Lighting Installations for Freestyle Skiing
The International Competition Rules (ICR) have the following reference regarding lighting for ski competitions;
- 4800.1.1 The light level anywhere on the course may not be less than 80 lux, measured parallel to the surface. The lighting should be as uniform as possible. In case the competition will be broadcasted on Television the level of lighting has to be checked with the responsible person for TV production. Special arrangements have to be made as required individually.
 Fundamentals of Good Illumination
The goal of good sports lighting is to provide a luminous environment that contributes to the contrast of the object, the competitors, and the surrounding backgrounds. Contrast is a function of the luminance of both the target and continued the background. Good design takes into consideration direct and reected glare, color rendering, and color contrast.
The lighting recommendations also seek to minimize spill light, or light trespass, in areas near the sports facility. The lighting xtures commonly used for sports lighting may be huge sources of direct glare, affecting not only nearby areas and those at considerable distances from the sports eld, but also spectators and players using the facility.
The brightest single source of light visible in a city nighttime landscape is often a sports facility. It is, then, no surprise that such lighting is usually the single greatest source of complaints and neighborhood tension. Designing excess light increases construction, operating, and maintenance costs and wastes energy
 Outdoor sports lighting
Outdoor sports lighting is a specialized form of area lighting.
Pole locations, mounting heights, and luminaire aiming are selected to light the field of play. There is also a need to minimize fixture brightness or glare in the eyes of the competitors and spectators. Selected areas such as the field of play of a ski slope may be highlighted to insure sufficient light for the faster sections of the slope.
Specific design considerations are given with each sports lighting design.
- Class I Competition play before a large group (5000 or more spectators). However,for the purpose of this practice, illumination criteria for individual sports are limited to a spectator capacity of 10,000 or less. Lighting criteria for major stadiums and arenas require special design considerations such as vertical and horizontal illuminance values not covered by this Practice, which may be defined by individual sports and/or broadcasting organizations.
- Class II Competition play with facilities for up to 5,000 spectators.
- Class III Competition play with some spectator facilities
- Class IV Competition or recreational play only
 Stroboscopic Effect:
The light output of HID lamps follows the 60-cycle current waveform. The stroboscopic effect will cause a moving object to appear to flicker or jump from position to position due to the cycling waves of light. It is most pronounced when the object is small and traveling over 50 feet per second. If the object is moving toward the player or the player is following the motion of the object, strobe will be less noticeable. This annoyance can be minimized by using three-phase power with HID lamps.
Metal Halide lamps, do not produce as much stroboscopic effect and can be used successfully on single-phase power.
 Design Criteria:
The design information in this guide is based on published lamp and luminaire performance that are inherent in their design. Normal manufacturing tolerances cause changes in a lamp’s electrical characteristics and lumen output. Light changes in reflector finish and lamp position can alter the photometric distribution of the luminaire. Changes in the ballast and line voltage will also alter the output of the lamp.
As a result of these variations average illumination levels can be expected to vary with 10% of the design value. Individual point-by-point footcandle values can vary more than this, especially when only a few luminaires are involved, resulting in little overlap between luminaires.
 Aiming Diagrams:
Aiming diagrams describe the unique lighting design for each field. This information contains directional aiming instructions for each luminaire, luminaire selection, NEMA types, point-by-point footcandle values, pole positioning, field layout, and other design criteria. The aiming instructions should be followed closely. A difference of a few degrees in aiming can make a significant difference in the resulting light level and uniformity. Consult our lighting application designers for a custom design.
 Illumination Levels:
The suggested light levels in this book are based on the Illuminating Engineering Society “Recommended Practice for Sports and Recreational Area Lighting,” RP-6. Sports lighting for television requires special design considerations.
 Lighting for TV production
- "For events scheduled for night/evening races the complete Competition Area as well as the areas significant for the TV transmission must not be lit with less than 1400 lux measured at any point of the competition space in the direction of the main television cameras. This standard is considered to be satisfactory for high definition broadcasting.
LIGHTING OF THE FREESTYLE JUMPING ARENAS
This was prepared to allow for the correct lighting of the aerial course for competitions.
Perhaps this lighting can serve for a Standard Definition (SD)TV Production.
"For events scheduled for night/evening races the complete Competition Area as well as the areas significant for the TV transmission must not be lit with less than 1400 lux measured at any point of the competition space in the direction of the main television cameras. This standard is considered to be satisfactory for high definition broadcasting.
 Aerial Lighting Set Up
- 2 transfer points with 40 KW each.
Reason: to avoid cables on the take-off and to be able to use a machine - if needed - and to be able to use a spade without danger.
- 1 transfer point for the emergency lightening with one aggregate (35 KW)
Why an aggregate? To guarantee in case of a power loss at least emergency power with the help of an aggregate to avoid any risk of competitors. The emergency lightening has to be working during the whole competition! The lightening of the landing area and the outrun has to be done by a combination of three spotlights, in order to avoid a gap in case of loss of one spotlight.
This lightening is according to ORF sufficient in regard to length and volume and also suitable for television.
The lighting has to be in operation at least 3 days before the night finals and be inspected by the save Committee, TD, Race Director and Head-Judge who can undertake possible changes.
The Judges are seated in a darkened room and are equipped with a shielded reading-lamp!
- Lighting of the inrun
- 10 lights per 1500 W, of which 5 are emergency lights.
- Lighting of the jump table
- 5 lights per 1500 W, of which 2 are emergency lights.
- Lighting of the flight
- Lighting of the landing area
- 18 lights per 1500 W, of which 6 are emergency lights.
