[00:00.100]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.800]this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.890]Goal line technology made its debut
[00:09.530]in international football
[00:11.420]at the Confederations Cup in Brazil
[00:14.760]that ended on sunday.
[00:17.100]The move to goal line technology
[00:19.730]follows international pressure
[00:22.680]on the sport's governing body FIFA
[00:25.630]after a missed call in the 2010 World Cup.
[00:30.550]Video replays of a match clearly show
[00:34.430]that England's Frank Lampard had scored a goal against Germany.
[00:40.070]However, that goal was denied because neither the referee
[00:45.090]nor linesman saw the ball cross the goal line.
[00:49.780]The incident caused such a stir that FIFA
[00:54.770]approve the development of goal line technology.
[00:58.600]That technology was put to the test
[01:01.740]at the Confederations Cup in Brazil which began June 15.
[01:07.870]Bjorn Linder is the chairman of GoalControl,
[01:12.350]the German-based company
[01:14.940]that won the goal line technology contract
[01:17.980]for this year's Confederations Cup.
[01:21.160]His team spend weeks in Brazil before the games
[01:25.490]as part of the FIFA certification process.
[01:29.340]"The whole system uses 14 cameras
[01:31.820]that are installed on the catwalk.
[01:33.520]We have seven cameras per goal and computers
[01:36.210]that are connected to those cameras.
[01:37.760]The computers are catching the images,
[01:40.150]around 500 pictures per second."
[01:43.410]Computers track the path of the ball in real time
[01:47.690]and reconstruct the play.
[01:51.180]"Once the computer perceives the ball has crossed the goal line,
[01:54.270]it gives a signal to the referee's watch,
[01:56.610]so all the referees on the field receive the signal.
[01:59.090]It vibrates and gives an optical signal 'goal'
[02:01.740]and he knows a goal has occurred."
[02:03.680]Electronic eyes on the goal line may settle arguments,
[02:07.810]but the data is still only a reconstruction of reality.
[02:12.400]Nic Fleming is a London-based science and technology writer,
[02:17.680]he believes the use of goal line technology is a chance
[02:22.710]to educate people about the role of uncertainty in science.
[02:27.560]"These are fantastic tools,
[02:28.900]but let's be realistic about their limitations,
[02:31.940]that science is about probabilities.
[02:33.880]What better way than to have this message in a game so popular."
[02:39.910]GoalControl claims an accuracy of plus-or-minus 5 millimeters,
[02:46.140]this is well under FIFA's minimum requirement of plus
[02:50.470]or minus 3 centimeters.
[02:53.210]Nic Fleming would like to see that number flashed on the screen.
[02:57.650]He says viewers could compare the replays
[03:02.030]to the computer reconstruction and learn a little science.
[03:07.300]"The wider point really is that science is central
[03:10.500]to many public debates today,
[03:12.100]whether that's climate change or nuclear power or genetic modification.
[03:16.190]In all of these cases science provides probabilities.
[03:21.170]It does not provide yes-no, black-white answers
[03:24.910]that is quite important to the public understands that."
[03:28.040]Goal-line technology may become a central part of the sport,
[03:32.850]but it is important to remember that is still the referee,
[03:38.180]not the computer, that makes the final call.
[03:42.520]And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English,