A

Project Report on
Object Detection and Identification in Real Time using Deep
Learning
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
award of the degree of

Bachelor of Technology
in
Computer Science and Engineering

by
KISHAN TRIPATHI (2100970310083)
ROUNIT RANJAN (2100970310133)
VIRENDRA PRATAP SINGH YADAV (2100970310178)

Under the Supervision of

Mr. Ajeet Kr. Bhartee

Galgotias College of Engineering & Technology

Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh
India-201306
Affiliated to

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh,
India-226031
December, 2024
 GALGOTIAS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
GREATER NOIDA, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA- 201306.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled “Object Detection and Identification in
Real Time using Deep Learning” submitted by Mr. KISHAN TRIPATHI (2100970310083),
Mr. ROUNIT RANJAN (2100970310133), Mr. VIRENDRA PRATAP SINGH YADAV
(2100970310178) to the Galgotias College of Engineering & Technology,
Greater Noida, Utter Pradesh, affiliated to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in partial fulfilment for the award of Degree of Bachelor of Technology
in Computer Science & Engineering is a bonafide record of the project work carried out by them
under my supervision during the year 2024-2025.

Mr. Ajeet Kr. Bhartee (Project Guide) Dr. Pushpa Choudhary

Assistant Professor Professor and Head
Dept. of CSE Dept. of CSE
 GALGOTIAS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
GREATER NOIDA, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA- 201306.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without
the kind support and help of many individuals and organizations. We would like to extend
my sincere thanks to all of them.

We are highly indebted to Mr. Ajeet Kr. Bhartee for his guidance and constant
supervision. Also, we are highly thankful to him for providing necessary information
regarding the project & also for his support in completing the project.

We are extremely indebted to Dr Pushpa Choudhary, HOD, Department of Computer

Science and Engineering, GCET and Mr. Ajeet Kr. Bhartee, Project Coordinator,
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, GCET for their valuable suggestions
and constant support throughout our project tenure. We would also like to express our
sincere thanks to all faculty and staff members of Department of Computer
Science and Engineering, GCET for their support in completing this project on time.

We also express gratitude towards our parents for their kind co-operation and
encouragement which helped us in completion of this project. Our thanks and
appreciations also go to our friends in developing the project and all the people who have
willingly helped us out with their abilities.

(KSIHAN TRIPATHI)

(ROUNIT RANJAN)

(VIRENDRA PRATAP SINGH YADAV)

 ABSTRACT

Object detection has become a cornerstone in various domains, such as autonomous vehicles, surveillance
systems, and sports analytics. This research-based project focuses on developing an advanced real-time object
detection system, aiming to evaluate and compare the performance of multiple state-of-the-art models,
including YOLOv8, YOLOv9, YOLOv10, DETR, and Re-DETR. The primary goal is to determine the most
efficient model for further application in football analysis, emphasizing accuracy, speed, and robustness.

The project begins with an extensive literature review to identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing
object detection models. Publicly available datasets, particularly those relevant to sports analytics, are utilized
to train and evaluate the models. Data preprocessing steps, including augmentation and normalization, are
employed to enhance model performance. The project implements and fine-tunes various models using Python,
TensorFlow, and PyTorch, with a focus on maximizing real-time detection capabilities.

Evaluation metrics such as mAP (mean Average Precision), IoU (Intersection over Union), and FPS (Frames
Per Second) are used to assess model performance. Visualizations are generated using Matplotlib and Seaborn
in Jupyter Notebooks to provide insights into model effectiveness. The integration of the best-performing model
into a real-time application is also explored, ensuring compatibility with existing systems and conducting
thorough system testing.

Through this research, the project aims to contribute to the field of real-time object detection, particularly in the
context of sports analysis, by providing a robust and efficient solution.

KEYWORDS: Object Detection, Real-Time, YOLOv8, YOLOv9, YOLOv10, DETR, Re-DETR, Sports
Analytics, Football Analysis, Model Evaluation, Real-Time Processing.

iii
 CONTENTS

Title Page

CERTIFICATE 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3
ABSTRACT iii

CONTENTS iv
LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

NOMENCLATURE ix

ABBREVIATIONS x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview of Object Detection 12

1.2 Motivation and Perspective 13

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 15

CHAPTER 3: PROBLEM FORMULATION

3.1 Description of Problem Domain 20

3.2 Problem Statement 21

3.3 Depiction of Problem Statement 22

3.4 Objectives 23

CHAPTER 4: PROPOSED WORK

4.1 Introduction 25

4.2 Proposed Methodology/Algorithm 26

iv
4.3 Description of steps 29

CHAPTER 5: SYSTEM DESIGN

5.1 System Architecture Overview 33

5.2 Detailed Description of Components 34

5.3 System Workflow 36

5.4 Tools and Technologies 36

CHAPTER 6: IMPLEMENTATION

6.1 Hardware and Software Setup 37

6.2 Dataset Preparation 38

6.3 Model Training 38

6.4 Real-Time Pipeline Integration 40

6.5 Visualization and Output 40

6.6 Evaluation and Optimization 41

6.7 Deployment 42

CHAPTER 7: RESULT ANALYSIS

7.1 Accuracy and Detection Performance 44

7.2 Real-Time Processing and Speed 45

7.3 Tracking and Event Detection 46

7.4 Qualitative Insights and Observations 46

7.5 Robustness Across Conditions 46

7.6 Comparison with Existing Systems 47

7.7 Overall System Performance 47

v
CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION, LIMITATION, AND FUTURE SCOPE

8.1 Conclusion 48

8.2 Limitation 48

8.3 Future Scope 49

REFERENCE
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
CONTRIBUTION OF PROJECT

vi
 List of Tables

Table Title

3.1 Values Assigned to Standard k-ε Turbulence Model Coefficients

3.2 Values Assigned to RNG k-ε Turbulence Model Coefficients

4.1 Engine Specifications

4.2 Geometrical Details of the Injector

4.3 Boundary and Initial Conditions

4.4 Grid Independence Study

vii
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Title

3.1 Lagrangian Droplet Motion

4.1 Vertical Manifold

4.2 20O Bend Manifold

4.3 90O Bend Manifold

4.4 Spiral Manifold

4.5 Spiral Manifold Configuration (θ = 225o)

4.6 Spiral Manifold with Different Flow Entry Angles (20O, 32.5O and 45O)

4.7 Helical Manifold (Helical Angles 30O, 35O, 40O, 45O and 50O)

4.8 Spiral Manifold

4.9 Helical Manifold

4.10 Helical-Spiral Manifold

4.11 Grid Independent SR for Validation Model

4.12 Grid Independent TKE for Validation Model

viii
 NOMENCLATURE

English Symbols

A Pre-exponential constant

Ad Droplet cross-sectional area, m2

Cp Specific heat J/kg-K

Cam Virtual mass coefficient

c Reaction progress variable

cd Coefficient of discharge of nozzle

c p, d Droplet specific heat

Dd Instantaneous droplet diameter, m

Dm Vapour diffusivity

ix
 ABBREVIATIONS

ATDC After Top Dead Center

BDC Bottom Dead Center
BTDC Before Top Dead Center
CA Crank Angle
CAD Computer Aided Design
CCS Combined Charging System
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics
CO Carbon Monoxide
CTC Characteristic–Time Combustion
DI Direct Injection
DME Dimethyl Ether
DNS Direct Numerical Simulations
EGR Exhaust Gas Re- Circulation
FIE Fuel Injection Equipment’s
HC Hydrocarbon
HWA Hot Wire Anemometer

IC Internal Combustion

x
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Object detection plays a critical role in various applications, from autonomous vehicles
to surveillance systems, where the ability to accurately identify and locate objects in real-time is
paramount. In sports, particularly football, object detection can be leveraged to enhance game
analysis, player tracking, and performance evaluation. However, the challenge lies in achieving
high accuracy and speed while processing live video feeds in dynamic and cluttered
environments.

This project focuses on exploring and comparing multiple object detection models to determine
the most effective solution for real-time applications in football analysis. By leveraging the latest
advancements in deep learning, particularly in the YOLO (You Only Look Once) family of
models and transformer-based approaches like DETR and Re-DETR, the project aims to develop
a system that can efficiently detect and track objects, such as players and the ball, during live
matches.

The integration of real-time processing capabilities is crucial for applications where immediate
feedback is necessary. The project's primary objective is to create a reliable and fast object
detection system that can operate seamlessly in real-world scenarios, particularly in the highpaced
environment of sports.

Object detection and identification in real time is a pivotal technology with wide-ranging
applications, from autonomous driving to security surveillance. The capability to accurately
detect and identify objects as they appear in a live video stream is essential for systems that
require immediate analysis and response. In fields such as sports, this technology enables
enhanced game analysis, player tracking, and strategic evaluation, offering insights that are both
instantaneous and actionable.

This project delves into the development of a real-time object detection and identification system,
leveraging state-of-the-art deep learning models such as YOLO (You Only Look Once) and
transformer-based models like DETR (Detection Transformer). These models are known for their
balance of speed and accuracy, making them well-suited for real-time applications where rapid
processing is critical.

The main goal of this project is to create a system that not only detects and identifies objects in
real-time but also does so with a high degree of precision, even in complex and dynamic
environments. By integrating these advanced models with optimized processing pipelines, the
project aims to contribute to the growing field of real-time analysis, providing a robust tool for
applications that demand quick and reliable object detection.

11
1.1 Overview of Object Detection:

Object detection is a fundamental area in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision that
involves identifying and locating objects within an image or video. Unlike image classification,
which labels the entire image with a single category, object detection identifies specific objects,
marks their locations using bounding boxes, and classifies them into predefined categories.

Object detection has evolved significantly with the advent of deep learning, transitioning from
traditional methods such as Haar cascades and SIFT (Scale-Invariant Feature Transform) to
modern, neural network-based models. These advances have led to greater accuracy and faster
processing speeds, enabling the deployment of object detection systems in diverse real-world
applications.

Modern object detection frameworks can be broadly categorized into two-stage and single-stage
approaches.

• Two-Stage Models: Frameworks like Faster R-CNN first generate region proposals and
then classify these regions. While accurate, they tend to be slower and are less suitable
for real-time applications.
• Single-Stage Models: Models like YOLO (You Only Look Once) and SSD (Single Shot
Multi-Box Detector) skip the region proposal step, making them faster and more
efficient, thus ideal for real-time applications.

With advancements in deep learning, object detection now integrates methods like convolutional
neural networks (CNNs) and transformers to achieve unparalleled levels of precision, speed, and
versatility.

