Editing FoxTrax (section)

== Construction and operation ==
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:FoxTraxInside.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Inside of a FoxTrax puck; the purple [[LED]]s contain the infrared emitters]] -->
The technology was co-developed with [[Etak]]; the system utilized a modified hockey puck, cut in half to embed an array of [[infrared]] emitters, a shock sensor, and an embedded [[Printed circuit board|circuit board]] and [[Battery (electricity)|battery]]. The halves of the puck were then bound back together using an [[epoxy]]. The modified pucks were engineered to have the same weight and balance as an unmodified NHL puck; chief engineer Rick Cavallaro noted that players could tell if the puck was even slightly off its normal weight, as it behaved differently.<ref name="slate-lamepuck">{{cite magazine|title=Lame Puck: Was Fox's glowing puck the worst blunder in TV sports history, or was it just ahead of its time?|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/01/foxtrax_glowing_puck_was_it_the_worst_blunder_in_tv_sports_history_or_was.html|last=Brown |first=Aaron |website=Slate|date=28 January 2014 |access-date=5 March 2017}}</ref> While the puck passed rigorous tests by the NHL to qualify as an official puck, some players who tested the puck felt that it had more rebound.<ref>{{cite web|author=Rick Cavallaro|title=First-Hand:Recollections of the development of the FoxTrax hockey puck tracking system|url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/First-Hand:Recollections_of_the_development_of_the_FoxTrax_hockey_puck_tracking_system|access-date=2013-10-28|work=IEEE Global History Network}}</ref>

The puck emitted infrared pulses that were detected by cameras, whose shutters were synchronized to the pulses. Data from the cameras was transmitted to a production trailer nicknamed the "Puck Truck", which contained [[Silicon Graphics|SGI]] workstations used to calculate the coordinates of candidate targets, and render appropriate [[computer graphics|graphics]] onto them. The puck was given a blue-colored glow. Passes were indicated with the bluish glow plus a tail indicating its path. When the puck moved faster than 70 miles per hour, a red tail was added.<ref name="trib-foxtrax"/> The blue glow was initially intended as a placeholder effect; while Fox Sports' graphics department intended to create a different design for the graphic, the blue blur was kept.<ref name="slate-lamepuck"/>

Despite rumors that Fox employees would sometimes go into the stands to retrieve a puck that left the playing area, the pucks were not re-usable, and only had a battery life of around 18 minutes. Around 50 pucks were brought to each game where FoxTrax was deployed, while Cavallaro noted that they were prized by spectators.<ref name="trib-foxtrax">{{cite web|last1=Hirsley|first1=Michael|title=Fox's Techno-puck Makes Hawks' Menu|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/04/05/foxs-techno-puck-makes-hawks-menu/|website=Chicago Tribune|access-date=5 March 2017}}</ref>