Method and apparatus for tracking objects in flight such as golf balls and the like

[0015]FIG. 1 shows an apparatus 10 for ball tracking. The various elements are show to facilitate the description of the invention and obviously they are not to scale. According to this invention, a person P hits ball 12 with a golf club 14. The ball follows a trajectory so that after some time it is in flight at position 12′ and finally it falls to the ground as shown at 12″. The ball 12 includes an electronic module 18 that performs certain measurements and interchanges data with other elements of the apparatus as described below. The module 18 is preferably imbedded inside the ball 12. The module 18 receives signals from a satellite 20. (Preferably the ball 12 receives signals from several satellites, so that its position can be pinpointed accurately, using GPS technology, however in FIG. 1 a single satellite is shown for the sake of clarity).

[0016] In one embodiment, as the ball 12′ is flying, it sends data to a plurality of ground stations 16. Depending on the size of the golf co