A comparison between UWB and GPS devices in the measurement of external load and collective tactical behaviour variables during a professional official match

The Influence of Antenna Height on the Measurement of Collective Variables Using an Ultra-Wide Band Based Local Positioning System in Team Sports

“…Specifically, the use of LPS was summarized into twenty-three items where the height of antennae was one of them. The antennae are usually installed in different team sport facilities by a sport scientist [ 12 , 24 , 25 ] instead of by providers. Thus, the assessment of the influence of the height of the antennae for the measurement of tactical variables may help sport analyst professionals to record information with a greater quality of the data.…”

“…As it has only been assessed one time previously [ 23 ] a further analysis to corroborate the findings is necessary. In this way, collective variables are more sensible because they can report an accumulative error arisen from the computation of each player positioning [ 12 ]. In addition, the greater magnitudes that suppose collective variables other than time-motion variables may enhance the possible reported bias with different installation heights.…”

“…The analysis of positional data and, subsequently, of collective metrics, is fully available thanks to electronic performance and tracking systems (EPTS). Among the different tracking systems, local positioning systems (LPS) have been highlighted as the most accurate system to measure collective tactical behavior in team sports [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Specifically, between different technologies in which LPS are based (i.e., ultrasound, ultra-wide band (UWB)), UWB seems to be the most promising technology due to the bandwidth and possibility of operating in multipath environments [ 15 , 16 , 17 ] where even with 28 devices turned on it has shown a high accuracy [ 18 ].…”

“…The results suggested that the height of the antennae should be similar to the height at which the device is located on a player’s upper back (i.e., around 1.6 m height) [ 23 ]. As this study considered individually analyzed athlete movements, did not consider collective metrics and highlighted that a slight error in the computation of a player position may cause a substantial deviation from the gold standard in a collective metric, it seems to be of interest to assess the influence of the height of antennae on the measurement of collective variables [ 12 ]. Therefore, the current study aimed to compare the influence of antenna height with the measurement of collective variables (i.e., distances and areas).…”

Variability of the Motor Behavior during Continued Practice of the Same Motor Game: A Preliminary Study

“…The antennae are transmitters and receivers of radio-frequency signals, computerizing the position of the devices that are in their coverage area, while the device receives that calculation using time difference of arrival (TDOA) [30]. This equipment and its measurements are valid, reliable for physical (e.g., distance covered) and tactical (e.g., surface area) analysis assessment [31,32] and has been awarded with the FIFA Quality Performance certificate. Moreover, data collection followed the protocol suggested by Rico-González et al [33] on the use of technology, scoring twenty-one points out of twenty-three in their survey.…”