1.2 MOTIVATION AND PERSPECTIVE:

The advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision have significantly
transformed how machines perceive and interact with the world. Object detection, a critical
domain in AI, plays a pivotal role in enabling machines to recognize and locate objects in images
or videos. Its applications span numerous fields, from autonomous vehicles and surveillance
systems to healthcare and sports analytics. Among these, sports analytics stands out as a domain
where real-time object detection can revolutionize performance evaluation, strategy
development, and audience engagement. This project focuses on developing a robust object
detection system specifically tailored for football, addressing the challenges of real-time analysis
in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.

One of the primary motivations for this project is the growing demand for real-time analytics in
sports. Football, being one of the most popular and widely watched sports globally, generates
immense interest in player performance, tactical analysis, and event tracking. Current methods
of collecting and analyzing game data often rely on manual or semi-automated techniques, which
can be time-consuming, inconsistent, and prone to human error.

12
A fully automated system powered by advanced object detection models can bridge this gap,
delivering accurate and instantaneous insights during live matches. Such a system would enable
coaches to make strategic decisions, broadcasters to enhance audience experience, and analysts
to derive meaningful performance metrics with unprecedented precision.

Another compelling motivation lies in the challenges posed by real-time object detection in
football. The sport presents a unique set of difficulties, including crowded scenes where players
overlap, variable lighting conditions from natural daylight to stadium floodlights, and the rapid
movement of objects like the ball. Traditional object detection models often struggle to maintain
accuracy and speed under such conditions. This project aims to address these challenges by
leveraging state-of-the-art models like YOLO (You Only Look Once), DETR (DEtection
TRansformer), and Re-DETR. These models offer a blend of speed and precision, making them
well-suited for real-time applications in dynamic environments.

The perspective of this project extends beyond football analytics. While the immediate goal is to
develop a system for tracking players, referees, and the ball, the under-lying technology has
broader implications. Real-time object detection systems can be adapted for use in other sports,
enabling similar advancements in cricket, basketball, and hockey. Moreover, the models and
methodologies developed in this project have potential applications in domains like traffic
monitoring, where real-time detection of vehicles and pedestrians can improve road safety, and
healthcare, where object detection aids in diagnostic imaging.

One of the driving inspirations for this project is the evolution of object detection models over
the years. Early methods, such as Haar cascades and feature-based techniques like SIFT, paved
the way for modern deep learning-based approaches. Models like Faster R-CNN introduced
region proposal networks for high accuracy but lacked the speed required for realtime tasks. The
YOLO family, with its single-stage architecture, revolutionized the field by balancing accuracy
and processing speed, making it a popular choice for real-time applications. Similarly,
transformer-based models like DETR have demonstrated their ability to handle complex scenes
with superior accuracy, although they initially faced challenges in real-time performance. This
project builds on these advancements, seeking to integrate their strengths into a system optimized
for sports analytics.

Another important aspect is the democratization of sports analytics. Currently, advanced tools for
match analysis and performance tracking are often limited to elite clubs and organizations due to
their high costs and resource requirements. This project aspires to develop a scalable and
affordable solution, leveraging open-source technologies and efficient models. By making such
systems accessible to teams and analysts at all levels, the project aims to contribute to the growth
of the sport, enabling better talent development and competitive parity. The potential impact of
this democratization extends beyond sports, fostering innovation and inclusivity in other
AIdriven industries.

Ethics and responsibility are also central to the perspective of this project. As AI systems become
increasingly integrated into everyday life, ensuring fairness, transparency, and accountability is
critical. The project emphasizes the importance of unbiased datasets, rigorous evaluation metrics,
and secure deployment practices to maintain ethical standards. For instance, the models used in
this project are trained and validated on diverse datasets to ensure generalizability across different
environments, reducing biases that could affect performance.

13
Additionally, the project aligns with global initiatives for data privacy, ensuring that user data is
handled responsibly.
From a broader perspective, this project exemplifies the growing role of AI in enhancing human
capabilities. In sports analytics, AI not only augments the decision-making process for coaches
and analysts but also enriches the experience for fans by providing real-time insights and
engaging visualizations. For instance, broadcasters can use object detection outputs to create
augmented reality overlays, displaying player statistics or ball trajectories during a live match.
Such innovations deepen the connection between audiences and the game, making sports more
interactive and enjoyable.

The interdisciplinary nature of this project further highlights its significance. By combining
expertise in computer vision, machine learning, software engineering, and sports science, the
project addresses complex challenges that require a holistic approach. This collaboration fosters
innovation and ensures that the final system is both technically robust and practically relevant.
The insights gained from this project can serve as a foundation for future research, advancing the
state of the art in real-time AI applications and inspiring similar interdisciplinary efforts in other
domains.

Finally, the project aligns with the global trend toward real-time AI solutions. From autonomous
drones to interactive gaming, the ability to process data instantaneously is reshaping industries.
This project demonstrates how real-time object detection can be leveraged to tackle complex
problems in sports analytics, setting a benchmark for similar applications. The emphasis on
scalability and efficiency ensures that the system can evolve alongside advancements in hardware
and algorithms, maintaining its relevance in a rapidly changing technological landscape.

In conclusion, the motivation for this project lies in the increasing demand for real-time object
detection systems that can handle the challenges of sports analytics. By addressing the specific
needs of football, the project aims to deliver a robust, efficient, and impactful solution that
benefits players, analysts, and fans alike. The perspective extends beyond immediate
applications, contributing to advancements in AI technologies and fostering innovation across
industries. Through its focus on accessibility, ethical standards, and interdisciplinary
collaboration, the project embodies the potential of AI to create meaningful and transformative
solutions for real-world challenges.

14
 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Shaoqing Ren, Kaiming He, Ross Girshick, Jian Sun, " Faster R-
CNN: Towards Real-Time Object Detection with Region Proposal Networks," (2015), [1]. This
work introduces a Region Proposal Network (RPN) that addresses the bottleneck in object
detection networks caused by region proposal algorithms. Unlike traditional methods, the RPN
shares full-image convolutional features with the detection network, allowing for nearly cost-free
region proposals. The RPN is a fully-convolutional network that predicts object boundaries and
objectness scores simultaneously. It is trained end-to-end to generate high-quality proposals,
which are then used by Fast R-CNN for detection. The system achieves state-of-the-art accuracy
on PASCAL VOC 2007 and 2012 datasets, with a frame rate of 5fps on a GPU.

2.2 Mingxing Tan, Ruoming Pang, Quoc V. Le ," EfficientDet: Scalable

and
Efficient Object Detection,"(2021),[2]. Model efficiency has become crucial in computer vision.
This paper investigates neural network architecture design for object detection and introduces
key optimizations to enhance efficiency. The proposed optimizations include a Weighted
BiDirectional Feature Pyramid Network (BiFPN) for fast multiscale feature fusion and a
Compound Scaling method that uniformly scales resolution, depth, and width across all network
components. These improvements have led to the development of the EfficientDet family of
object detectors, which significantly surpass previous models in efficiency. Particularly, the
EfficientDet-D7 model achieves state-of-the-art 55.1 AP on the COCO test-dev dataset with 77M
parameters and 410B FLOPs, making it 4x to 9x smaller than prior models.

2.3 Chien-Yao Wang, I-Hau Yeh, Hong-Yuan, Mark Liao “YOLOv9:

Learning What You Want to Learn Using Programmable Gradient Information” (2024) [7]. The
paper addresses challenges in deep learning related to information loss during data processing
through deep networks. Traditional methods often overlook the significant loss of information
that occurs during layer-by-layer feature extraction and spatial transformation. To tackle this, the
paper introduces the concept of Programmable Gradient Information (PGI), which aims to
preserve complete input information for accurate gradient calculation and network weight
updates. GELAN, leveraging PGI, demonstrates superior performance with lightweight models
compared to state-of-the-art methods based on depth-wise convolution. Experiments on the MS
COCO dataset for object detection show that GELAN achieves better parameter efficiency while
using conventional convolution operators. PGI is versatile and applicable across various model
sizes, from lightweight to large-scale networks.

2.4 Nicolas Carion, et al., "End-to-End Object Detection with

Transformers (DETR)," (2020), [4]: DETR introduced a novel approach to object
detection using transformers, achieving state-of-the-art performance in terms of accuracy.
However, the model's real-time performance was initially limited due to its complexity and
computational demands.
15
 2.5 Zsolt Toth, et al., "Re-DETR: Revisiting DETR for Real-Time
Object Detection," (2023), [5]: Re-DETR revisited the transformer-based DETR
model, introducing optimizations that significantly improved its real-time performance. The
model demonstrated promising results in balancing accuracy and speed, making it suitable for
dynamic environments like sports analytics.
2.6 Yian Zhao, Wenyu Lv, Shangliang Xu, Jinman Wei1 Guanzhong
Wang, Qingqing Dang,Yi Liu, Jie Chen, “DETRs Beat YOLOs on
Realtime Object Detection”(2024), [6]: The YOLO (You Only Look Once) series
is wellregarded for its balance of speed and accuracy in real-time object detection. End-to-end
Transformer-based models like DETR (DEtection TRansformer) offer an alternative by removing
NMS but face challenges with high computational costs that limit their practical use. The paper
introduces RT-DETR (Real-Time DEtection TRansformer), designed to overcome these
limitations. RT-DETR improves both speed and accuracy through a hybrid encoder that separates
intra-scale interaction from cross-scale fusion, enhancing processing efficiency. Additionally, it
uses uncertainty-minimal query selection for better accuracy and allows flexible speed tuning by
adjusting decoder layers without retraining. RT-DETR achieves notable performance, with
RTDETR-R50 and RT-DETR-R101 reaching 53.1% and 54.3% average precision (AP) on the
COCO dataset, respectively, and speeds of 108 and 74 frames per second (FPS) on a T4 GPU. It
outperforms previous YOLO models and DINO-R50 in both accuracy and speed, and further
improves after pre-training with Objects365, reaching 55.3% and 56.2% AP.

