Current head-tracking technologies suffer from limitations such as
delay, limited range, vulnerab... more Current head-tracking technologies suffer from limitations such as delay, limited range, vulnerability to interference, line-of-sight requirements and high cost. In principle, the methods of Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), applied to head-tracking, could overcome these problems. However, inertial head-tracking has been largely neglected due to the difficulty of making a small, light INS that does not drift too much. In order to evaluate the suitability of inertial sensors for use in Virtual Environment and Teleoperator head-tracking applications, an inertial head-orientation tracker has been built and tested for accuracy, resolution, noise, and latency. Yaw, pitch and roll of the head are computed by Euler integration of the outputs of three orthogonal angular rate sensors. Drift compensation is accomplished by making use of natural pauses in head motion to obtain stable readings from a two-axis fluid inclinometer and a fluxgate compass. The system achieves 0.11~ms lag, $0.008^\circ$ angular resolution, and $1^\circ$ angular accuracy over an unrestricted working volume. The results indicate excellent potential for the use of inertial technology in head-tracking, and work is under way to extend the system to 6 degrees of freedom.
Inertial trackers have been successfully applied to a wide range of HMD applications including vi... more Inertial trackers have been successfully applied to a wide range of HMD applications including virtual environment training, VR gaming and even fixed-base vehicle simulation, in which they have gained widespread acceptance due to their superior resolution and low latency. Until now, it has been impossible to use inertial trackers in applications which require tracking motion relative to a moving platform, such as motion-base simulators, virtual environment trainers deployed on board ships, and live vehicular applications including helmet-mounted cueing systems and enhanced vision or situational awareness displays. This paper describes a new technique which makes it possible to use inertial head-tracking systems on-board moving platforms by computing the motion of a “tracking” Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) mounted on the HMD relative to a “reference” IMU rigidly attached to the moving platform. Detailed kinematic equations are derived, and simulation results are provided for the particular case of an inertial tracker with drift correction by means of ultrasonic ranging sensors, but the conclusions can be applied to hybrid inertial trackers involving optical, magnetic, or RF drift correction as well.
... Note that when used as virtual environments, these FSDs are usually provided with stereoscopi... more ... Note that when used as virtual environments, these FSDs are usually provided with stereoscopic 3D capabilities, using shutter glasses ... The distinction will be based on the method of view control used by the image generator. ... A third alternative exists, labeled No Visual Display. ...
Separate examinations of tracking methods are given from the point of view of the physicist, who ... more Separate examinations of tracking methods are given from the point of view of the physicist, who seeks to design new and better sensors, and the mathematician, who seeks to take whatever measurements are available from the physicist's sensors and calculate the best possible estimate (or prediction) of the object's motion. This dual taxonomy is necessary in order to support a
... probably think first of VR games or character animation driven by full-body motion capture. .... more ... probably think first of VR games or character animation driven by full-body motion capture. ... It is widely recognized that the motion tracking requirements for AR are more challenging ... tracker that can work in an unstructured dynamic outdoor environment, the practical and robust ...
... 3.3. New 2D bar-coded fiducials ... the SFC predicts the fiducial location within several pix... more ... 3.3. New 2D bar-coded fiducials ... the SFC predicts the fiducial location within several pixels, there is no need to identify candidates or check barcodes. The complete tracking sequence is illustrated in Figure 8. Contrast enhancement is followed by edge detection, and then local ...
Abstract This paper presents a new tracking technique which is essentially sourceless in that ... more Abstract This paper presents a new tracking technique which is essentially sourceless in that it can be used anywhere with no set-zip, yet it enables a much wider range of virtual environment-style navigation and interaction techniques than does a simple head-...
FlightTracker: A Novel Optical/Inertial Tracker for Cockpit Enhanced Vision Eric Foxlin, Yury Alt... more FlightTracker: A Novel Optical/Inertial Tracker for Cockpit Enhanced Vision Eric Foxlin, Yury Altshuler, Leonid Naimark and Mike Harrington InterSense Inc. ... They have the advantages of a small head-mounted sensor and no line-of-sight requirement between source and sensor. ...
Current head-tracking technologies suffer from limitations such as
delay, limited range, vulnerab... more Current head-tracking technologies suffer from limitations such as delay, limited range, vulnerability to interference, line-of-sight requirements and high cost. In principle, the methods of Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), applied to head-tracking, could overcome these problems. However, inertial head-tracking has been largely neglected due to the difficulty of making a small, light INS that does not drift too much. In order to evaluate the suitability of inertial sensors for use in Virtual Environment and Teleoperator head-tracking applications, an inertial head-orientation tracker has been built and tested for accuracy, resolution, noise, and latency. Yaw, pitch and roll of the head are computed by Euler integration of the outputs of three orthogonal angular rate sensors. Drift compensation is accomplished by making use of natural pauses in head motion to obtain stable readings from a two-axis fluid inclinometer and a fluxgate compass. The system achieves 0.11~ms lag, $0.008^\circ$ angular resolution, and $1^\circ$ angular accuracy over an unrestricted working volume. The results indicate excellent potential for the use of inertial technology in head-tracking, and work is under way to extend the system to 6 degrees of freedom.
