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• By applying advanced laser technology, the information of both ball and club can be captured in great detail, which enables the product to achieve the most complete data set with the highest accuracy possible. Such accuracies of ball flight and swing information are not obtainable by any other known technology today.

• By applying the proprietary and innovative means to construct a two-dimensional laser optical net, the product is capable of catching all swing related information in a restricted area. The laser sensor net arrangement is unique and patented.

• By applying proprietary computer algorithms, instant ball tracking and swing analysis can be achieved, based on a three-dimensional space coordinate calculation with techniques of laser image recognition, mirror image rejection and image re-construction.

Note: measured numbers indicate resolution or accuracy which are physically obtained with laser grids prior to additional image processing, bold numbers indicate interpolated resolution or accuracy achieved by advanced laser image processing, and verified by over 500 robot shots data from actual field test.

All physically measured resolutions and interpolated resolutions are field tested with robot, high-speed camera, and human golfers, and fitted for actual data accuracy. The values listed in the resolution table are depicted within realistic dynamic ranges (i.e., ball speed from 50 mph to 150 mph, take-off angle from 0 degree to 55 degrees, etc.). Measurement resolutions under test conditions outside the dynamic ranges do not necessarily meet the specifications quoted in the table.

One apparent fact is that the laser beam is exceedingly directional and highly collimated. Because the laser beam consists of only plane waves and narrow frequency bandwidth, it is both spatially and temporally coherent. Unlike other light source such as an incandescent light bulb, which incoherently pours out the radiant energy over a large solid angle, it delivers high flux and radiant power in a single diffraction-limited beam. The laser beam will thus generate ball and club swing images in a crisp and clearly defined pattern with great details, which provide the needed resolution to calculate ball and club swing information to within 1% of ball speed and less than 0.1 degree of ball launch and azimuth angles. In the case of incoherent light source with typical TO packaged detector arrangements, used by most of our competitors in the floor mat based club head detection or IR LED ball detection systems, the images are blurry, of low contrast, and highly indecisive. It is worthwhile to point out that a 0.2 inch uncertainty with a 6-inch measurement distance represents about a 2-degree error in ball take-off angle and azimuth angle, which translates into about 40 yards error in driver distance calculation for a 200-yard drive.

To illustrate the difference between coherent and incoherent, non-collimated images, Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the contrast of image edge definition between white light or IR LED images and collimated laser images, respectively.

Figure 1(a) and 1(b) show the blurring image as result of incoherent, non-collimated light sources such as incandescent light bulb or IR LED, at shorter and longer distance from the detector plane, respectively. Figure 1(c) indicates a double blurry image when multiple light sources (in this case two sources) are used as in the case of IR LED technology. Thus special and expensive electronic signal process schemes of either signal modulation or emitter signal scanning must be applied to distinguish the actual position of the ball with respect to the spatial coordinates.

Figure 2(a) shows a well-defined, sharp image created by a coherent, collimated laser light source. Because the edge of the image is well defined with excellent contrast, it is then possible to use limited number of laser beam cross sections to re-construct the ball image in three-dimensional space. Figure 2(b) shows multiple laser beams (four beams in this case) generated from a coherent single laser source. The cross sectional information is then presented in Figure 2(c) and Figure 2(d) with superior spatial resolution (for a 120 mph golf ball, the resolution is better than 0.25%).

The spatial resolution inherent to floor mat detection systems is limited by detector spacing and electronic complexity to roughly 2 degrees of ball trajectory and swing path angle. For a 200-yard drive, this translates into about 7 yards in lateral distance error, but most importantly it gives over 40 yards in driver distance error, with an uncertainty of 2 degrees in ball take-off angle. Mainly, the physical dimensions and arrangement of the detectors with other than laser light sources are responsible for this large deviation.

Arrangements to achieve better spatial resolution with IR LED technology are possible only if the measurement distance between the ball detection and hitting tee position is increased from a preferred position of about 1 foot to over 10 feet. However, even at that large distance, the IR LED or white light shadowing techniques can detect only “Yes” and “No” of a passing ball. They cannot produce high enough contrast or data to re-construct the golf ball image to calculate accurately the ball take-off angles (both inclination and azimuth angles) and ball speed, as in the case of laser imaging technique.

This is the reason that some expensive golf simulators need to have a space setup of up to 12 x16 feet, which increases the cost of electronics and optical components drastically, not to mention floor space! With our low cost laser technology and our proprietary image recognition and processing algorithms, the angle resolution is improved more than 10 times to approximately 0.1 degree. This angle resolution gives uncertainty errors of less than 0.5 yard in lateral distance and less than 2 yards in driving distance for a 200-yard drive.

Another advantage of using a laser source is the narrow frequency band (or wavelength) which allows detectors to distinguish real signal image from strong ambient and/or sun light to allow outdoor usage without expensive signal modulation/demodulation scheme. Additionally, because of its light weight, high output power and added efficiency, compact size, and the reliability of today’s solid state semiconductor lasers, it is possible to design a portable and battery operable Golf-Station. With other light sources such as incandescent light bulb or multiple LEDs (in fact, over 250 LEDs are needed to cover a detection area of 8x8 sq. feet), the idea of having a portable and battery operable unit becomes an impossible task.