FAQ

WHICH SPORTS IS CATAPULT USED IN, AND IN WHICH COUNTRIES?

Catapult has been used in 40+ sports in 100+ countries, from huge-market global sports like soccer, basketball and baseball, to unique situations like cross country skiing and synchronised swimming. The precision and sophistication of the raw data ensures any athlete movement can be analysed and improved in a valuable way through Catapult’s software analytics platform.

HOW MUCH DOES THE TECHNOLOGY COST?

Catapult’s product cost varies greatly depending on the product, with a full range of wearable, video and athlete management solutions from the individual consumer to professional sports teams, as well as the volume of purchase. The majority of Catapult’s technology is sold through a SaaS model to its elite clients, whereby teams pay a monthly fee to access the performance data captured by the wearable devices worn by the athletes. Please contact us to find out more on pricing.

HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES CATAPULT EMPLOY, AND WHERE ARE THE COMPANY’S OFFICES LOCATED?

The Catapult Group consists of over 340+ staff across 30 locations globally with regional headquarters in Melbourne, Leeds and Boston. Regional offices are located in London, Tokyo, Orlando and Dundalk, Ireland.

WHAT OTHER COMPANIES FALL UNDER THE CATAPULT GROUP?

The Catapult Group is a collection of four companies: Canberra-based GPSports, a pioneer in sports science and technology globally with its seven generations of wearable devices; Boston- and Orlando-based XOS Digital, the dominant North American video analytics supplier that has revolutionised the relationship between coaches and film; Dundalk-based PlayerTek, the innovative and plug-and-play GPS athlete monitoring system for coaches and athletes; and Melbourne-based Catapult, the inventor and world leader of wearable technology for elite sports teams.

WHY DOES CATAPULT PLACE SUCH A LARGE FOCUS ON RESEARCH AND INDEPENDENT VALIDATION?

The purpose of data, and the technology you’re using to collect the data, is to help you answer questions. Independent validation of the technology therefore ensures that the data you are collecting is answering the questions with the correct information. Using Catapult correctly will help you get those extra percentage points of performance out of your athletes, but if you’re using technology that is not independently validated using correct scientific principles, you could be causing harm to your athletes by basing your decisions on erroneous data. When it comes to data, if it’s garbage going in, it will be garbage coming out.

IF I PURCHASE CATAPULT FOR MY ELITE TEAM, HOW DO I GET TRAINED ON THE SYSTEM?

Catapult has the largest team of sports scientists in the industry, and it is their job to ensure you are on the correct path in your athlete monitoring endeavours. Upon joining the Catapult community, you will receive on-site training and support that will provide all the basics of using the technology in a day-to-day setting and guidelines on what to look for as you progress with your data collection and analysis. As for ongoing training, our sports scientists are available for their applied expertise and we will provide you all the materials you need to get up to speed on using the technology.

WHAT IS INSIDE CATAPULT’S WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY?

Inside each device is a tri-axial accelerometers, tri-axial magnetometers, tri-axial gyroscopes, a microprocessor to record over a thousand data points per second in real time and store on the device for post-session analysis, a powerful battery, and a tracking engine that is either GNSS (GPS + GLONASS, for double the satellite reliability), GPS, or LPS (ClearSky, Catapult’s proprietary local positioning system).

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GPS AND GNSS?

GPS is a satellite navigation system developed by the United States government for the US Department of Defense. It is the most commonly used navigation system in the world, and features 32 satellites across the globe. GLONASS is a satellite navigation system developed by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces and has 29 total satellites orbiting Earth. GPS, GLONASS, and a handful of other navigation systems that are currently being developed, all fall under the GNSS umbrella. When using a GPS device, you are only accessing GPS satellites; when using a GNSS device, you are accessing every satellite in orbit for greatly enhanced reliability.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY OVER A CAMERA-TRACKING SYSTEM?

A camera system is unobtrusive and provides valuable information on tactical information based on athlete position, but wearable technology is the only option for quantifying athlete movement and physical load. Information obtained from a camera-tracking system is generally laborious and manual, relying on people behind the scenes to clean up the data in real time, which can result in errors. Another well-known limitation is that during a congested play, a camera system often loses track of which player is which, resulting in lost or erroneous data.

HOW SAFE IS CATAPULT DATA FROM A SECURITY STANDPOINT?

Catapult’s software is a console- and cloud-based analytics platform, meaning your data is accessible on more than one computer. The Amazon Cloud OpenField uses is the same program used by the CIA and every major bank. Data security is one of Catapult’s biggest priorities when setting up clients and everything possible is done to ensure passwords are secure, accounts are locked, and your data is only visible to individuals you assign.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) AND A LOCAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (LPS)?

The difference between a local positioning system and GPS is that instead of using satellites, LPS works by using short-range signaling beacons (called anchor nodes), each with a known exact location for positioning objects through triangulation techniques. Because GPS satellites are approximately 20,000km from earth, and move at about 14,000km/hour, GPS has limited positional accuracy. As well as the restriction of not working under a closed roof, and showing reduced efficiency in a stadium environment, GPS will provide approximately 1m positional accuracy. In contrast, ClearSky brings the same concept of GPS within a stadium, using the proximity of the anchor nodes to the tracking devices to enable absolute accuracy within 10cm.

HOW DO I EXPLAIN WHAT CATAPULT IS TO THE REST OF MY STAFF?

If you can measure it, you can manage it. When you jump in your car, how do you know how much fuel you have? How do you know how fast you’re moving in a restricted zone? If you’re driving a manual, how do know when to change gears? What Catapult does is put a dashboard on the athlete’s body. It’s no longer enough to say “he looks tired” – maybe he is or maybe he isn’t, but we can provide you objective to support or contradict your opinion.