The Misano World Circuit in Italy has a capacity of 108,000 people, and hosts several high-ranking motorcycle racing events per season, including the San Marino and Rimini’s Coast motorcycle Grand Prix.
The safety of competing motorcycle riders is the highest priority for the circuit owners, and relies on race controllers having the ability to respond quickly to crashes and spot rule violations. But with approximately 25 racers on the course at the same time, and top speeds exceeding 300km/h during Grand Prix races, ensuring track control proved overwhelming for the team.
The Misano officials sought a solution to support personnel in monitoring race activity, and have selected Bosch as a technology vendor for the circuit.
“Bosch is perceived as an industry leader and was selected because of earlier work on the circuit’s public security system. It was natural to think of Bosch to guarantee quality and technical support in what is not an easy environment,” said Andrea Albani, managing director, Misano Circuit.
To safeguard the entire Misano World Circuit (MWC), Bosch experts installed 20 Dinion IP Starlight 6000i IR cameras at strategic locations around the track. The IP-based cameras capture high-definition video in the special 60fps mode. Images are streamed live to the circuit’s Race Control Room, where operators monitor the action on more than 30 wall-mounted HD screens.
The images, enhanced by HDR technology, enable close-up views even at high racing speeds. Despite this high video quality, the cameras maintain a small storage footprint – saving cost on data storage – through Intelligent Dynamic Noise Reduction and intelligent streaming combined with H.265 video compression. Depending on the scene, this reduces bitrate by up to 80%.
The circuit solution also includes installation of Bosch’s Autodome IP Starlight 7000 HD, which features built-in Intelligent Video Analytics. The technology is customized for Misano, automatically following racers around the track, even at top speeds. The system also offers seamless handover from one camera to the next, so that operators do not lose track around the 4.2km of racing track.
In the event of a crash, the intelligent Bosch cameras automatically trigger alarms thanks to built-in video analysis. Even without a crash, the system notifies staff when riders violate race rules. Thanks to customized software, these automatic alerts appear in the form of red, green and yellow flags on the display monitors in the Race Control Room. Operators can then zoom in on the live view using joysticks to control the camera closest to the scene.
As one of the first racing facilities to adopt IP-based, high-definition cameras for monitoring racing activity, Misano World Circuit has seen significant improvements on several levels: the staff can now provide fast and coordinated assistance – for instance, by dispatching ambulances and alerting other racers accordingly. Rule violations are instantly flagged by video analytics. On the backend, integration between high-definition cameras and third-party video management software from Bosch partner Milestone enables analysis of the cause of accidents and drives constant improvements.
