Problem statement
Primary goal: tracking (the position of) a horse and rider in a 20x40m arena. Secondary goal: capture useful video for the general audience
Camera's can only be positioned inside the arena. To cover everything, I need multiple cameras.
Option 1: Static cameras with relatively high fov (at least 2). Use motion tracking software like to detect. Candiates to be explored: vvvv, processing (jmyron), eyesweb, eyecon. Coordinates can be broadcasted via osc or something similar.
Option 2: Motion tracking cameras. Automatic tracking would be nice if it is still able to export pan/tilt parameters. 2 cameras can definetly capture the entire arena.
The pan/tilt mechanism can be easily made with a few servos, but there are also complete solutions (mostly in the surveillance market). However, these produce lower fidelity video. On the other hand, IR tracking may be more robust to work with.