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Client story

Making the invisible visible with WindSight IQ™

Client: 37th America’s Cup
Region: Global
Industry: Media and entertainment

The 37th America’s Cup and Capgemini combine engineering, data, and design to develop a LiDAR-based sensor system that makes yacht racing more understandable and engaging for viewers

Client Challenge: Heading into the 37th edition of the oldest sailing competition in the world, the America’s Cup wanted to find a way to visualize wind patterns during races to take the viewing experience to the next level and engage fans that are new to the sport.
Solution: The America’s Cup engaged Capgemini to develop WindSight IQ™, a system that uses an innovative combination of skills and technologies to visualize the wind and model potential race results.

Sports provide people around the world with unifying events that bring together fans and enthusiasts to enjoy competition and peak performances. The thrills and surprises that emerge from the clashes between athletes and teams provide endless entertainment that build communities among the participants and spectators.

And among the innumerable events that offer these opportunities, the America’s Cup, often referred to as the Formula One of sailing, is a venerable representative of sport and the longest ongoing international sporting competition. Teams from around the world gather to take part in a yacht race during which sailors push themselves and their yachts to the limit in pursuit of glory.

The America’s Cup has made every effort to embrace cutting-edge technology to power top-level performance and improve the spectator experience. So, as the hosts of the 37th edition of the competition searched for opportunities to innovate and evolve, their focus increasingly settled on visualizing the invisible; for the first time, the America’s Cup would attempt to capture the wind to deliver spectators a clear image that reveals the complexities of the race.

With the right technology, it could reveal another dimension of the competition and place distant spectators directly in the minds of teams attempting to lead their yachts to victory. And given the importance of the wind as one of the three key factors that determine success or failure when sailing – along with the boats and team – the insight this could provide to viewers was immense.

“The America’s Cup, or any sailing, is difficult to understand. We can’t even understand it sometimes because we don’t know what is going to happen…and we’re in the sport,” says Grant Dalton, CEO of America’s Cup. “So, what we wanted to do was create an environment for the viewer and the commentator to be able to explain to the viewer why the team was doing what it was doing.”

Capturing the wind

Of course, distilling the wind into an easily consumed visual format represented a truly massive undertaking. Rather than climbing this particular peak alone, the America’s Cup wanted a partner with a record of successful innovative projects and a passion for sports. Capgemini’s history of bringing innovation to rugby, golf, and motorsports, along with its leading design, engineering, data, and tech credentials, fit the bill.

“It was quite challenging because it was the first time that we designers were working on a solution for TV,” explains Melanie Bas, Senior Design Lead at Capgemini. “We needed to really understand the story we wanted to convey as a team specifically because this kind of event attracts a very specific audience. So, it was quite important to understand what the race has been before and to see the difference with what we want to achieve and how the storytelling would be impacted.

“And one thing that was quite important for us was how we showcased and predicted the boat without destroying the feeling of how the team is doing that. With this, it’s all about making the audience feel the win and understand the kind of challenge and the kind of decision that the guys on the boat are making.”

Capgemini devised a way to use Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to highlight the wind for everyone to see.

“What we do is we basically project out into Barcelona Bay lasers,” explains Keith Williams, Chief Engineer for WindSight IQ™. “And the lasers bounce off impurities in the air. And from that, we can calculate the wind speed and the wind direction across the whole of the race area.”

Determined to see their joint vision become a reality in time for the two-month event, the America’s Cup management group and Capgemini worked tirelessly. Operating around the clock to get the solution ready in time, the project team gathered feedback from users to continuously refine the technology so that the final result would deliver the ideal viewer experience. 

“LiDAR was an incredibly exciting option to explore, but far from easy,” Williams says. “Not only did we have to actually determine how exactly we would capture the wind effectively, we also needed to respond to logistical issues. For example, if we wanted to gather the data needed to build our model, we needed to mount the 100kg LiDAR devices on nearby buildings, which required time and care. So, while the technology itself isn’t new, it has never been used in this way before.”

Positioned along the Barcelona waterfront, which played host to the 37th America’s Cup, three LiDARs measured wind speed across a maximum range of 12 km. This was supplemented with additional data collected from the racing yachts and wind sensors within the buoys. Based on this information, WindSight IQ™, as the system came to be known, created a wind field covering the entire racecourse. This first-of-its-kind solution brought together the physical and digital world, allowing commentators to explain the ideal routes and more effectively highlight strategy and sailing techniques to viewers at home and in the fan zones in Barcelona.

A new viewing experience

As the first technology of its kind, WindSight IQ™ completely redefined what it meant to watch the competition online or on TV. Throughout the women’s and youth races as well as the men’s round robin, knock-out stage, and finals, viewers could see the wind patterns over the Barcelona racecourse, allowing them to understand how it impacted the racing. The feature was received with universal acclaim by commentators and experts, who could lay out the subtleties and strategies of the competition for spectators all around the world, regardless of their sailing knowledge. WindSight IQ™ allowed them to chart out the ideal course via a simulated racing yacht, which could then be compared to the actual decisions made by the teams during the race.

“We can tell you exactly where the wind is, how fast it’s blowing, what direction it’s coming from across the entire race area,” says Leon Sefton, Head of Production at the America’s Cup. “So, we have all this raw data, and we’re visualizing it, we’re making an invisible force visible. And so, the next question was, ‘What else can we do with it?’ Why don’t we come up with a way of predicting what the strategic options might be?”

Combined with a simulator developed by America’s Cup Media, WindSight IQ™ enabled the modeling of the races to predict how different decisions would play out and ultimately determine the results. This gave commentators and viewers the chance to get into the minds of the skippers, unlocking a completely new level of insight and helping to achieve record viewing numbers over the entire tournament.

Greater potential ahead

And while the development of WindSight IQ™ was focused on sailing, its potential applications are wide ranging. In addition to other sporting competitions that are heavily impacted by wind, the technology has tremendous potential for use in other industries that must react to changing weather patterns.

“A clear example that I think about is how often you hear in a rugby game, ‘It’s swirling in the stadium, it’s left to right.’ We know the player has got to put it off to one side of the post, but it’s all a bit guesstimation from the commentator,” Grant Dalton explains. “Now, if you put the WindSight IQ™ tech into that you would be able to have exactly what he has to kick and how much angle or how much wind he’s got behind him, how much swirl is in the stadium, increasing the viewer’s knowledge when he came up for the kick.”

“WindSight IQ™ has significant potential in sports where wind conditions greatly impact performance, such as golf,” insists Stéphane Rivet, System Architect at Capgemini. “Beyond sports, WindSight IQ™ and similar meteorological LiDAR systems have practical applications in various industries, including energy and aviation. Additionally, emerging uses in air transport are being explored, with LiDAR technology being considered to ensure the safety of air taxis which need to land in small urban airports.”

WindSight IQ™, which has since become patented technology, is a major point of pride for both the America’s Cup and Capgemini. This project represents the culmination of tremendous effort, collaboration, and innovation driven by a shared passion for sports and the values that they champion. By combining existing technology with design, engineering and data expertise in never-before-seen ways, the partners have taken the viewing experience to the next level.

“It’s been groundbreaking for us. It’s been the kind of technique we’ve been really hungry to bring on air for some time,” says Leon Sefton. “The sports coverage around the world is always looking for these breakthroughs to help unlock storytelling for passing viewers and even for hardcore viewers who just want to know more. To be able to bring this on air this time has been amazing for viewers.”

Learn more about the 37th America’s Cup

Cutting-edge technology and sheer team spirit

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