ppicot@irus.rri.uwo.ca (Paul Picot) (06/14/91)
I have a problem that I think sci.v-w participants might
find interesting: I need to track the position and orientation of a
hand-held object in real time and I'm hunting for ideas. I've heard
this called a 6DOF (6 degrees of freedom) tracker. Let me narrow down
the problem a bit:
Physical dimensions: must be easily hand held by one hand for many
minutes, so must be fairly light (less than 200 grams or so) and compact
enough to fit in one hand. A cable will run to the device anyway, so an
extra cable to the tracker is not a problem.
Accuracy: better than 2 mm in position and 1 degree in orientation.
The measurements will all be relative to a 'home' position that is
periodically reset.
Field of view: 50 cm or so in all three dimensions.
Update rate: roughly 50 times/second or better.
Movement speed: zero to at least 20 cm/sec and 1 radian/sec
The operating environment is normal room light, normal office noise.
The tracking device must be electrically quiet though -- low power radio
is OK, but spark gaps are definitely out.
We have tried taut stings and articulating arms so far. Both are
too restrictive to movement, so we are looking for non-contact methods.
Radio, acoustic, optical and inertial techniques spring to mind: Does
anyone have any experience or ideas with this?
n
The current idea-of-the-week is inertial tracking. Does anyone have
any experience, specs, or sources for (small) accelerometers?
Price is not a real concern, nor is commercial availability -- we
are quite prepared to develop our own system, but I'ld rather not re-
invent the wheel if possible.
Ideas anyone? Thanks. Respond by email and I'll summarize to the
net if interest warrants.
Paul Picot
ppicot@irus.rri.uwo.ca