Inertial trackers have been successfully applied to a wide range of HMD applications including vi... more Inertial trackers have been successfully applied to a wide range of HMD applications including virtual environment training, VR gaming and even fixed-base vehicle simulation, in which they have gained widespread acceptance due to their superior resolution and low latency. Until now, it has been impossible to use inertial trackers in applications which require tracking motion relative to a moving platform, such as motion-base simulators, virtual environment trainers deployed on board ships, and live vehicular applications including helmet-mounted cueing systems and enhanced vision or situational awareness displays. This paper describes a new technique which makes it possible to use inertial head-tracking systems on-board moving platforms by computing the motion of a “tracking” Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) mounted on the HMD relative to a “reference” IMU rigidly attached to the moving platform. Detailed kinematic equations are derived, and simulation results are provided for the particular case of an inertial tracker with drift correction by means of ultrasonic ranging sensors, but the conclusions can be applied to hybrid inertial trackers involving optical, magnetic, or RF drift correction as well.
... Note that when used as virtual environments, these FSDs are usually provided with stereoscopi... more ... Note that when used as virtual environments, these FSDs are usually provided with stereoscopic 3D capabilities, using shutter glasses ... The distinction will be based on the method of view control used by the image generator. ... A third alternative exists, labeled No Visual Display. ...
Separate examinations of tracking methods are given from the point of view of the physicist, who ... more Separate examinations of tracking methods are given from the point of view of the physicist, who seeks to design new and better sensors, and the mathematician, who seeks to take whatever measurements are available from the physicist's sensors and calculate the best possible estimate (or prediction) of the object's motion. This dual taxonomy is necessary in order to support a
... probably think first of VR games or character animation driven by full-body motion capture. .... more ... probably think first of VR games or character animation driven by full-body motion capture. ... It is widely recognized that the motion tracking requirements for AR are more challenging ... tracker that can work in an unstructured dynamic outdoor environment, the practical and robust ...
... 3.3. New 2D bar-coded fiducials ... the SFC predicts the fiducial location within several pix... more ... 3.3. New 2D bar-coded fiducials ... the SFC predicts the fiducial location within several pixels, there is no need to identify candidates or check barcodes. The complete tracking sequence is illustrated in Figure 8. Contrast enhancement is followed by edge detection, and then local ...
Abstract This paper presents a new tracking technique which is essentially sourceless in that ... more Abstract This paper presents a new tracking technique which is essentially sourceless in that it can be used anywhere with no set-zip, yet it enables a much wider range of virtual environment-style navigation and interaction techniques than does a simple head-...
FlightTracker: A Novel Optical/Inertial Tracker for Cockpit Enhanced Vision Eric Foxlin, Yury Alt... more FlightTracker: A Novel Optical/Inertial Tracker for Cockpit Enhanced Vision Eric Foxlin, Yury Altshuler, Leonid Naimark and Mike Harrington InterSense Inc. ... They have the advantages of a small head-mounted sensor and no line-of-sight requirement between source and sensor. ...
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Papers by Eric Foxlin
delay, limited range, vulnerability to interference, line-of-sight
requirements and high cost. In principle, the methods of Inertial
Navigation Systems (INS), applied to head-tracking, could overcome
these problems. However, inertial head-tracking has been largely
neglected due to the difficulty of making a small, light INS that does
not drift too much. In order to evaluate the suitability of inertial
sensors for use in Virtual Environment and Teleoperator head-tracking
applications, an inertial head-orientation tracker has been built and
tested for accuracy, resolution, noise, and latency. Yaw, pitch and
roll of the head are computed by Euler integration of the outputs of
three orthogonal angular rate sensors. Drift compensation is
accomplished by making use of natural pauses in head motion to obtain
stable readings from a two-axis fluid inclinometer and a fluxgate
compass. The system achieves 0.11~ms lag, $0.008^\circ$ angular
resolution, and $1^\circ$ angular accuracy over an unrestricted
working volume. The results indicate excellent potential for the use
of inertial technology in head-tracking, and work is under way to
extend the system to 6 degrees of freedom.
delay, limited range, vulnerability to interference, line-of-sight
requirements and high cost. In principle, the methods of Inertial
Navigation Systems (INS), applied to head-tracking, could overcome
these problems. However, inertial head-tracking has been largely
neglected due to the difficulty of making a small, light INS that does
not drift too much. In order to evaluate the suitability of inertial
sensors for use in Virtual Environment and Teleoperator head-tracking
applications, an inertial head-orientation tracker has been built and
tested for accuracy, resolution, noise, and latency. Yaw, pitch and
roll of the head are computed by Euler integration of the outputs of
three orthogonal angular rate sensors. Drift compensation is
accomplished by making use of natural pauses in head motion to obtain
stable readings from a two-axis fluid inclinometer and a fluxgate
compass. The system achieves 0.11~ms lag, $0.008^\circ$ angular
resolution, and $1^\circ$ angular accuracy over an unrestricted
working volume. The results indicate excellent potential for the use
of inertial technology in head-tracking, and work is under way to
extend the system to 6 degrees of freedom.