How Hawkeye Works?

Hawkeye is the brainchild of Paul Hawkins,

who has a PhD in artificial intelligence.

Hawk-eye consists of image processing

technologies, 3D modeling technologies and
laws of physics. There will be six high speed
cameras placed at different locations of the
stadium covering the whole play in different
angles. Because of the six cameras tracking the
ball, Hawkeye picks up the exact spot where the
ball pitches. During each frame of the video
captured by those cameras, computer system
identifies the group of pixels which corresponds
to the actual ball. Usually the cameras used in
hawk-eye system record the action at 60 frames
a second, which is about double the speed of
standard commercial TV cameras. The left
image shows the positions of the cameras while
covering a tennis match.

After that, the three dimensional position of the ball is calculated by comparing the position
against at least two other cameras (at least five cameras in total). Then those derived 3D location
data are stored in a predefined model of the playing area (stadium). This process is called as
‘triangulation’.

Even though it calculates the three dimensional location, it’s more likely a "four-dimensional"
technology, because the time is also added to the triangulation process. So that places the ball in
space, synchronized with the time. It works similar to satellite-based global positioning system
locates a car on the road, but with a precision in millimeters rather than meters.

Using those location data, system can calculate the next movements of the ball by applying laws
of physics. System is capable of calculating where the ball will interact with any of the playing
area features already programmed into the database. Furthermore Hawkeye can be taught about
the game rules so it can take more sophisticated decisions for human umpires.

Finally to give the visual outcome system, usually virtual reality software (similar to ones used in
computer games), generates a real time graphic image of the ball path and playing area, which
can be used for the benefits of umpires, television viewers or coaching staff.

Hawkeye also measures the speed of the ball from the bowler's hand, so it will tell you exactly
how much time the batsman has to react to a ball.