Forum Discussion
Idea for Positional Tracking possibly.
So I was just watching some videos about the Oculus hd prototype at E3 and it hit me that wouldn't it be possible to have positional tracking by just using accelerometers? I don't have a whole lot of experience with accelerometers and or any tracking devices really, never developed with them or even made a simple circuit with one. However it seems that it would not be too difficult to get a fairly accurate positional tracking system working with accelerometers.
Here is how I imagined it.
1. You put on the rift and before starting the game you sit or stand in whatever default position you want to be your default to be.
2. Start game, the game will start and create a positional map (Not sure what to call it).
(Calibration would be big for this part)
3.As soon as you make any movements, the accelerometer or accelerometers detect acceleration in the X,Y,Z axis and save the data as your movement. Now the system or game can calculate where you started based off the acceleration and direction data. So now by tracking all movements in any direction, the system knows where your default position is in relation to any and all movements.
Obviously the system would need to have a low latency and high acceleration data gather rate. If you had a 100hz accelerometer and you moved at 1ft a second, it could track individual movements down to .12 inches. That would seem more then enough for the Oculus Rift. Unless I have no idea what I am talking about, lol.
So with accelerometers for the X,Y,Z axis, you now have the ability to move anywhere and the system can track all movements to within some degree(Have no idea really). So does this sound at all feasible? Maybe someone with experience could tell me if this could work or not. I would test it myself, but I just don't have the time.
Here is how I imagined it.
1. You put on the rift and before starting the game you sit or stand in whatever default position you want to be your default to be.
2. Start game, the game will start and create a positional map (Not sure what to call it).
(Calibration would be big for this part)
3.As soon as you make any movements, the accelerometer or accelerometers detect acceleration in the X,Y,Z axis and save the data as your movement. Now the system or game can calculate where you started based off the acceleration and direction data. So now by tracking all movements in any direction, the system knows where your default position is in relation to any and all movements.
Obviously the system would need to have a low latency and high acceleration data gather rate. If you had a 100hz accelerometer and you moved at 1ft a second, it could track individual movements down to .12 inches. That would seem more then enough for the Oculus Rift. Unless I have no idea what I am talking about, lol.
So with accelerometers for the X,Y,Z axis, you now have the ability to move anywhere and the system can track all movements to within some degree(Have no idea really). So does this sound at all feasible? Maybe someone with experience could tell me if this could work or not. I would test it myself, but I just don't have the time.
4 Replies
- There is a huge thread on this exact topic already: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1091
- ahh, I knew someone had to have thought of this.
Thanks for the link. - Checkout DARPA’s Micro-PNT positioning tracking technology, their TIMU (Timing and IMU chip) could be the future:
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1093"Harley" wrote:
Micro-PNT (Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation and Timing) does absolute position tracking on a single chip!
To oversimplify it; Micro-PNT adds integrates a highly-accurate master timing clock integrated into a IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) chip, making it a "TIMU" ("Timing & Inertial Measurement Unit") chip.
So these TIMU chips for Micro-PNT have integrated 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer, and 3-axis magnetometer, and together with the integrated highly-accurate master timing clock it simultaneous measure the motion tracked and combines that with timing from the synchronized clock, and with sensor fusion it makes a single chip that does absolute position tracking, all without external transmitters/transceivers.
http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2013/04/10.aspx "Harley" wrote:
Checkout DARPA’s Micro-PNT positioning tracking technology, their TIMU (Timing and IMU chip) could be the future:
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1093"Harley" wrote:
Micro-PNT (Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation and Timing) does absolute position tracking on a single chip!
To oversimplify it; Micro-PNT adds integrates a highly-accurate master timing clock integrated into a IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) chip, making it a "TIMU" ("Timing & Inertial Measurement Unit") chip.
So these TIMU chips for Micro-PNT have integrated 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer, and 3-axis magnetometer, and together with the integrated highly-accurate master timing clock it simultaneous measure the motion tracked and combines that with timing from the synchronized clock, and with sensor fusion it makes a single chip that does absolute position tracking, all without external transmitters/transceivers.
http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2013/04/10.aspx
Unless the Micro-PNT is significantly more accurate, I don't see the difference between it and existing integrated MEMS sensor chips such as the MPU-9150.
nemesiswes, as to your original question, the small, light, and cheep accelerometers suitable for a VR headset are not good enough for long-term position tracking. Oculus, myself, and many others are currently working on position sensing for the Rift, so there is a good chance someone will figure it out.
Oculus is currently looking to hire a computer vision engineer, so make of that what you will... ;)
