Visual Target Tracking in Clay Pigeon Shooting Sports: Estimation of Flight Parameters and Throwing Range

Abstract

This paper presents a method to estimate the trajectory and the flight distance of thrown pigeon clays. The basic principle is to measure the beginning of the flight with a camera system in order to forecast the further flight down to the ground impact. The demand of such advanced measuring methods arises from sporting clays competition regulations, where the launching machines have to be adjusted towards specific throwing angles and ranges. The presented method uses a wide-baseline stereo camera system (32 m camera distance) to measure the 3D clay disc positions, and the flight parameters are then identified by aerodynamic and kinematic considerations. This allows to estimate the whole path and the throwing distance, especially without a need to measure the ground impact itself. Applying this method to sporting clays facilities, the launching machines can be adjusted easier and more precisely, being advantageous especially for competitions. Additionally, it becomes possible to obtain the theoretical throwing distance on small sports areas bounded by nets or walls where a ground impact is not measurable.