Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS have developed an intelligent camera designed for sport broadcasts that, along with the standard images, delivers metadata about athletes or competitors, such as acceleration, temperature or heart rate.
The INCA camera not only renders images in HD broadcasting quality, it is also equipped with a diversity of sensors that provide data on GPS position, acceleration, temperature and air pressure. In addition, the camera can be connected to external systems via Bluetooth or WLAN: for instance, a chest harness to track heart rate, or face recognition software that can open up completely new perspectives. In addition, the camera can also be combined with object recognition and voice detection systems. It is hoped the camera will give viewers additional insight into those athletes competing.
Despite its tiny size (2 x 2 x 8cm), the miniature camera is powerful enough to handle professional film and TV productions, thanks to its high performance capacity and minimal power consumption. INCA can with stand sand and dust, cold and debris, and can be readily installed as a helmet camera.
In addition to athletic and event broadcasts, other potential areas of application include natural history documentaries, as well as expeditions.
INCA possesses enough computer power to execute complex algorithms. As a result, it can correct objective errors and compress HD videos in real time.
