamic range 4K technology for broadcast and production. On the fourth day of the Games, there were already more than 6,000 hours of content, including the games themselves, athlete interviews after each game, media reports on different platforms, etc., setting a new record in the history of Winter Olympics broadcasts.

 

 

From this perspective, both "Cheetah" and "Flying Cat" are very worthy of gratitude.

 

However, just as high-speed cameras can capture things that are invisible to the naked eye, the high-speed camera system that highly restores the moment of the game is actually a large-scale comprehensive technology project, and there are also a lot of little-known technological innovations behind it. Let’s talk about it today. Let’s talk about those behind-the-scenes technology heroes who also deserve thanks.

 

 

 

The best of the Winter Olympics under high-speed cameras

 

As early as 2021, the "Cheetah" system has begun to be put into use and has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS). This Winter Olympics can set new records in terms of broadcast duration and content production methods, and high-speed cameras obviously contribute a lot.

 

As a device that can capture moving images with an exposure of less than 1/1000 second or a frame rate exceeding 250 frames per second, a high-speed camera (High Speed Camera) has a high frame rate, so after recording, the image is stored on the media When projected at regular speed, it can provide a "super slow motion" viewing experience.

 

 

(High-speed camera footage of a fighter jet breaking the sound barrier)

 

Once it came out, it received widespread attention, and it is actually not uncommon in daily life. For example, it is responsible for measuring speed on the highway, observing crash tests in automobile manufacturing, shooting animation special effects, etc...

 

Since they are widely used, why are high-speed cameras so eye-catching in this Winter Olympics?

 

 

For example, in the speed skating competition at the Winter Olympics, top athletes can reach speeds of nearly 19.5 meters per second. If you use an ordinary mobile phone or mirrorless camera to capture a picture of the person whizzing by, you will probably end up with only a large blur of color. High-speed cameras can sample fast-moving targets multiple times in a short period of time, allowing viewers to see exciting images in real time and clearly that are difficult to capture with the naked eye.

 

The "Cheetah" system allows high-speed cameras to run at a speed of 25 meters per second on a 360-meter-long U-shaped track, tracking ice and snow sports in real time, bringing a better viewing experience.

 

It is said that in the more than 100 years since the first modern Olympic Games, photography technology has been closely linked to sports events. At the 1900 Paris Olympics, a new technology of timing photography was used, which could capture several frames to analyze the movements of athletes. By 1952, the slit camera used in the timing system of track and field events had a resolution of 1/100 second.

 

 

In addition to the continuous advancement of pixels, the functions of photography equipment have also become more diversified. For example, in order to allow the audience to see water sports information, cinematographer Garrett Brown invented "the first vertical descent camera system". It can film footage up to 53 feet underwater and debuted at the 1996 Olympics. In the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, the Hawk-Eye system was used to track the trajectory of the ball, allowing referees to quickly and accurately determine whether the ball was on or off the court. For the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Intel introduced a new computer tracking system for track and field competitions, and also provided VR viewing of several events through 8K-definition True VR cameras.

 

 

It can be said that the Olympic Games itself is also a venue for photography technology. During the Beijing Winter Olympics, the reason why the public was proud of high-speed cameras was the technological innovation capabilities they demonstrated:

 

1. Clearer.

 

In the past, high-speed cameras were used in scenarios such as highways and scientific experiments, which often used low-resolution camera snapshots instead of high-definition photography, so the playback images were inevitably a bit blurry. Most of the broadcast images of the Beijing Winter Olympics are in 4K ultra-high definition quality.

 

The full name of "Cheetah" is "Ultra-high-speed 4K track camera system". The technical standard is a speed of 25 meters per second, which is equivalent to a speed of 90 kilometers per hour. It runs on a 360-meter-long U-shaped track, closely tracks athletes, and takes clear photos. The high-definition picture quality of every move of the athletes makes the broadcast effect more impactful and immersive. This is also the first time in history that full 4K signal production and live broadcast of the Olympic Games has been carried out.

 

In addition, 8K, as a future television broadcast standard, has also been introduced in some important competitions at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

 

2. More real-time.

 

"Come on, let's see how the Korean team fell?" On February 5, the short track speed skating mixed team relay final of the Beijing Winter Olympics was over. The commentator Wang Meng had just finished saying this. The next second the TV A high-definition replay of the event appeared on the screen.

 

A more immediate viewing experience is also a special experience of this Beijing Winter Olympics.

 

At last year's Tokyo Olympics, regular basketball games at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan also used a bullet time technology system captured by high-speed cameras, providing 360-degree and rotational viewing angles through 38 cameras. But this technology is limited to replays and cannot yet be used for live broadcasts.

 

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, thanks to the stability of the camera system and the support of 5G technology, it can process and output massive high-definition video data in real time, thereby bringing 360-degree images to the audience in real time.

 

 

3. Smarter.

 

As the most technologically advanced Winter Olympics to date, the 2022 Beijing Olympics will also use smarter camera systems to help athletes, referees, etc. reduce the difficulty of their operations.

 

In a pleasing figure skating event, due to the complex movements, it is often difficult for lay viewers to fully understand what is happening, and it also tests the professional ability of the commentators. We see that in figure skating arenas, motion sensors and camera networks are deployed around the ice, which can provide detailed analysis of the height, distance and complexity of jumps. In addition to helping athletes better analyze competitive strategies and optimize movements, it can also Providing more comprehensive information to viewers while reducing pressure on referees.

