System and method for using weather applied metrics for predicting the flight of a football
AssigneeWeather Applied Metrics, Inc.
InventorsDouglas Milton Sinton, John Amirault Farley, Kenneth Martin Arneson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for using weather applied metrics for determining the impact of weather conditions on the flight of a football at an outside football venue. Historical and current data for weather parameters, including wind, air pressure, humidity, temperature, and rain, are obtained to calculate the influence of each parameter on the flight of a football. Weather instruments, such as weather sensors, anemometers, LiDAR and SODAR devices, weather consoles, data routing devices, and processors can be included in a system for using weather applied metrics to predict the flight of a football based on current weather conditions.
Claims19
A computer-implemented method of determining an impact of weather parameters on a flight of a football at an outdoor football venue, the method comprising:
- providing a digital model of the outdoor football venue to a processor;
- at the processor, obtaining real-time data for at least one weather parameter at or near the outdoor football venue, wherein the at least one weather parameter is wind and the real-time data is obtained from at least one weather sensor positioned upstream of the outdoor football venue;
- at the processor, inputting the real-time data for the at least one weather parameter into a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model;
- at the processor, using the CFD model with the inputted real-time data and the digital model of the outdoor football venue to produce three-dimensional wind vectors at grid-points in the digital model of the outdoor football venue;
- at the processor, using the three-dimensional wind vectors to calculate in real-time a trajectory of the football at the outdoor football venue based on the real-time data obtained for the at least one weather parameter, the calculated trajectory of the football accounting for the impact of the at least one weather parameter, wherein the trajectory of the football is calculated using a selected cross-sectional area of the football, the cross-sectional area of the football selected based on whether the football is thrown, punted, or kicked;
- and
- displaying on a screen at least one of the calculated trajectory of the football and a calculation of the impact of the at least one weather parameter on the calculated trajectory of the football.
A system comprising:
- a data storage that contains wind model data for an outdoor football venue;
- at least one processor, wherein at least one processor contains a digital model of the outdoor football venue;
- and
- a machine-readable medium including instructions stored therein, which when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations in real-time comprising:
- at the at least one processor, obtaining current weather data comprising wind data;
- and
- at the at least one processor, calculating a trajectory of a football at the outdoor football venue, using the wind model data and the current weather data, taking into account impact of current weather conditions on movement of the football at the outdoor football venue based on the obtained current weather data for current weather parameters, wherein calculating the trajectory comprises using a computational fluid dynamics model that generates three-dimensional wind vectors at the outdoor football venue, wherein the trajectory of the football is calculated using a selected cross-sectional area of the football, the cross-sectional area of the football selected based on whether the football is thrown, punted, or kicked;
- at least one wind sensor positioned upstream of the outdoor football venue, wherein obtaining current weather data further comprises receiving weather data from the at least one wind sensor;
- and
- a display for outputting in real time the calculated trajectory of the football or calculations based on the calculated trajectory of the football.
A computer-implemented method of determining an impact of parameters on a flight of a football at a football venue in real time, the method comprising:
- obtaining real-time data from at least one weather sensor positioned upstream of the football venue;
- at a processor, calculating in real time a flight of the football based on at least one of the parameters, wherein the parameters comprise an aim of a kicker and a spin of the football in flight, and wherein the flight of the football is calculated using a selected cross-sectional area of the football, the cross-sectional area of the football selected based on whether the football is thrown, punted, or kicked;
- and
- displaying on a screen at least one of the flight of the ball calculated by the processor and a deviation on the flight caused by at least one of the parameters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.