Precision Start-Gate Monitoring for Olympic-Class Windsurfing

Olympic-class windsurfing requires athletes to cross a start line at exactly the right moment — too early and they’re disqualified, too late and they lose seconds against the fleet. Current officiating relies on visual judgement and shore-based cameras with limited precision. This program develops marine buoy-deployed precision start-gate monitoring system that provides decimeter-class timing, giving coaches and officials objective timing for training and competition.

Why it matters. A new application domain for IPNL — marine-environment sports-tech — exercising the lab’s multi-sensor fusion expertise outside its established urban-PNT context. The buoy-deployed sensor design is the receiver-level contribution; the precision timing/ranging algorithms reuse the FGO methodology developed for urban GNSS.

Funding.

• HKSI Sports Science and Research Funding Scheme (SRFS) — PI, 2026–
• Partner: Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), supporting Olympic athlete training programs