5DOF Electromagnetic Tracker Notes

5DOF (five-degree-of-freedom) electromagnetic trackers track a single dipole coil against a spread-out array of coils. Because the single coil is symmetrical about its axis, orientation roll about the single coil's axis cannot be tracked. Orientation latitude and longitude can be tracked, as can X Y Z position.

The single does not need to be characterized, as long as the coil is small enough to be a dipole, as the coil's gain is tracked as part of the position-and-orientation algorithm.