RF Position Tracking System

This looks very interesting and I wonder how small it could be made in size and cost.

It would be great if there was a one size fits all sort of suite that you could put together , with receivers in the hands and feet , failing that a comfortable lazer tag kind of vest with a single receiver in the appropriate place :D

You can find more details on his work here: http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=138&t=15623

It's very impressive stuff.

That looks fantastic. Shrink it into a 1.5cm cube, make it wireless and that could be the answer to all our tracking needs.

Not sure about all the compliance's that would need to be met when emitting RF.

Thanks for that link msat it made for a very interesting read :D
I do hope that he doesn't take the feedback from YouTube seriously though, apart from not being an accurate representation of a potential market I find that people there tend to be overly negative. At the least I hope he gets a strong development kit out there for developers, I'd happily pay 400-500 dollars for what that system offers which is dirt cheap when you consider that the cheapest optical tracking solutions only start from 6-7,000 dollars. Perhaps a first run could help fund his RnD ?

Awesome idea! :D

This 'GPS-like' concept really looks to be the most promising Position Tracking System for VR that I read about so far!

Achieving unobstructed line of sight non-magnetic position tracking support should be a high priority for Oculus VR?

Assume you could have multiple Oculus Rift users each with own RF receivers using the same RF senders in one room?


Does anyone know if this guy have even been in contact with the Oculus VR team about collaboration around this idea?

Perhaps Oculus VR can employ him, buy the whole project, or at least license the concept for it if he own the patents?


I only wonder how cheaply the parts for this could be built or sourced if it was mass produced by the Oculus VR team?

If the first-generation consumer Oculus Rift will retail for $299 US-dollar when released, then I think that a Position Tracking System sold as an official Addon Peripheral for it could go for more than $199 US-dollar at retail, and preferably less, more like $99 US-dollar.

Maybe more business-like would be to sell the Oculus Rift without a Position Tracking System for $299(US), then sell Oculus Rift bundled with a Position Tracking System for $399(US), and sell the Position Tracking System separately as an Addon Peripheral for $199(US). That is kind-of how Microsoft initially sold the Kinect for Xbox 360 game console.

I don't know much about positional tracking, but I was thinking about it the other day. What about using something like wifi or bluetooth for positional tracking?

"amoceri" wrote:
I don't know much about positional tracking, but I was thinking about it the other day. What about using something like wifi or bluetooth for positional tracking?

The above RF (Radio Frequency) Position Tracking System uses UWB (Ultra-Wide Band / Ultra-wideband) wireless.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-wideband

UWB is similar to spread spectrum, and unlike WiFi and Bluetooth (which is narrowband) it use a large portion of the radio spectrum and communications transmit in frequency ranges which does not interfere with conventional narrowband and carrier wave used in the same frequency band.

UWB has traditional applications in non-cooperative radar imaging so is perfect for small scale position tracking.

I sure hope Palmer's Crew is onto this.... as they're currently recruiting... an RF positional tracker is perfect for the RIFT.

Perhaps release it as a secondary dev. kit on Kick Starter. Oculus Peripherals should be a separate purchase.
I feel there's a lot of developers who'd jump on this... we'd see loads of developers integrating positional tracking into their game designs before the release of Oculus Rift consumer version.

Just hope they don't leave it too long... get it out there as soon as possible.. its functional..

Get it out there. NOW ! :P

I am all for this, and I may even buy when when it becomes available. However, there are some complications to deal with while creating a consumer product such as this:

UWB radar can see people through walls, so the US government has imposed rules that severely limit its range for civilian use. If that is true, it may even now (or in the future) fall under ITAR rules that restrict export if it uses more than this limited range. Google is not helping be find evidence of this, but I do remember reading about it some time ago.

This may not support a USB radar function as-is, but if it can easily be modded to do so (hacked FPGA firmware upgrade?), that could raise some concerns.

Another complication is that UWB must filter out frequencies reserved for military use, and that may vary from country to country.

It will need FCC certification for the entire device (transmitter, shielding, and antennas) before it can be sold. International distribution will need other certifications as well. These costs must be amortized over all units sold. Any changes to the device, its packaging (shielding) or antennas can require recertification.