RFID tags keeping pace with the “fastest game on earth”

Devoted sport fans want to know every detail about their beloved sport, players and matches. Now, with Smartrac’s RFID technology and a tracking solution from solvistas, Austria’s ice hockey league delivers what hockey maniacs desire most.

How long has a player been on the ice? Which players are on the ice now or were on the ice at a specific point in the match? How many times has a player been on the ice during a match – or during the whole season? What’s the percentage of players from Austria? Information like this is difficult to obtain in real-time using cameras, stopwatches and notepads. With “solTimeOnIce”, an advanced tracking system developed by solvistas in cooperation with the hockey club Liwest Black Wings Linz, a club in Austria’s “Erste Bank Eishockey Liga” (EBEL), it is possible and easy – thanks to advanced RFID technology.

Reliable time-on-ice measurement as the base parameter
The players’ helmets and trousers are equipped with Smartrac’s ShortDipole inlays, while readers and antennas are installed in the substitute bench areas. With a special RFID reflection technique developed by solvistas the system permanently and automatically detects and logs when a player leaves the RFID-bench and goes on to the ice. That results in real-time “time-on-ice” (TOI) measurements for each player, which are aggregated and serve as a basis for various statistical evaluations that are provided by solvistas’ software solution. Measuring the time on ice for players from Austria is of special importance, since the hockey association plans to distribute money to teams depending on the actual playing time of Austrians. This is aimed at promoting Austrian hockey talent, which otherwise has problems overcoming the intense competition from hockey pros from the sport’s strongholds such as Canada, USA, Russia or the Czech Republic.