 

 

In the Zhangjiakou sub-division, the Beijing Winter Olympics also learned from the difficulties of shooting alpine skiing in the Pingchang Winter Olympics. The "high-speed moving target tracking and shooting system" developed by Beijing Institute of Technology can record speeds up to 170 kilometers per hour through high-speed cameras. The process of alpine skiing; the automatic tracking system quickly locks on the sliding athletes, reducing the difficulty of manual photography; through a matrix composed of multiple cameras, the entire process of the athletes sliding down from the top of the mountain can be captured, even in inaccessible and inaccessible areas. Sports that are filmed in harsh environments can also be presented to the audience wonderfully.

 

 

The continuous innovation of photography technology has changed the content, methods and effects of how we appreciate winter ice and snow sports, naturally making the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics particularly eye-catching.

 

The technical chain behind the camera

 

 

 

Of course, new technologies always come with new challenges. Therefore, it takes a strong team effort for high-speed camera systems and other camera technologies to work successfully and brilliantly to change the stage of the Olympic Games.

 

A complete high-speed imaging system is a chain of technologies:

 

1. Terminal equipment.

 

High-speed cameras must capture instantaneous dynamic processes that are invisible to the human eye, keep up with fast and unpredictable objects, and be able to function stably in complex outdoor lighting environments, which places high demands on optical equipment. Resolution, sensitivity, component size, etc. all have a great impact on performance.

 

Although high-speed cameras are not as "stuck" as lithography machines, they have certain requirements for the production environment and the accuracy of production line equipment. European, American and Japanese countries started earlier and accumulated higher technology. Currently, the world's leading high-speed camera companies are mainly concentrated in the United States, Japan and Europe. The "2021 Global and China High-speed Camera Industry In-Depth Research Report" shows that leading companies include Vision Research, Integrated Design Tools, and Monitoring Technology in the United States, Photron and NAC in Japan, PCO AG and Mikrotron GmbH in Germany, and AOS Technologies in Switzerland.

 

The popularity of the "Cheetah" independently developed by CCTV may lead to the continuous upgrading of China's high-speed camera industry chain as the scale of daily applications expands.

 

 

(Major League Baseball Stadium, workers are installing weatherproof housing for high-speed cameras)

 

2. Storage system.

 

Ultra-high-definition high-speed cameras mean that high-resolution images are continuously generated and the files generated are larger, so the amount of data is also staggering. In particular, Olympic venues are spread across multiple competition areas, requiring real-time transmission of off-site data.

 

The storage system partner of the Beijing Winter Olympics is currently unknown. The Dell EMC PowerScale series was used at the Tokyo Olympics to remotely store petabyte-level data generated by two NBC production venues in Japan in a unified and remote file system in the United States. on the system.

 

 

3. Real-time broadcast.

 

When the Cheetah is running, it will start, stop, accelerate, and decelerate at any time according to the rhythm of the game. The power load generated will also fluctuate in real time, and it cannot go on strike due to power shortage. Therefore, during the Winter Olympics, in order to ensure that the "Cheetah" works at its maximum capacity, the power support team also specially installed a special transformer for it, which can adapt to sudden changes in power load. It is also equipped with a backup power supply to ensure highly reliable power supply. .

 

The images captured by the "Cheetah" also benefited from the extensive coverage of 5G networks, enabling ultra-low-latency live broadcasts and connections at home and abroad. According to the China Unicom team, a partner of the Beijing Winter Olympics, on the basis of the traditional 5G network, the Winter Olympics venues have also introduced new features such as 200M carrier aggregation, super uplink, and network slicing to provide a better 5G network experience. .

 

At the daily press conference of the Winter Olympics, Iannis Exakos, CEO of the Olympic broadcasting company OBS, also attributed the record-breaking results of the Winter Olympics broadcasting to China's leading 5G technology.

 

 

At the same time, as the first time in the history of the Olympic Games that all went to the cloud, the Beijing Winter Olympics also transformed a sports entertainment program that relied on mass production into countless short and diverse programs that can be easily produced on the cloud. Watch freely anytime, anywhere.

 

By producing content remotely in the cloud and transmitting it in a timely manner, many reporters can produce and produce event-related content without going to the event venue, adapting to user preferences on different platforms. This also allows many overseas viewers to watch the exciting content of the event in a timely manner through platforms such as YouTube, Tik Tok, Facebook, and Instagram. Michael Socolow, a media historian at the University of Maine, believes that given the hundreds of millions of views on digital platforms, the Beijing Winter Olympics will eventually become one of the most-watched video events in U.S. history. Combined with widespread interest in China, the Beijing Olympics could become the most watched video program in world history.

 

4. Software analysis.

 

In addition to real-time event broadcasts, most videos captured by high-speed cameras must be uploaded to the server and analyzed and processed using specific software to serve various application scenarios.

 

During the competition, in the past, penalties were mainly based on the referee's subjective consciousness, and there were errors/mistakes. The intelligent action visual tracking and evaluation system can provide the referee with the necessary motion capture, evaluation and standards to determine whether the action complies with the competition rules. . During the Winter Olympics, multiple high-definition cameras were deployed in the Cube venue, and "curling motion trajectory capture" technology was introduced to monitor and capture the curling trajectory in real time, and projected it on the large screen in the venue through rendering.

 

In daily training, these event video big data can also be used to continuously improve athlete training and improve competition performance. One of the common sports analysis systems currently is a video system (VID) based on multiple semi-automatic high-definition cameras, which records the details of athletes' movements that are difficult to detect during training, and then assists in analysis through intelligent image processing technology.

 

During the Winter Olympics, "3D+AI" technology was used to carry out 1:1 three-dimensional reconstruction and virtual restoration of the Shougang Big Diving Platform. At the same time, AI was used to summarize and action extract the video to quickly summarize and sort it out. The audience understands the game easily and immersively.