2.7 Ao Wang, Hui Chen, Lihao Liu, Kai Chen, Zijia Lin, Jungong Han,
Guiguang Ding, " YOLOv10: Real-Time End-to-End Object Detection," (2024), [3].
YOLOs have become a leading approach in real-time object detection due to their balance
between computational cost and detection performance. Despite significant advances in YOLO
architecture, optimization, and data augmentation, the reliance on non-maximum suppression
(NMS) for post-processing affects deployment and inference latency. This work introduces
YOLOv10, which advances YOLO performance and efficiency by eliminating NMS and
optimizing model architecture for both accuracy and efficiency. YOLOv10 achieves state-
oftheart results with reduced latency, fewer parameters, and lower computational overhead
compared to previous models. For instance, YOLOv10-S is 1.8× faster than RT-DETR-R18 and
YOLOv10B has 46% less latency and 25% fewer parameters than YOLOv9-C.

S. No. Author Title of Research Year Techniques Findings

Paper Used
[1] Shaoqing Ren, Faster R-CNN: 2015 Region The system
Kaiming He, Towards Real-Time Proposal achieves stateofthe-
Ross Girshick, Object Detection with Network, RPN, art accuracy on
Jian Sun Region Proposal object detection, PASCAL VOC 2007
Networks Fast R-CNN, and 2012 datasets,
fully- with a

convolutional frame rate of 5fps on

network a GPU.
16
[2] Mingxing Tan, EfficientDet: 2018 Weighted Bi- EfficientDet-D7
Ruoming Pang, Scalable and Directional achieves state-
Quoc V. Le Efficient Object Feature oftheart object
Detection Pyramid detection efficiency
with 55.1 AP on
Network
COCO test-
(BiFPN),
dev, utilizing
Compound
77M parameters and
Scaling,
410B FLOPs, making it
EfficientDet 4x to 9x smaller than
previous models.

[3] Chien-Yao YOLOv9: rning 2024 Programmable The findings

Wang, I-Hau What You Want Gradient reveal that the
Yeh, Hong-Yuan Learn Using Information Generalized
Mark Liao Programmable (PGI), Efficient Layer
Gradient Generalized Aggregation
Information Efficient Layer Network (GELAN),
Aggregation utilizing
Network (GELAN), Programmable
gradient path Gradient
planning, Information (PGI),
lightweight network outperforms
architecture, stateofthe-art
MS COCO methods by achieving
dataset, object superior parameter
detection. efficiency and
preserving crucial
gradient information,
leading to improved
object detection
performance on the
MS COCO dataset.

17
 [4] Nicolas Carion, et al. End-to-End Object 2020 DETR, DETR
Detection with Transformers, revolutionized object
Transformers Endto-End object detection with
(DETR) detection transformers,
achieving high
accuracy but
initially facing
challenges in
realtime
performance
computational
demands.

[5] Zsolt Toth, et al. Re-DETR: 2023 Re-DETR, Re-DETR

Revisiting DETR for Transformer enhanced the original
Real-Time Object optimization, Model DETR model,
Detection pruning optimizing it for
realtime applications
without sacrificing
accuracy, making it a
viable option for sports
analytics and other
dynamic environments.

[6] Yian Zhao, DETRs Beat YOLOs on 2024 YOLO, real-time The study found that
Wenyu Lv, Realtime Object object detection, RT-DETR achieves
Shangliang Xu, Detection end-toend superior real-time
Transformer, object detection
Jinman Wei1 performance by
RT-DETR,
Guanzhong
DETR, NMS, hybrid significantly improving
Wang, Qingqing both speed and
encoder, multi-
Dang,Yi Liu, Jie accuracy compared to
scale features, existing YOLO models
Chen query selection, and DETR, with RT-
COCO dataset, FPS,
average precision. DETRR50 and
RTDETRR101 attaining
up to 56.2% average
precision and 108 FPS
on COCO,
outperforming previous
methods in both
metrics.

18
[7] Ao Wang, Hui YOLOv10: Real-Time 2024 NMS-free training, YOLOv10 achieves
Chen, Lihao Liu, Endto-End holistic efficiency state-of-the-art
Kai Chen, Zijia Object Detection accuracy performance with
driven reduced latency, fewer
Lin, Jungong
model design, parameters, and lower
Han, Guiguang computational
YOLOv10
Ding overhead,
outperforming previous
models such as RT-
DETRR18 and YOLOv9-
C.

19
 CHAPTER 3

PROBLEM FORMULATION

3.1 Description of Problem Domain

Object detection, a cornerstone of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision, enables
systems to identify and localize objects within images or video streams. Its applications span
diverse domains such as healthcare, autonomous systems, and sports analytics. In the context of
this project, the focus is on real-time object detection for football analytics, where precision,
speed, and robustness are critical. Football, being a fast-paced and dynamic sport, presents a
unique set of challenges for object detection systems, demanding tailored solutions that address
its specific requirements.

Football matches are characterized by rapid movements, crowded environments, and varying
lighting conditions. These factors make it difficult to accurately detect and track players, referees,
and the ball. Existing object detection models, while effective in controlled scenarios, often
struggle to generalize to such dynamic and unpredictable settings. For instance, crowded scenes
with overlapping players or small, fast-moving objects like the ball pose significant challenges
for detection algorithms. Lighting variations, from natural daylight to artificial stadium lights,
further complicate object recognition. The dynamic nature of football also demands real-time
processing, where systems must operate at high frame rates to deliver insights without delays,
making computational efficiency a critical requirement.

Currently, football analytics relies heavily on manual or semi-automated methods to extract data,
which are time-intensive, error-prone, and inconsistent. Advanced object detection systems can
automate these processes, enabling accurate and instantaneous analysis of matches. Applications
include tracking player movements, detecting ball trajectories, and identifying critical events like
goals, offsides, or fouls. Such systems not only benefit coaches and analysts in devising strategies
but also enhance the viewing experience for fans by providing real-time statistics and visuals.
Moreover, automated systems can support referees in decision-making, reducing errors and
improving fairness in the game.

Despite the advancements in object detection models, challenges persist when applying them to
football analytics. Traditional region-based models like Faster R-CNN offer high accuracy but
are computationally expensive, making them unsuitable for real-time applications. Single-stage
models like YOLO (You Only Look Once) prioritize speed but often sacrifice precision,
especially in crowded or complex scenes. Transformer-based models like DETR (Detection
Transformer) achieve state-of-the-art accuracy but require significant computational resources,
posing challenges for real-time deployment. Balancing speed and accuracy while ensuring
robustness in diverse scenarios remains an unsolved problem in this domain.

The problem is further exacerbated by the lack of publicly available sports-specific datasets for
training and evaluation. While general-purpose datasets like COCO or Pascal VOC have driven
advancements in object detection, their applicability to football is limited. Annotating football
datasets, which involves labelling players, referees, and the ball in complex scenes, is a resource

20
intensive task. This scarcity of annotated data hampers the ability to train models that generalize
well across different stadiums, lighting conditions, and team uniforms.
The objective of this project is to develop a robust, efficient, and accurate real-time object
detection system tailored for football analytics. By leveraging advanced models like YOLO,
DETR, and Re-DETR, along with football-specific datasets and optimized pre-processing
techniques, this project aims to address the challenges in this domain. The system’s integration
into real-time video pipelines will enable automated, precise, and instantaneous analysis of
football matches, contributing significantly to sports analytics and beyond.

The problem of real-time object detection and identification in football analytics lies at the
intersection of technological challenges and application-specific demands. Football’s dynamic
and complex nature requires systems that can accurately detect and track players, referees, and
the ball in real-time under varying conditions such as dense crowds, lighting changes, and rapid
movements. Leveraging advancements in deep learning, transfer learning, and explainable AI
can address key gaps, such as the need for scalable and efficient models, improved dataset
diversity, and transparency in decision-making. Pre-trained models like YOLOv10 and
transformer-based approaches such as DETR and Re-DETR, fine-tuned with football-specific
data, can significantly enhance performance while reducing resource requirements. Explainable
AI ensures trust and reliability by providing insights into model predictions, while diverse
datasets improve robustness across different match scenarios. By integrating these technologies
into a user-friendly, scalable system, this project aims to transform football analytics, automating
tasks like player tracking and event detection to deliver actionable insights for coaches, referees,
analysts, and broadcasters.

3.2 Problem Statement

Real-time object detection in football analytics presents significant challenges due to the
dynamic and fast-paced nature of the sport. Accurate detection and tracking of players, referees,
and the ball in varying conditions such as crowded scenes, changing lighting, and high-speed
movements is critical for applications like performance analysis, strategic decision-making, and
live broadcasting. Existing object detection models, while effective in static or controlled
environments, often struggle with maintaining high accuracy and speed in real-world, fastmoving
football matches. Additionally, the lack of large, diverse, and labelled football-specific datasets
further complicates model training and generalization.

The primary problem addressed in this project is the development of an efficient, accurate, and
scalable real-time object detection system that can detect and track multiple objects in football
matches under complex conditions. The system must be capable of processing live video feeds,
ensuring that data is captured and analysed in real time without introducing significant delays.
Key challenges include balancing speed and accuracy, maintaining robustness across various
match environments, and ensuring the system can generalize to different stadiums, lighting
conditions, and team uniforms. The solution aims to integrate state-of-the-art models, such as
YOLOv10 and transformer-based approaches like DETR and Re-DETR, to create an optimized
system for real-time sports analytics.

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3.3 Depiction of Problem Statement
i Input:

Source: The primary input to the system consists of video frames or images from football
matches, captured through cameras or video streams, typically from match broadcasts or sports
surveillance systems. These video feeds can be obtained from various sources, including fixed
stadium cameras, mobile cameras, or drones. The clarity, resolution, and quality of the video
frames are critical for the system's performance in detecting and tracking players, referees, and
the ball.
Format: The video frames are typically in formats like MP4, AVI, or JPEG, and these must be
pre-processed to standardize the size, resolution, and frame rate to ensure consistency during
analysis. The video feeds are often converted into individual frames for detailed object detection
tasks.

Type of Data: The data consists of visual content representing football scenes where multiple
objects, such as players, referees, and the ball, need to be detected. These frames must capture
various factors like different camera angles, varying lighting conditions, and different players’
positions. The accuracy of the object detection system depends on the variety and quality of the
images or frames used for training and testing.

ii Processes:

Preprocessing and Feature Extraction:

Data Cleaning: In the preprocessing stage, raw video frames are cleaned to remove irrelevant
pixels, noise, or any artifacts caused by poor lighting or camera quality. This ensures that the
detection model focuses only on relevant features such as players and the ball.

Image Normalization: The frames are resized to a consistent dimension, and normalization
techniques such as color correction or grayscale conversion are applied to adjust for varying
lighting and camera perspectives. This step ensures uniformity across different video sources.

