Tracking


Tracking is, in our context, the position measurement of bodies (subjects or objects) that move in a defined space.
Position and/or orientation of the body can be measured. If just X, Y and Z position are measured, we call this 3 degrees of freedom (3DOF or 3D) tracking, if position (3 coordinates) and orientation (3 independent angular coordinates) are measured simultaneously, we call this 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF or 6D) tracking.

Tracking is useful for:

 

Virtual Reality Applications

  • Tracking of user's viewpoint
  • Interaction with virtual objects

Augmented Reality Applications

  • Tracking of the viewer's viewpoint
  • Tracking of body parts or objects

Ergonomy

  • Full body tracking
  • Tracking of body parts

Medical Applications

  • Measuring Bodymovements (image correction in NMR, CT, etc.)
  • Tracking of surgical tools
  • VR/AR-based surgery planning

Industrial Measurement Technique

  • Coordinate measurement
  • Tracking of Tools
  • Roboter teaching

 

 

Tracking systems, based on various measurement principles, are available: e.g. mechanical trackers, magnetic trackers, optical trackers (VIS or IR), acoustic trackers and systems based on inertial or gyro sensors. Also hybrid systems, combining different techniques, are widely used.
In the group of contactless trackers, i.e. trackers that are not working with mechanical digitizers, the highest accuracy is provided by optical trackers. Optical tracking does not suffer from image distortions due to ferromagnetic metals, like electromagnetic techniques, or from drift problems, like inertial sensors. Also problems that may occur when updating the data of fast, but inaccurate sensors with measurement results of accurate, but very slow sensors, like usual in some hybrid systems, do not occur with optical tracking: every single frame provides data with „optical“ accuracy.

A.R.T. is focused on optical tracking systems since the company’s foundation in 1999.