posted Sep 30th, 2008 - It is an interesting point in time for the high technology experts in the sport. The progression of skydiving has not only been happening in the athletic area. The environment of Formation Skydiving competition has also changed and continues to turn into a more professional arena.

Electronic judging systems, DZ-TV, on-line coverage have become crucial components of the bigger and most relevant skydiving competitions. The NSL News alone has already seen three different systems this year, and the mother of all systems, Omniskore, will be the fourth one at the USPA National 2008.

Jukka Olkkonen from Finland presented his judging and DZ-TV system at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008. Andrew Mansfield's CamScore system provided the judging and DZ-TV technology at the World Challenge 2008. The French iScore system served as the official judging and DZ-TV system at the World Meet 2008.

Omniskore was created and maintained by Ted and Tim Wagner and has been around for a long time. The system is well known in the skydiving community. Jukka Olkkonen's system from Finland was introduced by the NSL News while it was used at Skydive DeLand this March. The British CamScore system was a part of the World Challenge NSL News coverage already in 2007 and again in 2008.

The NSL News coverage of the FAI World Meet 2008 is brought to you with the help of:

The French iScore system is relatively new to the skydiving community, and the NSL News used the opportunity of the visit in France this year to learn more about the technology. Mathieu Cannesson is the main developer of the system, Sébastien Chaumontet supported the development and tested the whole system comprehensively in Maubeuge. Both provided the NSL News with information and took some additional time for a live interview.

The French website of the World Meet introduced the system to the audience on a separate page: "The iScore system is a complete skydiving scoring system developed by a French volunteer team and supported by the French league (FFP). This system is based on non specific hardware you can buy everywhere, to avoid using 'black boxes' with no control. iScore is based on two computers and five PDA."

Mathieu Cannesson and Sébastien Chaumontet were obviously not the only volunteers who worked on the project. Mathieu Cannesson, who used to be a student at the highly recognized Epitech School in Paris, had several other students by his side during the 3-year time period of this project for the French skydiving federation. The students then received credit from the university for their work.

The two young students had another good reason for their involvement in the challenging project. They were also students at the skydiving club in Maubeuge and are now training and competing in 4-way teams since 2004.

Mathieu Cannesson is currently a member of Ellipsis ASPU Maubeuge. His team competed in the AAA/Class Class at the French Nationals 2008 and finished in 11th place with an 11.1 average. He is done with his school in Paris now and has a full time job. He worked for the iScore project this year whenever he could find the time.

Sébastien Chaumontet is on a lower experience level in 4-way and competed with Parazart ASPU MAUBEUGE in the French Intermediate Class. His team finished in 9th place with a 7.4 average. The iScore experts then joined forces and competed together in 8-way. WIIIT ASPU Maubeuge scored a 5.7 average in the Open Class competition and took the 5th place.

The iScore system worked very well at the World Meet 2008. The young French computer experts and competitors had picked the biggest event in the sport for the project. Mathieu Cannesson said that the judging system was the most challenging component for him and his development team.

The iScore system combines the three components that are relevant for a skydiving competition these days: a judging system, DZ-TV and internet services. The goal for the iScore team was a user-friendly system, as the mission statement says: no "black boxes" or hardware that is not available and easy to purchase.

Mathieu Cannesson explained that he wants to see a version as the final product that can serve a small event with one judge and one computer - and also a World Championship. He said that the World Meet 2008 in France was a great opportunity to learn a lot more about the system. He thinks that it will take another year until the final product will be available.

Finally, he added probably the best news for the skydiving community. The software program will be offered as a free service. Event managers would just have to get the hardware that it takes to accommodate the event. It was a lot of hardware that was used at the World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge, and the software did the job well. Mathieu Cannesson and Sébastien Chaumonet were mostly just trouble shooting during the event.

The NSL News will continue to collect experiences with the different judging/DZ-TV/internet systems at the major and minor events. It will surely be beneficial for the sport if different systems compete with each other to offer the best product.