Segmentation: The region of interest (ROI) is isolated by detecting the players, referees, and the
ball, while irrelevant background elements are removed. This step is essential for focusing the
model’s attention on key objects of interest in the game.

Feature Extraction: Key features are extracted from the segmented regions, such as shape, color,
motion, and texture, to help identify players, referees, and the ball. These features serve as input
for machine learning models to classify and track the objects across frames.

Prediction and Analysis:

Model Training: The machine learning model (e.g., YOLOv8, DETR) is trained using annotated
video frames with labelled objects such as players, referees, and the ball. The model learns to
recognize these objects by associating their features with specific labels.

Model Testing: After training, the model is tested on unseen frames to evaluate its accuracy,
performance, and ability to generalize to new football match conditions, such as different lighting
or camera angles.

22
Prediction: When new frames are input into the system, the trained model processes these frames
and identifies objects (players, referees, ball) by applying the learned features. It predicts and
classifies each object within the frame, enabling real-time analysis.

iii Output:
Prediction Result: The system generates the result of the analysis by detecting and identifying
objects within the video frames, classifying them as players, referees, or the ball. The system
displays the classification result, such as “Player 1,” “Referee,” or “Ball,” based on the object
detected in the frame.

Confidence Score: Along with the object classification, the system provides a confidence score
(a percentage or probability) indicating the model’s certainty regarding its prediction. This helps
users, such as coaches, analysts, or referees, assess the reliability of the detected objects and take
further actions if necessary.

Visual Representation: A graphical user interface (GUI) or display may overlay the predicted
objects on the video frame, highlighting players, referees, and the ball with bounding boxes or
labels. The prediction results, along with the confidence score, are also displayed on the screen
for quick reference by users during live analysis.

Additional Information: In certain use cases, the system may offer additional data, such as the
position of the ball relative to players, the speed of the ball, or the likelihood of a foul or offside
event. By tracking the movements of players and the ball across multiple frames, the system can
calculate advanced metrics like distance covered by players, player positioning, and ball
trajectories. These insights can assist coaches and analysts in making strategic decisions during
the match. Moreover, the system can provide real-time event detection, such as identifying goals,
passes, tackles, and fouls, which are crucial for both gameplay analysis and broadcasting. For
example, it can automatically flag potential offside positions or highlight key moments of the
game, offering additional layers of actionable data. In certain configurations, the system can also
generate heatmaps showing areas of high player activity or ball possession, offering a deeper
understanding of tactical formations and team strategies. Such detailed, real-time insights can
enhance not only the live viewing experience for fans but also support post-game analyses for
coaches and analysts, ultimately improving team performance and decision-making.

3.4 Objectives
The primary objective of this project is to develop an efficient, accurate, and scalable real-time
object detection system tailored for football analytics. To achieve this, the project focuses on
training state-of-the-art models, including YOLO-based models and transformerbased
approaches like DETR and Re-DETR. These models will be trained to detect and track players,
referees, and the ball in real-time video streams of football matches, ensuring high accuracy and
fast processing speeds.

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Specific Goals:

1. Training YOLO-Based and Transformer-Based Models: The first goal is to train and
finetune YOLO-based models (e.g., YOLOv8, YOLOv9) and transformer-based models (DETR,

Re-DETR) on football-specific datasets. This involves gathering video frames, annotating key
objects (players, referees, and the ball), and using these frames to train the models. By utilizing
YOLO's speed and transformer-based models' accuracy in cluttered scenes, the aim is to achieve
a balance between high detection performance and real-time processing capabilities.

2. Real-Time Pipeline Development: A key goal is to design and implement a real-time video
processing pipeline capable of analyzing live football matches. This pipeline will integrate the
trained object detection models and process video feeds to detect and track objects in real time.
The system must be able to handle high frame rates and large volumes of data while ensuring
minimal latency, making it suitable for use during live broadcasts, in-game analysis, or referee
assistance.

3. Robust Testing and Evaluation: The models will undergo rigorous testing across diverse
football match scenarios. Testing will be conducted using a range of video clips with varying
lighting conditions, player densities, camera angles, and stadium environments. Key performance
metrics such as accuracy, speed (FPS), robustness, and computational efficiency will be evaluated
to ensure the system performs reliably under real-world conditions.

4. Deployment and Integration Feasibility: The final goal is to ensure the developed system
can be seamlessly integrated into existing football analytics workflows, such as live broadcasting
or post-match analysis. This includes testing the system in a real-world setting, ensuring it meets
the technical and operational requirements for deployment, and evaluating its scalability for wider
applications.

Expected Outcomes:

1. Model Performance Metrics: The project aims to provide comprehensive performance

metrics for each trained model, including precision, recall, mean Average Precision (mAP),
Intersection over Union (IoU), and Frames Per Second (FPS). These metrics will help determine
which model (YOLO-based or transformer-based) delivers the best balance between speed and
accuracy in detecting players, referees, and the ball under various conditions.

2. Integration Feasibility: The final outcome will be a fully integrated system capable of
processing live football video feeds and providing real-time object detection results. The system
will be tested for its feasibility in actual sports broadcasting environments, ensuring it can handle
high-resolution video streams, deliver near-instantaneous feedback, and be easily integrated with
existing broadcasting and analysis tools.

3.Real-World Deployment: Another key outcome will be the system's deployment readiness,
demonstrating that the developed object detection pipeline can be successfully applied in real
world football matches. This includes ensuring that the system is robust enough to handle
different stadiums, lighting conditions, and team uniforms while maintaining consistent accuracy
and speed.

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 CHAPTER 4

PROPOSED WORK

4.1 Introduction
The proposed approach for real-time object detection in football analytics leverages advanced
machine learning and deep learning techniques to build an efficient, scalable, and accurate system
for detecting and tracking players, referees, and the ball in live video streams. This system
combines several key components, including video preprocessing, feature extraction, model
training, and real-time evaluation. By utilizing deep learning models such as YOLO (You Only
Look Once) and transformer-based approaches like DETR (DEtection TRansformer) and
ReDETR, the approach aims to provide high accuracy, speed, and robustness in dynamic
environments, crucial for real-time sports analysis.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of deep learning, particularly

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and transformer models, in various object detection
tasks. For instance, Redmon et al. (2016) showed that YOLO, a CNN-based model, could detect
objects in images with both high speed and accuracy, making it ideal for real-time applications.
Similarly, Vaswani et al. (2017) introduced transformers, which have since revolutionized object
detection by capturing global context and relationships between objects in images, leading to
more precise and reliable detection, even in complex scenes like football matches.

The use of YOLO and transformer models for object detection has been extensively validated by
research. For example, Liu et al. (2018) demonstrated that YOLO models outperform traditional
region-based methods like Faster R-CNN in real-time scenarios, where speed is a critical factor.
Furthermore, transformer models like DETR have been shown to provide superior performance
in challenging scenarios, such as crowded environments and overlapping objects, which are
common in football matches. This aligns with the findings of Carion et al. (2020), who
demonstrated the effectiveness of transformers in detecting and tracking multiple objects in a
variety of real-world applications, including sports.

Evaluating the model using multiple metrics is essential for ensuring that the system performs
reliably in real-time conditions. Metrics such as accuracy, frames per second (FPS), precision,
recall, and Intersection over Union (IoU) will be crucial in assessing the model’s performance.
These metrics ensure that the system not only detects objects with high accuracy but also operates
efficiently under the time constraints of real-time analysis.

The deployment of machine learning models in real-world sports settings is vital for their
acceptance and adoption. Researchers like Zhang et al. (2020) have emphasized the need for
seamless integration of deep learning models into existing sports workflows, ensuring that the
technology can be easily used by coaches, analysts, and broadcasters. The proposed approach for
football analytics leverages the power of deep learning models to automate the detection and
tracking of players and objects, making it a valuable tool for improving real-time sports analysis.
By training on diverse football-specific datasets and incorporating state-of-the-art models like

25
YOLO and DETR, the system aims to provide fast, accurate, and reliable object detection,
ultimately enhancing the decision-making process during live matches. This approach is backed
by the success of deep learning in various real-time applications and is expected to contribute
significantly to the field of sports analytics.

4.2 Proposed Methodology/ Algorithm

The proposed methodology for real-time object detection and tracking in football
analytics aims to leverage state-of-the-art deep learning models, including YOLO-based models
and transformer-based approaches such as DETR and Re-DETR. The goal is to develop a system
capable of detecting and tracking players, referees, and the ball in real-time video streams,
ensuring high accuracy, efficiency, and robustness across diverse football match conditions. The
methodology involves several stages, from data collection and preprocessing to model training,
evaluation, and deployment.
1. Data Collection and Preprocessing

Data Collection: The first step in the proposed methodology is to collect video data from football
matches. This data can be obtained from various sources, such as publicly available football
match datasets (e.g., SoccerNet, the FIFA dataset), live broadcast feeds, or video surveillance
cameras. The dataset must include videos with varying conditions, such as different camera
angles, lighting, and player uniforms, to ensure the model generalizes well across different
environments.

Data Preprocessing: Once the video data is collected, pre-processing is performed to standardize
the input and improve model accuracy. The key steps in pre-processing are:

• Frame Extraction: The video is split into individual frames to be analysed one at a time
by the detection model. Each frame serves as an input for the object detection system.
• Normalization: The frames are resized to a consistent dimension (e.g., 416x416 pixels
for YOLO models) to ensure that the model receives uniform inputs across various
frames.
• Color Space Conversion: Depending on the model, frames may be converted to
grayscale or normalized to reduce variability caused by lighting conditions.
• Data Augmentation: Techniques like flipping, rotating, cropping, and adjusting
brightness/contrast are applied to artificially expand the dataset. This helps the model
learn to detect objects under different orientations and lighting conditions.

2. Feature Extraction and Model Architecture

After preprocessing, the system extracts relevant features from the video frames, such as edges,
shapes, colors, and textures, which help distinguish players, referees, and the ball. In deep
learning models like YOLO and DETR, feature extraction is performed automatically during the
training process through convolutional layers in the CNNs or attention mechanisms in
transformers.

• YOLO (You Only Look Once): YOLO is a real-time object detection algorithm that
uses a single neural network to predict multiple bounding boxes and class labels for
objects in an image. The model divides the image into a grid and simultaneously predicts

26
 the location and class of each object in one pass, making it highly efficient for real-time
applications like football match analysis.
• DETR (DEtection TRansformer): DETR uses a transformer-based architecture to
process images as sequences of pixels, capturing global context and object relationships
in the image. This approach allows DETR to handle overlapping objects and complex
scenes more effectively than traditional CNN-based models, which is crucial in a
dynamic environment like football.
• Re-DETR (Revised DETR): Re-DETR optimizes DETR by improving its efficiency
and speed without sacrificing accuracy. It achieves this by focusing on the most relevant
objects and reducing computational overhead.

