Description Of A Tennis Net Sensor

In the game of tennis, it is of the utmost importance that the action of the ball is observed accurately. On occasion, human faculties are not sensitive or fast enough to ensure a proper call on a play. This is one of the chief reasons behind the innovation of electronic net sensors and the corresponding electric line judges used to monitor the court surface. Net sensors can be mounted in different positions depending on their design and have been in operation since the early 1990s.

Need

In tennis play, serve that touches the net is either a fault or a let. If the ball hits the net and lands in the correct service box, it is a let and does not count against the server and he gets to reserve. If the serve is stopped by the net or lands out of bounds, the server is charged with a fault. Two faults lose the point. Sometimes, however, the ball does not noticeably strike or disturb the net, even though contact was made. Net sensors thus either act independently to report a hit net or act as an auxiliary confirmation for the line judge.

Basics

As a net fault can be ascertained in different ways, the net sensor also must be able to respond to different identifiers of the let/fault. One such system involves a motion detector or accelerometer. These pick up on either changes in the ball's movement or a decrease in its speed due to contact with the net. Alternatively, the sensory system can be alerted to the actual contact itself, such as in the picking up of vibrations resulting from contact. Depending on the type of sensor, it can be placed on the net, on the posts or on other components that anchor the net.

Operation

When the sensors identify that the net has been struck during service, they create a corresponding signal. The signal is routed to a processor that receives and interprets the signal and alerts the players, judges and audience through an audio or other formatted response.

Patenting

Up until the early to mid-1990s, net faults usually were called by net judges seated at the net and who held their hands on the top edge of the net. In 1994, the net sensor device patent was filed by inventors Dietmar Brauer and Dieter Naber. It was subsequently published two years later in December 1996.