2011 Summer project Week Open Source Electromagnetic Trackers using OpenIGTLink

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  Stylized image of three orthogonal coils used in 6-DOF electromagnetic tracker sensor

Key Investigators

• Retired: Peter Traneus Anderson

Objectives

One goal of this open-source electromagnetic tracker project is to extend the tracker simulators in OpenIGTLink, by replacing the simulated position and orientation data with real data from real sensors using real hardware, all open-sourced.

Another goal of this project, is to provide an open forum for tracker designers to discuss the technology in all its aspects. Open-source tracker projects provide a common basis for discussion among tracker designers who are otherwise trapped behind proprietary walls.

The physics of electromagnetic trackers only just works. Tracker designers are continually struggling to get enough signal/noise from a small-enough sensor at a large-enough distance for a particular application. Magnetic-field distortion adds to the challenges.

Another goal of this project, is to enable researchers to simulate trackers for themselves, to better understand the limits imposed by the physics.

Another goal of this project, is to provide opportunities to gain experience on simple, unusual, and state-of-the-art analog hardware, digital hardware, digital-signal-processing algorithms, electromagnetic modeling, and position-calculation algorithms.

Approach, Plan

My approach is to start from the physics with simulation programs, and then implement hardware emphasizing performance and clarity of operation. Everything is intended as a starting point for others to improve upon.

My plan for the project week is to use the OpenIGTLink library to add OpenIGTLink output to [| my existing tracker simulator].

Progress

My published work to date is on [| home.comcast.net/~traneus].

I am partway through building an initial 6-DOF tracker electronics around an eight-channel ADC evaluation board and a USB device interface chip. I have ADC data transferring to the USB host workstation. I have transmitter driver circuitry partially constructed, and what is built works. I plan to build coil trios using clusters of six off-the-shelf RF chokes. I know how to do the signal processing, but have not written that code. I have the apparatus needed to manually characterize the coil trios. I know how to extract the characterization parameters from the data, but have not yet written that code.

Delivery Mechanism

As long as it is just me working on this, I plan to post items on [| my website] as I get them ready for public view. This will need to change once others get involved in this project.

References

• Tracker patents

• Classic tracker papers by Raab and by Blood, Jones, Raab, Steiner.

• IEEE Transactions on Magnetics has had a thin stream of good tracker papers at least since 2000.

• [| my Ph.D. dissertation] [| four figures from my dissertation]