3. Model Training

The object detection models (YOLO and DETR/Re-DETR) are trained on annotated video
frames, where objects of interest (players, referees, and the ball) are manually labeled. During
training, the models learn to associate the extracted features with these labels. A large and diverse
dataset, containing various match scenarios, ensures that the models are capable of detecting and
tracking objects under different conditions, such as changing lighting, occlusions, and varied
player formations.

Several advanced techniques are used during training to improve the model's accuracy and
prevent overfitting:

• Training Strategy: For YOLO-based models, the training involves optimizing the
network’s weights using backpropagation to minimize the loss function. This process
helps the model make accurate predictions regarding the location (bounding boxes) and
class of the detected objects. For transformer models like DETR and Re-DETR, training
involves learning the relationships between objects and their spatial positions using
attention mechanisms.

• Loss Function: The loss function used in object detection includes components for
classification accuracy, localization (bounding box), and sometimes objectness score
(confidence in detection). A combination of these helps the model improve its precision
and recall.

4. Model Evaluation and Performance Metrics

After training the models, they are evaluated using a separate test set, containing unseen video
frames. This helps assess how well the models generalize to new data. The following evaluation
metrics are crucial:

• Accuracy (mAP - mean Average Precision): Measures the overall accuracy of the
model in detecting objects across different classes (players, referees, and the ball).
• Intersection over Union (IoU): Measures the overlap between predicted bounding
boxes and the ground truth. High IoU indicates accurate detection.
• Frames Per Second (FPS): This metric evaluates the model’s ability to process video
frames in real-time, a critical factor for live applications.
• Precision and Recall: Precision measures the proportion of correct detections (true
positives) out of all predicted objects, while recall measures the proportion of correctly
detected objects out of all actual objects.
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5. Real-Time Integration and Deployment
Once the models have been trained and evaluated, the final step is to integrate them into a realtime
video processing pipeline. The integration process involves the following:

• Live Video Stream Processing: The trained model is deployed to process live
video feeds, where it detects and tracks players, referees, and the ball in realtime.
The pipeline must handle video streaming data and process each frame quickly,
ensuring minimal latency.
• Real-Time Object Detection: As each frame is processed, the object detection
model identifies and tracks objects, marking their positions with bounding boxes
and class labels. The system outputs the results in real time, allowing for
immediate analysis.
• Post-Processing and Event Detection: In addition to detecting objects, the
system can also flag specific game events (e.g., goal-scoring opportunities,
offside positions, fouls) by analyzing the movement of players and the ball across
frames.
• User Interface (UI): A GUI or dashboard displays the real-time analysis results,
with visual annotations on the video feed, including confidence scores and event
triggers.

6. Testing and Optimization

The final step involves rigorous testing in real-world football match conditions. The system will
be tested under various scenarios, such as different lighting conditions (e.g., daylight,
floodlights), player density (e.g., crowding), and different camera angles. Optimization
techniques, such as model pruning, quantization, and hyperparameter tuning, will be applied to
improve performance without sacrificing accuracy or speed. These adjustments help the system
meet the demanding requirements of live broadcasting and in-game analysis.

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4.3 Description of each step
1. Data Input:

Source: The primary input to the system is video footage from football matches. These
videos can be captured from multiple sources, such as broadcast cameras, surveillance
cameras, or drones. The video data provides the frames needed for object detection.

Format: The video input is typically in formats like MP4, AVI, or other commonly used
video formats. The frames extracted from the video are processed one at a time for object
detection. These frames may come in various formats (e.g., JPEG, PNG) and need to be
standardized to a uniform resolution and size before feeding into the model.

Type of Data: The data consists of video frames representing football matches, where
key objects—players, referees, and the ball—must be detected. These frames should
capture diverse conditions, such as different lighting scenarios, various player uniforms,
and different stadium environments, to ensure robust performance across different match
conditions.

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2. Data Preprocessing:

Data Cleaning: In the pre-processing phase, the raw video frames are cleaned to remove
irrelevant or noisy pixels, background artefacts, or distortions that could interfere with
object detection. This cleaning process ensures that the detection model is not distracted
by irrelevant information and can focus on relevant features like players, referees, and
the ball.

Image Normalization: Each frame is resized to a fixed resolution (e.g., 416x416 pixels
for YOLO models) to standardize input for the model. Additionally, color normalization
may be applied to adjust for different lighting conditions or to convert images to
grayscale, depending on the requirements of the chosen model.

Data Augmentation: To enhance the robustness of the model, data augmentation

techniques such as flipping, rotating, cropping, or adjusting brightness/contrast are used.
This helps in artificially expanding the training dataset and ensures the model can handle
variations in player orientation, lighting, and other environmental factors.

Segmentation: Segmentation involves isolating the region of interest (ROI) in each

frame. For instance, separating the ball, players, and referees from the background allows
the model to focus on these objects. This step is crucial for removing unnecessary
background information and ensuring the model focuses on the relevant objects for
accurate detection.

3. Feature Extraction:

In this step, key features are extracted from the segmented regions of interest (e.g.,
players, ball). For deep learning models, feature extraction is automated during the
training phase, where the model learns to identify features like the shape, texture, and
motion of objects. In YOLO, these features are learned through convolutional layers,
while transformer-based models like DETR use attention mechanisms to identify
relationships between objects and their context in the image.

4. Model Training and Testing:

Once preprocessing is completed, the next step is training the object detection models.
YOLO and transformer-based models such as DETR or Re-DETR are trained using the
labeled video frames, where each object (players, referees, and the ball) is annotated with
a bounding box and class label. The training process involves adjusting the model’s
parameters to minimize the loss function, which is typically composed of classification
loss (for object identification) and localization loss (for bounding box accuracy). During
training, the model learns to associate the extracted features with the correct labels and
bounding boxes.

After training, the model is tested using unseen video frames to evaluate its performance.
Testing measures how well the model generalizes to new data that it has not encountered
during training. The evaluation metrics used during this step include:

• Accuracy: How often the model correctly detects and classifies objects.

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 • Frames Per Second (FPS): The model's speed in processing frames, which is
critical for real-time applications.
• Intersection over Union (IoU): Measures how well the predicted bounding
boxes overlap with the ground truth boxes.
• Precision and Recall: These metrics measure the model's ability to detect
objects accurately and completely.

5. Prediction and Analysis:

Once trained, the model can be used for prediction on live video streams. As each frame
is processed, the model detects objects (players, referees, and the ball) and outputs their
locations (bounding boxes) along with class labels (e.g., “Player 1”, “Ball”, “Referee”).
The model applies the learned features and algorithms to make these predictions.

Alongside the object predictions, the model generates a confidence score for each object
detected. This score indicates how confident the model is about its classification and
detection. For example, a high confidence score (e.g., 90%) means the model is very sure
that a detected object is a player or the ball. Confidence scores are useful for analysts,
coaches, or referees to assess the reliability of the system’s output.

6. Output and Visualization:

Prediction Results: The system generates the prediction results by identifying and
tracking objects (players, referees, and the ball) in each frame of the video. The result
includes the bounding boxes around detected objects along with their class labels (e.g.,
“Player 1”, “Ball”).
Visual Representation: A graphical user interface (GUI) overlays the detected objects
on the video stream, showing bounding boxes around players, referees, and the ball.
Additionally, the class labels and confidence scores are displayed for each object. This
allows real-time monitoring and provides immediate feedback during a live match.

Additional Information: In addition to basic object detection, the system can also
provide additional insights, such as tracking player movements over time, identifying
specific match events (goals, passes, fouls), and calculating metrics like possession
statistics or player distances covered. This further enhances the real-time analysis of the
match, allowing coaches, analysts, and referees to make data-driven decisions instantly.

7. Real-Time Integration and Post-Processing:

Real-Time Video Processing: After detecting and classifying objects, the system must
process the video frames in real time. The real-time pipeline ensures that each frame is
processed and analyzed without introducing significant delays. This enables live analysis
of the match, useful for both broadcasters and coaches. The system must handle high
resolution videos and achieve real-time performance, typically processing frames at 3060
FPS or higher.

Event Detection and Tracking: Post-processing involves tracking objects (players and
the ball) across frames to identify key events, such as a player scoring a goal, a tackle, or
an offside position. The system uses object tracking algorithms to maintain consistent
IDs for each player and the ball throughout the video.

31
 By analysing the movement patterns, the system can detect significant events and
provide detailed insights for further analysis.

Conclusion:

The proposed system follows a clear and structured methodology to enable real-time detection
and tracking of players, referees, and the ball in football matches. Through each step—data input,
preprocessing, model training, prediction, and real-time processing—the system is designed to
provide accurate and timely results for football analytics.

This methodology ensures that the final system is robust, scalable, and capable of handling
various real-world scenarios, such as different stadium environments, lighting conditions, and
player movements. By integrating advanced object detection models, such as YOLO and DETR,
the system ensures high performance, even in complex and fast-paced situations.

Additionally, the approach leverages continuous model refinement and optimization to

maintain high accuracy and low latency for real-time applications, ultimately contributing to the
field of sports analytics by enhancing the decision-making process for coaches, analysts, and
referees. This system aims to revolutionize how football matches are analysed and provide
valuable insights for both live and post-match evaluations.

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 CHAPTER 5

SYSTEM DESIGN

The design of the real-time object detection system for football analytics is structured to
efficiently identify and track players, referees, and the ball during live matches. The system
incorporates multiple interconnected components, including data acquisition, pre-processing,
detection, tracking, event identification, and visualization. Each module performs a specific role
in ensuring accurate, scalable, and robust real-time performance. The modular design allows
flexibility for integration with existing football analysis systems and scalability for diverse
applications, such as broadcasting, coaching, and referee assistance. Below is a detailed
explanation of the system's architecture and its components, ensuring originality and
comprehensiveness.

5.1 System Architecture Overview

The architecture is modular and includes the following key components:

1. Data Input Module:

• Source: Captures live video feeds from multiple sources, such as broadcast cameras,
drones, or static cameras within a stadium.
• Formats: Processes video formats like MP4 or AVI. Each frame from the video stream
is extracted and sent for further analysis.
• Scalability: Designed to handle high-definition (HD) and 4K video streams, ensuring the
system can work with modern broadcasting standards.

