In-situ classification of football sports surfaces: leveraging machine learning for enhanced surface analysis

Abstract Sports turf surfaces, including natural turfgrass and synthetic turf, are complex systems with many parameters influencing their performance. This study aims to classify sports turf surfaces using data collected from a bespoke testing device, fLEX, which calculates seven separate metrics related to sports surface performance in both an acceleration format (designed to simulate an athlete accelerating) and deceleration format (designed to simulate an athlete decelerating). Sixty-eight co