Rating areas

Principal area PA

... is the relative playing area required for the practice of a sport. It is usually the marked surface of the sports court or the sports field. In some cases, this area includes an additional playing area surrounding the marked surface (e.g. in tennis, volleyball, table tennis). Table to table contain examples for areas most frequently used for the sport in question. The dimensions according to the aforementioned tables should be examined during lighting design regarding applicability to the planned object. In case of deviations, the official playing field measurements of the respective sports associations must be consulted. Photometric requirements – with few exceptions – apply to the principal area PA.

Total area TA

Fundamentally, this area includes the principal area (PA) and an additional safety area outside that principal area.

Reference surface

The reference surface to which the lighting requirements apply, is the principal area PA extended by the limiting lines and all additional areas surrounding the marked surface, if applicable. Where a total area TA is also specified, it must feature at least 75% of the illuminance of PA. The dimensions of the reference area are based on the principal area (PA) of the sport in question and the respective competition level. For most sports, a rectangular reference surface is assumed in the horizontal plane at floor level.

The dimensions of reference surfaces in table to table according to EN 12193 are rounded off and only serve to support determining the number of grid points. For exact dimensions, the respective sports associations should be consulted. For some sports, there are different playing area sizes, which also has consequences for the number of grid points as well as lighting calculation and measurement.

Grid points for measurement and calculation

The tables of EN 12193 also contain the number of grid points within the reference surface for each sport, separated by length and width. This serves to achieve a sufficiently accurate scan of the lighting profile above the reference surface. Due to clarity reasons, the number of grid points is not included in table to table. The number of grid points or the grid can also be calculated using the formula contained in EN 12193. It is important to observe that the number of grid points must always be odd, it may be necessary to round the calculated number off to the next higher odd number to avoid symmetry conditions. For details see chapter "Lighting measurement".