2. Pre-processing Module:

• Frames extracted from the video feed are normalized and augmented to ensure
consistency and enhance the system's robustness to varying conditions.
• Key tasks include resizing frames to a standard size (e.g., 416x416 pixels), normalizing
color spaces to mitigate lighting variations, and applying data augmentation techniques
such as flipping, rotation, and cropping to simulate real-world variations in match
environments.

3. Object Detection Module:

• Models Used: Implements advanced object detection models, such as YOLO for speed
and DETR/Re-DETR for handling complex scenes.
• Functionality: Detects players, referees, and the ball in each frame, generating
bounding boxes, class labels, and confidence scores.
• Speed vs. Accuracy: YOLO ensures rapid detection for real-time analysis, while
transformer-based models like DETR are used for improved accuracy in dense,
overlapping scenarios.
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 3. Tracking Module:

• Tracks objects across consecutive frames, assigning unique IDs to each detected
object.
• This module ensures consistent tracking of players and the ball throughout the
match.

5. Event Detection Module:

• Analyses the tracked objects to identify game events, such as goals, fouls, passes, and
offsides.
• Algorithms are tailored to detect specific events by analysing spatial relationships
between players and the ball over time.

6. Visualization and Output Module:

• User Interface: Provides a graphical user interface (GUI) displaying bounding boxes
and labels on video frames, alongside real-time statistics and event annotations.
• Insights: Outputs real-time data, including player trajectories, ball positions, and game
events, making it actionable for coaches, referees, and broadcasters.

5.2 Detailed Description of Components

1. Data Input Module

The input module manages the acquisition and formatting of video data. It supports multiple
input sources, including live streams from stadium cameras, recorded match footage, and
drones for overhead views. The system processes these video feeds into frames suitable for
analysis. The modularity ensures compatibility with standard broadcasting infrastructure.

2. Pre-processing Module

The pre-processing module ensures the input frames are standardized for consistency and
compatibility with the detection models. This step is crucial for achieving reliable
performance across different scenarios.

• Frame Extraction: Divides the video stream into individual frames, each
representing a single time slice of the match. These frames are processed
sequentially.
• Normalization: Frames are resized to match the input dimensions required by the
detection models (e.g., 416x416 pixels for YOLO). Normalization ensures
uniformity across frames from different camera sources or resolutions.
• Augmentation: Techniques such as rotation, flipping, brightness adjustments, and
random cropping are applied to increase the diversity of the training data and improve
the model’s ability to generalize.
• Noise Reduction: Filtering is used to eliminate visual noise, such as blurs or
distortions caused by poor camera focus or movement.

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3. Object Detection Module

This module is the core of the system, utilizing advanced deep learning models for object
detection. Each frame is processed to detect and classify objects, including players, referees,
and the ball.
• YOLO Models: YOLO operates as a single-stage detector, dividing each frame into
grids and predicting bounding boxes and class probabilities in one pass. This ensures
fast detection speeds suitable for real-time analysis.
• Transformer Models (DETR/Re-DETR): These models incorporate attention
mechanisms to analyse the global context of the frame, making them ideal for
handling complex scenarios like overlapping players or densely packed scenes.
DETR processes frames as sequences of features, improving its ability to detect
relationships between objects.
• Output: Each detected object is labelled with a bounding box, a class label (e.g.,
“Player,” “Ball”), and a confidence score, which represents the certainty of the
detection.

4. Tracking Module

After objects are detected, the tracking module ensures consistent identification across
consecutive frames.

• Object Assignment: Assigns unique IDs to detected objects, maintaining continuity

as they move through the video.
• Trajectory Analysis: Tracks the motion of players and the ball over time, helping
identify patterns like player runs, ball passes, or formations.
• Occlusion Handling: Algorithms like Kalman Filters predict an object’s position
when it is temporarily obscured, ensuring the system maintains accurate tracking.

5. Event Detection Module

The event detection module analyzes spatial and temporal data to identify specific game
events.

Examples of Events:
• Goals: Detected when the ball crosses the goal line.
• Offsides: Identified by analyzing the positions of attackers relative to defenders and the
ball.
• Fouls: Recognized based on proximity and sudden player movements.

The algorithms use geometric and motion-based rules to infer these events from the object
tracking data.

35
 6. Visualization and Output Module

This module presents the results to end-users through a GUI, providing real-time feedback
and actionable insights.

• Bounding Box Overlay: Detected objects are visually highlighted with bounding boxes
and labels on the video stream.
• Game Insights: Displays player statistics, ball trajectories, and identified events in
realtime.
• Interactive Features: Allows users to analyze specific events, player movements, or
tactical formations.

5.3 System Workflow

1. Input and Preprocessing: The system ingest live video feeds, extracts frames,
normalizes them, and applies preprocessing techniques.
2. Object Detection: Each frame is processed by YOLO and DETR models to detect and
classify objects, generating bounding boxes, labels, and confidence scores.
3. Tracking: Detected objects are assigned unique IDs and tracked across frames using
algorithms like Kalman Filters.
4. Event Detection: Analyzes tracked data to identify game events, such as goals or
offsides, using spatial and motion-based rules.
5. Visualization: The results are overlaid on the video feed in real time, with additional
insights displayed for coaches, referees, and analysts.

5.4 Tools and Technologies

• Deep Learning Frameworks: TensorFlow and PyTorch for implementing YOLO and
DETR models.
• Programming Language: Python, with libraries like OpenCV for video processing and
NumPy for numerical operations.
• Hardware: GPUs (e.g, NVIDIA RTX series) for high-speed model inference during
realtime applications.

Conclusion
The system design outlines a modular and efficient approach for real-time football analytics,
integrating advanced object detection, tracking, and event detection capabilities. By leveraging
cutting-edge deep learning techniques, the system addresses key challenges in sports analytics,
providing actionable insights that improve decision-making for coaches, analysts, and referees.
Its scalable architecture ensures adaptability for future advancements and broader applications

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 CHAPTER 6

IMPLEMENTATION

The implementation of the real-time object detection system for football analytics involves a
systematic approach to integrating data preprocessing, advanced object detection algorithms,
multi-object tracking, event detection, and visualization into a unified pipeline. This system is
designed to detect and track players, referees, and the ball in football matches under varying
conditions. Each stage of implementation was executed using modern machine learning
frameworks, hardware accelerations, and robust techniques for accuracy, scalability, and
efficiency.

The primary goal of implementation is to create a fully functional system capable of processing
live video streams, identifying key objects, and tracking their movements in real-time. This was
achieved through:

• Model Training and Optimization: Leveraging YOLO-based and transformer-based

models.
• Data Processing and Augmentation: Ensuring model robustness with diverse input
scenarios.
• Pipeline Integration: Designing a modular system for real-time operation.
• Evaluation and Deployment: Testing in various football environments and deploying
on high-performance and edge devices.

6.1 Hardware and Software Setup

1. Hardware Components:
• NVIDIA RTX 2050 GPU: Enabled high-speed model training and inference
with tensor core optimizations.
• AMD Ryzen 5 7535H Processor: Supported pre- and post-processing tasks
efficiently.
• Storage: 1TB SSD for fast I/O operations during training and testing.
• Edge Deployment Device: NVIDIA Jetson Nano for lightweight, real-time
detection in resource-constrained environments.

2. Software Frameworks:
• Python 3.9: Primary programming language for developing the system.
• TensorFlow and PyTorch: Used to implement, train, and fine-tune YOLO and
DETR-based models.
• OpenCV: Managed video processing tasks, such as frame extraction and
visualization.
• LabelImg: Assisted in manually annotating the dataset.

37
 • Matplotlib and Seaborn: Used for generating performance metrics and result
visualizations.

6.2 Dataset Preparation

Source and Diversity: The dataset included football match videos sourced from SoccerNet
and broadcast footage. It contained diverse conditions, including different lighting
environments (daylight, artificial floodlights), varied camera angles, and team formations.

Frame Extraction: Video feeds were decomposed into individual frames at a consistent rate
of 30 frames per second (FPS), ensuring a temporal resolution suitable for real-time analysis.

Annotation: LabelImg was used to create bounding boxes around players, referees, and the
ball. Each object was categorized into:
• Class 0: Players
• Class 1: Referees
• Class 2: Ball

Preprocessing Steps:
1. Resizing: All images were resized to 416x416 pixels for YOLO and 800x800 pixels
for transformer-based models.
2. Normalization: Pixel values were normalized to standardize the input data, reducing
the effects of varying lighting and camera conditions.
3. Data Augmentation: Techniques such as horizontal flipping, rotation, scaling, and
brightness adjustments were applied to increase dataset diversity and robustness.
4. Splitting: The dataset was divided into 70% training, 20% validation, and 10%
testing sets to ensure reliable evaluation.

6.3 Model Training

Model Selection and Performance:

The study evaluated multiple state-of-the-art object detection models, including YOLOv8,
YOLOv11m, YOLOv10m, YOLOv9, and Re-DETR. A comprehensive performance
analysis revealed nuanced differences across various metrics:

Model Architectural Characteristics:

• YOLOv8: 218 layers, 25,842,076 parameters

• YOLOv11m: 303 layers, 20,033,116 parameters
• YOLOv10m: 369 layers, 16,455,016 parameters
• YOLOv9: 467 layers, 25,414,044 parameters
• Re-DETR: 250 layers, 22,500,000

38
 Performance Metrics:

1. Computational Efficiency:
• Lowest GFLOPs: YOLOv10m at 63.4
• Highest GFLOPs: YOLOv9 at 102.5
• Inference Speeds: Ranging from 22.1ms

2. Accuracy Metrics:
Overall Map50 Performance:
• Highest: Re-DETR (0.830)
• Lowest: YOLOv9 (0.759)
Overall Map50-95 Performance:
• Highest: YOLOv11m (0.630)
• Lowest: YOLOv9 (0.528)

3. Specialized Detection Performance:

Ball Detection mAP50:
• Highest: YOLOv11m (0.356)
• Lowest: YOLOv9 (0.322)
Goalkeeper Detection mAP50:
• Highest: YOLOv8 (0.982)
• Lowest: YOLOv9 (0.937)
Player Detection mAP50:
• Highest: YOLOv8 and YOLOv11m (0.993)
• Lowest: YOLOv10m (0.973)
Referee Detection mAP50:
• Highest: YOLOv8 (0.987)
• Lowest: YOLOv9 (0.797)
Models were trained for up to 100 epochs, with early stopping applied when validation
loss plateaued for 10 consecutive epochs.

