This article first appeared in HP Chronicle, Vol. August 2000 Innovative applications for motion trackers are fighting for center stage. The spotlight sweeps from medicine to biomechanics to entertainment, pausing for new advances in virtual prototyping and simulation.
Motion tracking is hot.
And the versatility and reliability of DC magnetic field technology is making it even hotter. The DC magnetic approach to motion tracking overcomes two obstacles facing other tracking technologies, which means it is highly adaptable to a broad range of applications. First, the challenge of maintaining a clear line of sight between transmitter and sensor impedes optical tracking. Devices using light or sound energy need a clear path or the data transmission will be broken. With DC field technology, transmitters emit a series of DC fields unaffected by a hand or non-metallic object in the transmission path.