- Lighting of the outrun
- 15 lights per 1500 W of which 5 are emergency lights.
 Mogul / Dual Moguls
Information being prepared
 Ski Cross Lighting
Information being prepared
 Halfpipe Lighting
Information being prepared
 Night time Freestyle Skiing Competitions Gallery
Halfpipe in Les Contamines FRA
 Also See
- Competitions under Artificial Light
- Lux lx
- Standard-definition television (SDTV)
- High-definition video HD
- Kilowatt KW
- Brightness is an attribute of visual perception in which a source appears to be radiating or reflecting light. In other words, brightness is the perception elicited by the luminance of a visual target. This is a subjective attribute/property of an object being observed.
- Candela The unit of measure for the intensity of light at the source roughly equal to the amount of light in any direction from the flame of a candle.
- Color Rendering Index (CRI) is the ability of a light source to produce color in objects. The CRI is expressed on a scale from 0-100, where 100 is best in producing vibrant color in objects. Relatively speaking, a source with a CRI of 80 will produce more vibrant color in the same object than a source with a CRI of 60.
- Color Temperature The overall color appearance of the light itself. When referring to a source as either "warm" or "cool" the Color Temperature is being discussed. Color temperature is expressed in units of Kelvin. Lamps range from 2100-7500 Kelvin. Lower color temperature (3000K) represents "warm" light, higher (4100K) represents "cool" light.
- Darkness is the percepted state of being dark or the absence of light.
- Daylight or the light of day is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight outdoors during the daytime (and perhaps twilight). This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected from the Earth and terrestrial objects.
- Design Lumens Lumen value at 40% or rated average life.
- Exitance The term used to describe the total light which comes off a surface. Exitance is dependent upon the illuminance on and the reflectance off the surface.
- Floodlights are broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial lights often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions.
- Footcandle The unit of measure for the density of light as it reaches a surface. One footcandle is equal to one lumen per square foot. Measured footcandles are sensitive to the distance from the source to the surface of measure (inverse square law) and the angle at which the light reaches the surface (cosine law).
- High intensity discharge (HID) lamp is a type of electrical lamp which produces light by means of an electric arc between tungsten electrodes housed inside a translucent or transparent fused quartz or fused alumina arc tube. This tube is filled with both gas and metal salts. The gas facilitates the arc's initial strike. Once the arc is started, it heats and evaporates the metal salts forming a plasma, which greatly increases the intensity of light produced by the arc and reduces its power consumption. High intensity discharge lamps are a type of arc lamp.
- Illuminance The density of luminous flux on a surface, is measured in footcandles (one lumen per square foot) or lux (one lumen per square meter).
- Light is electromagnetic radiation, particularly radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye (about 400–700 nm, or perhaps 380–750 nm). In physics, the term light sometimes refers to electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength, whether visible or not.
- Illumination The result of the use of light.
- Intensity The light emitted from a source. Intensity most often varies given the direction at which one views the source. Intensity does not vary with distance. A candle produces the same intensity in a given direction whether on a table in front of you or one mile away.
- Insolation is a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given time. The name comes from a portmanteau of the words incident solar radiation. It is commonly expressed as average irradiance in watts per square meter (W/m2) or kilowatt-hours per square meter per day (kW·h/(m2·day)) (or hours/day). In the case of photovoltaics it is commonly measured as kWh/(kWp·y) (kilowatt hours per year per kilowatt peak rating).*Kilowatt Hour (kWh) The measure of electrical energy from which electricity billing is determined. For example, a 100-watt bulb operated for 1000 hours would consume 100 kilowatt hours, (100 watts x 1000 hours = 100 kWh). At a billing rate of $0.10/kWh, this bulb would cost $10.00 (100 kWh x $0.10/kWh) to operate over its life.
- Lumen The unit of measure for the light energy which flows in air. The total light output from electrical sources is expressed in lumens. A uniform source of one candlepower placed in a sphere emits 12.57 lumens or mean spherical candela equals to 12.57 lumens.
- Lumens Per Watt (LPW) A measure of the efficacy of a light source in terms of the light produced for the power consumed. For example, a 100-watt lamp producing 1750 lumens gives 17.5 lumens per watt.
- Luminance is the term used to describe the specific light which comes off a surface whether off a filament, light bulb, lens, louver, tabletop, etc. Luminance varies with both the direction at which you view the surface and its gloss characteristics. Luminance is measure in candela per square foot.
- Moonlight is the light that comes to Earth from the Moon. This light does not originate from the Moon, but actually originates from sunlight.
- Over-illumination is the presence of lighting intensity (illuminance) beyond that required for a specified activity.
- Polarization (also polarisation) is a property of certain types of waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations. Electromagnetic waves, such as light, and gravitational waves exhibit polarization; acoustic waves (sound waves) in a gas or liquid do not have polarization because the direction of vibration and direction of propagation are the same.
- Reflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves. The law of reflection says that for specular reflection the angle at which the wave is incident on the surface equals the angle at which it is reflected.
- Skyglow (or sky glow) is the wide-scale illumination of the night sky or parts of it. The most common cause of skyglow is artificial light that emits light pollution, which accumulates into a vast glow that can be seen from miles away and from high in the sky. Skyglow from artificial lights is common throughout the world and can be observed over most cities and towns as a glowing dome of the populated area.
- Starlight refers to the visible radiation emitted by stars other than the Sun.
- Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun.
- Wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave – the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.
 External Links
- The BBC and HD HD Production - On Line Module 
- British Standards Institution BS EN 12193:1999 Light and lighting. Sports lighting