Sports giant Adidas,with partners Cairos and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, have been developing a smart soccer ball this article says.”A radio chip about half an inch wide and embedded in an ordinary soccer ball sends up to 2,000 signals per second to 12 antennae around the stadium, enabling them to pinpoint the ball’s position to within a centimeter, even when it’s flying through the air at 110 miles per hour.
While other location systems such as GPS require a clear line of sight to navigation satellites, a Linux server linked to the antennae plots the smartball’s coordinates through geometric calculations. When the ball crosses the goal line, the server delivers a pulse to the referee via his watch or vibrating wristband.A smartball prototype tested at four stadiums during a Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) tournament for under-17s last September proved so successful that a rollout at the World Cup seemed inevitable. But, in March, the conservative International Football Association Board–FIFA’s rule-making body–blew the whistle, leaving the smartball project up in the air. Now, Cairos spokesman Oliver Braun says the project partners are waiting for FIFA to inform them of further tests”.

This Ball Has Brains