Which soccer fan hasn’t already asked himself while sitting in the stands: who is this player? Where does he come from? How long has he been playing for this team? Why did he make that pass to the right? What other possibilities did he have? Which is statistically the best offensive team, or how many goals could they have scored…? Soccer fans already have access to all that information when at home in front of their TV. The Augmented Match app developed jointly by Orange and Immersiv.io allows for a professional look and additional info right from the stands. An augmented reality solution that, in 2021, took advantage of the benefits of 5G in the first French stadium covered by the network: the Orange Velodrome in Marseille. An opportunity for real-life experimentation implemented by the Orange Velodrome’s 5G Lab team.
IMMERSIV.IO experimented with 5G!
Line of Business
Use Case
Start-up's needs
Être libéré de toute contrainte de raccordement au réseau fixe (fibre ou cuivre) afin de faciliter l'installation des capteurs météorologiques aux endroits stratégiques de captation de ces données en zone urbaine, péri-urbaine et rurale.
5G Assets
Provide the lowest possible latency to avoid any lag between the actions on the field, the augmented reality data, and the digital twins of the players.
Orange 5G Lab asset: create a fertile ecosystem for experimentation
“To be tested, the Augmented Match solution required real players on the field,” explains Guillaume Chabas, Director of Innovation and Partnerships at the Orange Velodrome’s 5G Lab. The Orange innovation team in the Paris region, which was already in contact with the start-up for other 5G experiments, asked us to take over this one. Despite the health lockdown, we worked with Olympique de Marseille to continue experimenting during the games.” The project team was able to access eight matches at a rate of one every 15 days! “This type of experimentation requires a great deal of upstream work. Our very first role, beyond our technological expertise, particularly in 5G, was to create a link between the project team and the partners of the sports ecosystem. We created the right conditions for testing such an ambitious project. For the experiment to be successful, it was necessary to involve the Professional Football League (LFP) and its partner, Stats Perform – the company in charge of collecting all match data in real-time for soccer teams.”
Revolutionizing the fan experience
Data is completely changing the way sports are played, how performances are evaluated, and how people watch competitions. The Augmented Match application is the proof! Live from the Orange Velodrome, spectators will be able to experience a match with a range of statistical and technical information. After downloading the application, the spectator scans the field in a few seconds with his phone, then he has nothing to do but enjoy,” says Guillaume Chabas. He has two options: the automatic tracking mode with information that appears according to the match, or an on-demand mode, which allows him to choose on his screen the player on whom he wants to obtain more data (name, number of kilometers, passes, etc.)
Augmented Match processes three categories of data:
- Purely statistical data, like the number of goals scored
- Hot data that is implemented during the match (heat maps, passes, turnovers, etc.)
- In real-time data like the name of the ball carrier and the potential passes that the player can make.
“Particularly on this last category of data, we see all the benefits of 5G, says the Director of Innovation and Partnerships of the 5G Lab at the Orange Velodrome. Thanks to its low latency, the experimentation showed no difference to the naked eye between the player running on the field and his digital twin.”
Beyond-the-network support
The 5G Lab team at the Orange Velodrome provided the start-up with SIM cards on the Orange 5G network and also supplied the necessary equipment such as Nreal-type augmented reality glasses. The 5G Lab team support takes place during the games and with the ecosystems so that this experimentation meets the challenges of the fans’ experience.
In other words, the 5G Lab team at the Orange Velodrome was a great asset for Immersiv.io. “Immersiv.io mainly deals with data enhancement via an augmented reality overlay display. This experiment at the Orange Velodrome was an opportunity for them to develop their knowledge in data collection, server interconnection, APIs (application programming interface), and the 5G network.” Subjects on which the Orange Velodrome’s 5G Lab team has real expertise.