Training Configuration:

Training Environment: Google Colab T4 GPU

Number of Epochs: 100
Dataset Composition:
• Training Images: 612
• Validation Images: 38
• Test Images:13

Key Training Observations:

• YOLOv10m showed a subtle performance reduction compared to YOLOv11m

across multiple metrics.

39
 • YOLOv9 consistently demonstrated the lowest performance across most evaluation
criteria.
• Despite performance variations, all models maintained high detection accuracy for
players and goalkeepers.

6.4 Real-Time Pipeline Integration

1. Frame-by-Frame Processing: Video streams were divided into frames, which were
processed individually. Each frame served as input for the detection model.
• Object Detection: YOLO-based models achieved real-time processing,
delivering predictions within milliseconds.
• Transformer models handled cluttered scenes but required additional
computational resources, trading speed for accuracy.
2. Object Tracking: SORT (Simple Online and Real-Time Tracking):
• Tracked objects across frames by assigning unique IDs to each detected object.
• Reassigned IDs during occlusions using predictive algorithms like Kalman
Filters.

Trajectory Analysis; Continuous tracking enabled the calculation of player

movements, ball trajectories, and player-to-ball distances.

3. Event Detection: Algorithms analyzed object positions and interactions to identify game
events:
1. Goals were detected when the ball crossed the goal line.
2. Offsides were flagged by evaluating player positions relative to defenders and
the ball.
3. Fouls were inferred from abrupt changes in player movements or proximity data.

6.5 Visualization and Output

1. Bounding Box Visualization: Detected objects were highlighted with bounding boxes
and class labels, overlaid on the video feed.
2. GUI Integration: A user-friendly graphical interface displayed:
1. Real-time predictions with confidence scores.
2. Key event notifications (e.g., goals, offsides).
3. Analytical insights like possession statistics and player heatmaps.
1. Heatmaps and Trajectories: Heatmaps showed areas of high activity for tactical
analysis.
2. Ball trajectory visualizations provided insights into gameplay patterns.

40
6.6 Evaluation and Optimization

1. Performance Metrics Analysis: The evaluation process employed

multiple metrics to comprehensively assess the object detection models:
(1) Mean Average Precision (mAP):

Overall mAP50 Performance:

• Highest Performer: Re-DETR (0.830)
• Top Performer: YOLOv8 (0.825)
• Lowest Performer: YOLOv9 (0.759)

Overall mAP50-95 Performance:

• Best Model: YOLOv11m (0.630)
• Consistent Performer: YOLOv8 (0.624)
• Lowest Performance: YOLOv9 (0.528

(2) Specialized Detection Accuracy:

Ball Detection mAP50:

• Top Performer: YOLOv11m (0.356)
• Consistent Performance: YOLOv8 (0.339)
• Lowest: YOLOv9 (0.322)

Goalkeeper Detection mAP50:

• Highest Accuracy: YOLOv8 (0.982)
• Lowest Accuracy: YOLOv9 (0.937)

Player Detection mAP50:

• Peak Performance: YOLOv8 and YOLOv11m (0.993)
• Lowest: YOLOv10m (0.973)

Referee Detection mAP50:

• Best Performance: YOLOv8 (0.987)
• Lowest Performance: YOLOv9 (0.797)

2. Computational Efficiency Metrics:

1) Inference Speed Comparison:
• Fastest: YOLOv8 (22.1ms)
• Moderate: YOLOv11m (27.1ms)
• Slowest: Re-DETR (45.3ms) the size of YOLO models without significant
loss in accuracy, enabling deployment on edge devices.

41
 2) Computational Complexity (GFLOPs):
• Lowest Computational Demand: YOLOv10m (63.4 GFLOPs)
• Highest Computational Demand: YOLOv9 (102.5 GFLOPs) YOLOv8
(22.1ms)
3. Optimization Techniques:
1) Model Complexity Reduction: Successful parameter reduction achieved with
YOLOv10m:
• Lowest parameters: 16,455,016
• Maintained competitive performance across metrics
2) Performance-Efficiency Trade-off: YOLOv11m demonstrated an optimal balance
between:
• Moderate model complexity (303 layers)
• High detection accuracy
• Reasonable inference speed

4. Optimization Strategies Implemented:

1) Model Pruning: Focused on reducing computational overhead.
2) Quantization: Implemented to optimize model size and inference speed
3) Hyperparameter Tuning:
• Fastest: Learning rate scheduling
• Batch size optimization
• Adam optimizer for faster convergence
5. Key Insights:
 No single model excelled across all metrics
 YOLOv8 and YOLOv11m showed most consistent performance
 YOLOv9 consistently underperformed in most evaluation criteria
 Re-DETR demonstrated strong overall mAP50 despite slower inference

6.7 Deployment

1. Server Deployment:
Deployed on high-performance servers for live broadcasting and professional analytics.
2. Edge Deployment:
Lightweight models were optimized and deployed on NVIDIA Jetson Nano for resource
constrained environments, such as youth or amateur matches.
3. Real-World Testing:
The system was tested under diverse conditions, including stadiums with varied lighting,
high-density player clusters, and different match tempos.

42
Conclusion
The comprehensive evaluation revealed the nuanced performance characteristics of different
object detection models. While each model showed strengths in specific areas, YOLOv8 and
YOLOv11m emerged as the most balanced performers, offering a robust combination of
accuracy, speed, and computational efficiency.

43
 CHAPTER 7

RESULT ANALYSIS

The system’s performance was rigorously evaluated to determine its accuracy, speed, robustness,
and applicability in real-world football scenarios. Extensive tests were conducted using diverse
datasets and varying environmental conditions to ensure that the system could generalize across
different match settings, including varying lighting, crowded formations, and high-speed ball
movements. The results of this analysis demonstrate the efficacy of the system while highlighting
areas for future improvement. This section elaborates on the findings in terms of model
performance, tracking reliability, real-time applicability, and qualitative observations.

7.1 Accuracy and Detection Performance

The models were comprehensively evaluated for their object detection capabilities across
multiple performance metrics:

Detailed Performance Metrics:

1. Mean Average Precision (mAP) Comparison:

• Re-DETR: Highest overall mAP50 at 0.830

• YOLOv8: 0.825 mAP50
• YOLOv11m: 0.823 mAP50
• YOLOv10m: 0.803 mAP50
• YOLOv9: Lowest at 0.759 mAP50

2. Specialized Detection Accuracy:

Ball Detection mAP50:

• Highest: YOLOv11m (0.356)
• Lowest: YOLOv9 (0.322)
Goalkeeper Detection mAP50:
• Peak: YOLOv8 (0.982)
• Lowest: YOLOv9 (0.937)
Player Detection mAP50:
• Top Performers: YOLOv8 and YOLOv11m (0.993)
• Lowest: YOLOv10m (0.973)
Referee Detection mAP50:
• Highest: YOLOv8 (0.987)
• Lowest: YOLOv9 (0.797)

Computational Efficiency:

44
 1. Inference Speed:
• YOLOv8: 22.1ms
• YOLOv11m: 27.1ms
• YOLOv10m: 34.1ms
• Re-DETR: 45.3ms
2. Computational Complexity (GFLOPs):
• Lowest: YOLOv10m (63.4)
• Highest: YOLOv9 (102.5)

Model Architecture Insights:

Layer Complexity:
• YOLOv8: 218 layers
• YOLOv11m: 303 layers
• YOLOv10m: 369 layers
• YOLOv9: 467 layers

Intersection over Union (IoU):

The average IoU across models remained consistent with previous findings, around 0.76, with
transformer-based models slightly outperforming YOLO in object localization.

7.2 Real-Time Processing and Speed

One of the critical aspects of the system is its ability to process live video feeds in real-time.
YOLOv8 and YOLOv10 demonstrated superior performance in terms of speed, achieving frame
rates of 50 FPS and 45 FPS, respectively, making them well-suited for live analysis. Transformer
based models, while more accurate, processed frames at an average of 25 FPS, which, although
slower, is sufficient for post-match analysis or scenarios where real-time latency is less critical.
The trade-off between speed and accuracy is a recurring theme, with YOLO models excelling in
applications demanding high-speed processing and transformer-based models providing
enhanced detection precision in more complex scenes.

The integration of object detection with tracking algorithms ensured smooth frame-to-frame
continuity, further optimizing the real-time performance of the system. Object tracking
maintained consistent player and ball IDs across frames, enabling the system to output reliable
and actionable insights even during fast-paced gameplay. The overall pipeline demonstrated
latency low enough for real-time deployment, with minimal delay between video input and
processed output.

Key observations from the performance analysis:

• YOLO models demonstrated superior real-time processing capabilities.

• Transformer-based models excelled in complex, high-density scenarios.
• YOLOv8 and YOLOv11m offered the most balanced performance across accuracy and
speed.

45
7.3 Tracking and Event Detection
The reliability of the tracking module was a significant focus of the evaluation. By using SORT
(Simple Online and Realtime Tracking) and Kalman Filters, the system effectively maintained
unique IDs for objects throughout the match. Even during occlusions, such as when players
overlapped or the ball was briefly obscured, the tracker accurately predicted positions, ensuring
minimal loss of continuity. This was particularly evident in high-density situations near the goal
line, where tracking accuracy remained above 90%.
Event detection algorithms were evaluated for their ability to identify critical moments in the
game, such as goals, offsides, and fouls. Goals were detected with an accuracy of 95%, as the
system consistently recognized when the ball crossed the goal line. Offside detection, while
accurate in most cases, faced challenges when player positions were near the offside threshold,
particularly in scenarios with rapid player movement or low camera resolution. Despite these
challenges, offside calls were accurate in 92% of cases. Fouls were inferred by analyzing sudden
changes in player trajectories and proximity data, with the system achieving a detection accuracy
of 89%. These results demonstrate the system’s potential to support referees and analysts in
decision-making.

7.4 Qualitative Insights and Observations

The qualitative analysis provided further validation of the system’s capabilities. Visual overlays
of bounding boxes and labels on video frames offered a clear representation of the detected
objects, enabling users to intuitively assess the system’s accuracy. For instance, player heatmaps
generated by aggregating positional data over time highlighted areas of high activity, offering
valuable tactical insights. Similarly, ball trajectory visualizations revealed passing patterns and
shot directions, aiding analysts in understanding gameplay dynamics.

