The Olympic Games give us an opportunity to see some of the world’s greatest athletes compete against one another in a wide variety of sports. While the focus will still be placed squarely on the talent and ability demonstrated by these fantastic athletes, there is also a lot of amazing technology being used at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler too.
For instance, you know the gold, silver, and bronze medals being awarded to the winners? They took discarded circuit boards and collected the useful metals in them (gold, silver, and copper). The Royal Canadian Mint then recycled them into the highly treasured discs. If you’re wondering about the wavy design, that’s mean to mimic the topographic diversity of Vancouver.
Whether you notice it or not, the geeks have clearly left their mark.
Olympic Torch Designed by Bombardier
Even before the Opening Ceremonies kicked things off on February 12, we go to witness over 100 days of amazing with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch. Traveling more than 45,000 kilometres across Canada, the Olympic Torch was designed and manufactured by Bombardier.
Better known for its rail equipment and civil aircraft, Bombardier designed the torch to mirror the “contours of Canada’s winter landscape” and to symbolize the “tracks created in snow and ice by winter sports.” But that’s just the looks; what about the tech?
Since it would have to work under all kinds of weather conditions, including temperatures as low as -38 degrees Celsius in the Yukon, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch was designed to withstand extreme winds too. The fuel blend of propane and isobutane allows it to keep burning and the vent on the side makes the flame “unfurl like a flag.”
Share Your Design with Vectorial Elevation
Alongside the Winter Olympics in Vancouver is the Cultural Olympiad. As you make your way around the city, you can soak in all sorts of cultural events too and part of this is Vectorial Elevation. It was originally created in 1999 and it is comprised of several Xenon 10kW robotic searchlights.
Big deal right? The kicker with Vectorial Elevation is that you can submit your own configuration for these searchlights online and have that design queued up for actual display. This is powered with four webcams, Linux servers, Google Earth 3D DMX interface, and some custom software.
Curling Keeps Eye on the Hog
Did you know that I was a city champion curler in high school? Then again, did you know that my school’s team was the only one in our city?
Even though the sport of curling looks pretty low-tech with its brooms and stones, there is actually a lot of technology involved! One of the more interesting innovations being used at the Olympic Games is called Eye on the Hog and it takes away human error for one vital aspect of the game.
You must release the rock prior to reaching the hog line and, normally, there is a human judge there to watch for this. With Eye on the Hog, the handle on the stone is coated in metallic paint. There is also a magnetic strip frozen into the ice that is equal in distance from the hog line as the radius of the stone, as shown above.
Thanks to the circuitry in the handle, it can detect if the bare hand of the curler is still in contact with the metallic handle past the hog line. A green light turns on with a valid release and a red light flashes if there is a violation. The efficient battery can last over 150 games.
Incredibly Long Fiber Network for Sportsnet
When have this many hours of high-definition video being pumped through over the course of the 17-day Olympic Games, you need to make sure that you have a suitable infrastructure in place. The crazy kooks at Sportsnet handled this by setting up their own data center in Vancouver, storing terabyte upon terabyte of video content.
But what about all the video feeds that are coming in from the Richmond Olympic Oval, Cypress Mountain, and the Whistler venues? How can you pump it through fast enough from that kind of distance? Fiber optics, that’s how.
In fact, Sportsnet established a fiber network that spans from Vancouver to Whistler, covering well over 100km along the way. By doing so, they are able to feed you with plenty of high-definition video highlights straight to your computer. Can’t catch the live feed on TV? Watch it on the ‘net instead.
Skate-Mounted Transponder in Speed Skating
When fractions of a second mean the difference between a gold medal and coming in dead last, you need an incredible level of accuracy and precision. The way that they do this for speed skating is with a special athlete tracking system.
Buried in the ice is a simple antenna and this is connected to a transponder detector, which is in turn connected to a computer. The athletes then wear a small transponder (just a few grams, less than 3cm square) on their ankles, secured in place with a neoprene strap.
Whereas summer running events are based on any part of the body crossing the finish line with the photo finish, this transponder system relies solely on the ankle. That’s why you’ll notice speed skaters lurch their foot forward when they get to the finish line.
The system then calculates their time with accuracy down to 1/1000th of a second and the information is sent instantly to scoreboards.
Taking the Olympic Games on the Go
So, you’re not close to a television or a computer? You can still stay on top of all the latest results thanks to the range of mobile sites and smartphone applications available out there.
For Canadians, there is 2010Guide, the official Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games App from Bell Mobility. Available for the iPhone, this location-aware app is a free download and it can give you turn-by-turn directions to the venues and events. You can also see real-time news, photos, and Twitter streams.
Similarly, you can download the CTVOlympics.ca iPhone app (which is also accessible as a mobile site on m.ctyolympics.ca) to get all the latest results, news, medal standings, and more.
Welcome to the Tech-Savvy Olympics
Vancouver is known for a lot of things. It has great restaurants and fantastic green space, but now you can see some of the great tech involved in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. This was just the tip of the iceberg too.
Go Canada Go!
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