World Cup showcases technology that goes beyond CCTVs, live video feeds.
Nothing can ever rival the excitement of watching a football match from a stadium. Football fans will swear by this. If that wasn’t enough, those at the Durban stadium — one of the 10 FIFA 2010 World Cup stadiums in South Africa — may revel in the fact that they’re sitting in the world’s first quantum stadium.
Quantum ‘cryptography’ (anything written in secret code) is a new method that provides an ultra-high communication security solution. It encodes data within quantum particles.
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This implies a high-level security system along the optical fibre communication link between the stadium and the Joint Operations Centre during the World Cup. The project was carried out by the University of KwaZulu Natal’s (UKZN) Centre for Quantum Technology, in partnership with the city of Durban.
Information conveyed through optical fibre links is very often not encrypted, and therefore vulnerable to tapping, using equipment readily available via the internet. The system used at FIFA 2010, however, will make it almost impossible for hackers to tap into communication between the two points via telephone, email and video links. Hackers will first have to break the laws of quantum mechanics to intercept the information without being noticed.
Even as India readies itself for Commonwealth Games 2010, the FIFA 2010 World Cup is showing the way as a veritable showcase of technology that does not limit itself to just closed circuit TVs (CCTVs), providing live feeds and streaming videos.
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Application
Consider this. The official ball — the Adidas Jabulani (the latter means ‘to celebrate’ in Zulu), is no ordinary plaything. It ushers in some major advances in football technology. Its grip ‘n’ groove texture, for instance, allows for maximum control, stable flight and perfect grip under all conditions. The grip ‘n’ groove’s profile circles twist around the entire ball in an optimal aerodynamic way and the integrated grooves provide unmatched flight characteristics, making this the most stable and most accurate Adidas ball ever.
As opposed to the flat-panelled molding of previous Adidas footballs, the Jabulani comprises eight thermally-bonded 3D panels that have been, for the first time ever, spherically moulded to make this ball a perfectly-round football that is more accurate than ever before, according to Thomas Van Schaik, the head of global public relations for Adidas.
FIFA has also taken care of blind and visually-impaired soccer fans. Six stadiums will each have 15 seats equipped with headphones, and trained commentators will report live on the action happening down on the pitch.
South Africa has made significant investments into its information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in a bid to meet its commitments to FIFA. A dedicated network links the 10 venues and the rest of the world to the images from the football matches. FIFA also required that South Africa’s telecommunication infrastructure be upgraded to make broadband accessible to all its venues.
The demands were huge. The 2006 FIFA World Cup was broadcast to 214 countries and territories on 376 channels, with a total coverage of over 73,000 hours. The global TV audience was 26.3 billion. FIFA expects the numbers to rise dramatically this year.
HDTV and 3D
The 2010 World Cup will also be the first broadcast in high-definition (HD) television. This is not all. The ‘3D World Created by Sony’ allows visitors to watch highlights of the 25 matches filmed during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in full 3D screening. The 240-seater dome in Nelson Mandela Square will feature not only 3D football images, but also provide entertainment. 3D pavilions will also be located at three stadiums.
Meanwhile, the filmed action will be sent about 8,000 miles from South Africa to ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, via a fibre-optic line under the Atlantic Ocean. It will then be transmitted from Bristol to viewers’ homes on the same video stream as HD feeds.
Meanwhile, if you have a 3D-ready TV set and 3D glasses, you can watch football in 3D on ESPN. But the service has been made available only in the US.
The internet, however, knows no boundaries. Cyberaddicts will have all the games streamed live on ESPN3.com.
Incidentally, Japan is said to be wooing FIFA for the 2022 World Cup with its tech capabilities like using cameras to enable viewers to virtually position themselves on the pitch alongside the players. It also plans an ‘Automatic Translation System’ which will enable fans from different countries to "talk" with each other in their own languages.