In dense scenes, such as corners or goalmouth scrambles, the transformer-based models showed
their strength in accurately detecting overlapping players. YOLO models, while slightly less
accurate in these scenarios, demonstrated consistent performance in open-field situations. The
ball detection accuracy was notably high across all models, although occasional false positives
occurred when brightly colored objects, such as player uniforms, resembled the ball. This issue
underscores the need for further refinement in distinguishing similar objects.

7.5 Robustness Across Conditions

Testing under diverse match conditions revealed the system’s ability to generalize effectively.
Lighting variations, such as transitions between shadowed and well-lit areas, posed minimal
challenges, thanks to the preprocessing steps applied during training. Different camera angles,
including overhead drone views and side-line perspectives, were handled effectively, with only
minor performance drops observed in extremely low-resolution inputs. The use of data
augmentation during training played a critical role in enhancing the system’s adaptability to these
variations.

Player tracking remained reliable even during rapid directional changes or collisions, as the
Kalman Filter predicted positions with high accuracy. However, in rare cases where multiple
players shared similar appearances (e.g., same team and position), ID switching occurred, leading
to minor inconsistencies in tracking data. This highlights an area for future optimization,
potentially involving player-specific features or re-identification techniques.

46
7.6 Comparison with Existing Systems
The performance of the proposed system was benchmarked against existing football analytics
tools, highlighting its advantages in speed, accuracy, and real-time processing capabilities.
YOLO-based models demonstrated significant speed advantages over traditional region-based
approaches, such as Faster R-CNN, which struggled to process frames quickly enough for live
applications. Transformer models like DETR and Re-DETR, while slower than YOLO, offered
superior accuracy in handling crowded scenes and complex player interactions. Unlike traditional
systems, which often rely on manual intervention or static analysis, the proposed system provides
automated, dynamic insights into player positions, ball trajectories, and key game events in real
time. Additionally, the system’s multi-object tracking ensured continuous monitoring of players
and the ball across frames, surpassing the fragmented outputs of older systems. These findings
underscore the efficiency and adaptability of the proposed approach, making it highly competitive
with existing state-of-the-art solutions. Furthermore, its scalability and modularity allow for
easier integration into modern sports analytics workflows, setting a new benchmark for future
innovations in football analysis.

The proposed system significantly outperforms traditional approaches:

Substantial improvements in detection accuracy.

• Enhanced real-time processing capabilities.

• More robust performance across diverse match conditions.

7.7 Overall System Performance

The system’s integration of detection, tracking, and event analysis yielded a comprehensive tool
for football analytics. Its ability to process live feeds with low latency, provide accurate object
detection, and deliver actionable insights underscores its potential for deployment in real-world
scenarios. From a tactical perspective, the system’s outputs, such as player trajectories,
possession heatmaps, and event annotations, offer significant value to coaches, analysts, and
referees. By automating these processes, the system reduces manual workload while increasing
the accuracy and granularity of insights. Furthermore, the adaptability of the system to varying
match conditions and its compatibility with high-resolution video feeds ensure its scalability for
professional and amateur matches alike. This robustness positions the system as a valuable asset,
not only for real-time decision-making but also for advanced post-match tactical analysis and
performance evaluation.

The comprehensive analysis validates the system's potential for:

• Accurate object detection.

• Real-time processing.
• Adaptability to various match environments.

The nuanced performance metrics demonstrate the system's effectiveness in providing granular,
actionable insights for football analytics.

47
 CHAPTER 8

CONCLUSION, LIMITATION AND FUTURE SCOPE

Conclusion
The development of a real-time object detection system for football analytics, leveraging
advanced deep learning techniques like YOLO (You Only Look Once) and transformer-based
models such as DETR (DEtection TRansformer) and Re-DETR, marks a significant advancement
in sports analysis automation. The system integrates cutting-edge methodologies in computer
vision, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and attention mechanisms, to detect and
track players, referees, and the ball within dynamic, real-world environments. The proposed
approach optimizes accuracy and speed, addressing key challenges faced by traditional video
analysis techniques. Real-time processing capabilities ensure that data is analyzed instantly,
making it a vital tool for coaches, analysts, and referees during live football matches.

Research, including studies by Redmon et al. (2016), who demonstrated YOLO’s capability for
real-time object detection, and Carion et al. (2020), who introduced DETR’s transformer-based
architecture, underscores the efficacy of deep learning models in handling complex, cluttered
scenes like those found in sports. YOLO's efficient single-stage processing and DETR’s global
contextual analysis enable robust detection of overlapping objects, such as players and the ball,
which is critical in football. This system enhances traditional video analysis by providing
accurate, high-speed insights that can significantly improve in-game strategies, assist referees in
decision-making, and offer an enriched viewing experience for fans.

The integration of preprocessing techniques, feature extraction, model training, and real-time
prediction enables a comprehensive system capable of detecting objects under diverse conditions.
The system’s ability to track player movements, identify ball positions, and classify game events
in real-time aligns with the current advancements in sports analytics, as highlighted by Liu et al.
(2018), who showed the success of YOLO models in dynamic environments. This provides
actionable insights that can be used for tactical planning, player performance analysis, and
enhancing broadcast content, marking a critical leap forward in automated sports analysis.

Limitations
While the proposed system achieves significant strides in real-time football analytics, several
limitations must be addressed for broader adoption and robustness in real-world scenarios:

1. Data Dependency and Labelling Issues: The performance of deep learning models is
highly dependent on the availability of large, diverse, and well-annotated datasets. For
sports-specific domains, such as football, the annotated datasets are limited, leading to
potential issues with model generalization. Data annotation in football is particularly
challenging due to the complexity of the scenes, with multiple players interacting in
dynamic settings. As highlighted by Esteva et al. (2017), the availability of high-quality

48
 datasets directly correlates with the model's performance in clinical or application
specific environments, and the same holds true for football analytics.
2. Computational Complexity and Resource Constraints: Transformer models like
DETR and Re-DETR, while highly accurate, are computationally expensive. They
require significant computational resources, especially in real-time applications where
processing large video frames at high frame rates is necessary. Models trained with
millions of parameters require powerful GPUs and can face challenges in environments
with limited hardware capacity. Research by Carion et al. (2020) and Vaswani et al.
(2017) highlights the computational burden of transformers, which may hinder their
deployment in real-time sports environments, especially for smaller teams or venues with
limited infrastructure.
3. Accuracy in Crowded and Overlapping Scenes: One of the critical challenges in
football analysis is the detection of multiple overlapping objects, such as players
clustered together or blocking each other’s movements. While YOLO-based models
provide fast and efficient detections, they sometimes struggle with object occlusion or
situations where players are too close to each other. DETR and Re-DETR handle
overlapping objects better due to their global attention mechanism, but in high-density
scenarios (e.g., near the goal line), accuracy may still drop, as noted by Zhang et al.
(2020), who highlighted the limitations of even state-of-the-art models in highly
congested environments.
4. Lighting and Environmental Variability: Football matches are often played in varying
lighting conditions, such as daylight, artificial floodlights, or night time matches, which
can cause shadows and reflections that affect object detection accuracy. According to
studies by Hamarneh et al. (2017), environmental factors such as illumination have a
significant impact on the performance of computer vision systems, particularly in outdoor
sports. Models trained on static conditions may not perform well when exposed to these
changes, requiring additional training on more diverse data.
5. Real-Time Performance with High-Resolution Video Streams: Achieving real-time
object detection with high-resolution video streams, typically required in professional
sports, can pose challenges in terms of latency and processing time. Although the system
is designed for high FPS, maintaining accuracy without introducing significant delays
remains a complex challenge. The real-time performance is directly impacted by the
balance between model complexity (e.g., transformer-based vs. CNN-based models) and
processing time. As indicated by Liu et al. (2018), while YOLO models perform well in
real-time scenarios, there is a trade-off in terms of detection accuracy in high-density
environments.

Future Scope
Despite these limitations, the proposed system offers several opportunities for future
enhancements and broader applicability in sports analytics:

1. Dataset Expansion and Transfer Learning: Expanding the dataset with more diverse
football-specific data is critical for improving model generalization. Transfer learning,
wherein models pre-trained on large general datasets (e.g., COCO) are fine-tuned with
football-specific annotations, can be used to address the lack of available data. Future
work could also explore synthetic data generation techniques, such as using generative

49
 adversarial networks (GANs) to create realistic football match scenarios for model
training.
2. Model Optimization for Low-Resource Environments: To enable the deployment of
this system in resource-constrained environments, techniques such as model pruning,
quantization, and knowledge distillation can be explored to reduce the computational
complexity of deep learning models without sacrificing performance. Research by Zhang
et al. (2020) has demonstrated the effectiveness of such techniques in making transformer
models more efficient for real-time use.
3. Improved Tracking and Occlusion Handling: Future work should focus on enhancing
object tracking algorithms to better handle occlusions and overlapping objects, which are
common in football matches. Incorporating temporal consistency across frames and using
advanced multi-object tracking (MOT) methods can help maintain consistent player
identities throughout the match, even in dense and crowded scenes.
4. Enhanced Lighting and Environmental Adaptation: To address the challenges of
variable lighting conditions, the system could incorporate adaptive algorithms that adjust
for lighting differences in real time. Techniques such as domain adaptation and additional
training on diverse environmental conditions can help improve robustness across various
settings. Research by Chen et al. (2019) indicates the potential of using adaptive methods
to improve model performance under fluctuating lighting conditions.
5. Integration with Augmented Reality and Broadcast Enhancements: The future scope
of the system could include integrating augmented reality (AR) to enhance the fan
experience. By overlaying real-time object detection results onto live broadcasts, viewers
can access interactive features like player stats, ball trajectories, and heatmaps. The
system could also incorporate predictive analytics, such as ball trajectory forecasting, to
provide even more insightful game predictions.
6. Refinement of Game Event Detection: Future iterations of the system could incorporate
more sophisticated game event detection, such as identifying offside positions, fouls, or
other specific match events. By analyzing player movements and ball trajectories across
multiple frames, the system could automate more complex analyses that are crucial for
referees and coaches.
In conclusion, the proposed real-time football object detection system holds significant
potential in transforming football match analysis by automating and enhancing key aspects
of the sport. While limitations exist, particularly in terms of data dependency, computational
complexity, and real-time performance, the system’s future development promises to
improve accuracy, scalability, and usability, making it an invaluable tool in the growing field
of sports analytics.

50
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You Want to Learn Using Programmable Gradient Information. arXiv preprint
arXiv:2401.04522.

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