Ultra Edge Technology: In today's era, cricket has become more professional than ever before. Many changes have come in this game. Cricket has completely changed with the advent of technology. With the advent of T20 cricket, traditional cricket is almost non-existent today. This is the reason why today's young generation prefers to play T20 instead of 'Test cricket'. Technology has completely changed cricket. There was a time in cricket when the umpire's decision on the field was the final decision. But today, batsmen and bowlers have many technologies to save themselves from getting out. These include many technologies like DRS, Stump Mic, Stump Camera and Ultra Edge.

10 years ago, it was very difficult for the third umpire to take a decision if a batsman was out LBW, close run out, close caught out or stumped out during a match, but today it has become very easy to give a decision through DRS, Stump Mic, Stump Camera and Ultra Edge technology. Today we are going to tell you about how Ultra Edge Technology is used during a cricket match.

used in world cricket Ultra Edge Technology You must have heard about it. You must have often seen that 'Ultra-Edge Technology' is used many times during matches. This technology is an important part of the Decision Review System (DRS) in cricket, through which the sound created by the batsman's bat, pads and clothes is detected during the match. Let us tell you how this technology works?

What is Ultra-Edge technology?

'Ultra Edge' is an advanced version of the Snickometer. It is used for 'Edge Detection' during cricket matches. The technology called Snickometer was first invented by British computer scientist Alan Plaskett. It was first used by UK's 'Channel 4' in the year 1999. The system was approved for use by the International Cricket Council (ICC) only after thorough testing and validation of the 'Ultra-Edge technology' by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

How does Ultra Edge Technology work?

Ultra-edge technology is actually a part of DRS. It is a system that is used during a match to decide whether the ball has touched the bat after a valid ball has been bowled or not! During a cricket match, there is a system of 'stump mic' behind the batsman and cameras are installed around the stadium, which keep an eye on the ball and the sound produced by it. When the ball hits the bat, it produces a special sound which is picked up by the 'stump mic'. After this, it is detected on the tracking screen. During this, if the ball has touched the bat even slightly, it means that the batsman is out.

Can 'Ultra-Eze' make mistakes?

Every technology in the world has some glitch or the other. Even ultra-edge technology sometimes has glitches. The first glitch can occur when a jump in the length of the sound wave is recorded before the ball touches the bat. This can happen due to external sounds captured by the mic when the ball is thrown. The second glitch can occur when the bat hits both the ground and the ball simultaneously. In this, the sound coming from the bat can create confusion. The third glitch can occur when the ball hits the bat as well as the body, even though it is very close. This can cause distortion in the length of the detected sound.

Important role of 'stump mic'

'Stump mic' has the most important role in ultra-edge technology. Actually, the mic present in the stump tells the difference between the sound coming from the bat, pad and body based on the frequency level. Stump mics are able to differentiate between the sound coming from the bat and the pad. As soon as the ball touches the bat or goes around it, cameras installed on both sides of the batsman at the opposite end of the field track the ball for photographic representation. Then the 'sound microphone' picks up the sound based on the speed and sends it to the oscilloscope. This oscilloscope shows the sound frequency level in waves. After this, the combination of camera and stump mic helps the umpires to decide whether the ball has touched the bat or not.

The role of 'Hotspot' in the match

In cricket, 'Hotspot' also works like 'Ultra-Edge Technology'. We can also call Ultra-Edge Technology as 'Hotspot' new version. 'Hotspot' is part of the ball-tracking technology, which uses an infra-red (IR) camera system to detect the heat signature caused by the impact of the ball. This is used to determine whether the batsman should be given out or not. It can detect whether the ball has hit the batsman, his equipment or the ground. Hotspot can be a very effective solution as it not only cancels out the noise factor, but also reduces the possibility of multiple incidents. If the ball hits the pad, there will be only one heat signature. If it hits the pad and the bat, there will be multiple signatures, but the heat intensity can be a clear difference.

Hotspot is also not foolproof as it can miss some extra edges which have very little or no heat signature. However, 'Hotspot' is not available during matches in all the cricketing countries of the world. To use it, many cameras are required. For this you need state-of-the-art logistics support, which costs money.