Positional Tracking and Rotation Question

[msfreemind]

I'm not knowledgeable about sensors, so maybe I am missing something, but here goes:

Obviously rotation *and* positional tracking is desirable for VR.

Now...why does something like the Rift use the accelerometer/magnetometer/gyroscope combination for rotation?

Couldn't you get rotation in all three axes AND positional tracking, by just having some external device that tracks the position of different parts of the HMD?

I mean, let's say you modded the Rift so that you could use an external device to track the position of the four corners of the box - couldn't you use that data to get everything you need and WITHOUT any kind of "drift" happening? I mean, because if the external tracker is fixed in place, on a level surface, and it's tracking multiple points within the HMD...then you will *always* know where the HMD is and how it is rotated.

[brantlew]

Yes. Search this forum for optical, IR, LED, Posittron and you will find tons of information about this technique. The downside is that it is more complicated to set up, calibrate, and has problems with scale and occlusion.

Localized inertial trackers are really good at rotation without any of those downsides. But they lack positioning.

[nateight]

Localized inertial trackers are really good at rotation without any of those downsides. But they lack positioning.

"Sensor Fusion" is the name of my new jazz funk band, incidentally.

[msfreemind]

Yes. Search this forum for optical, IR, LED, Posittron and you will find tons of information about this technique. The downside is that it is more complicated to set up, calibrate, and has problems with scale and occlusion.

Localized inertial trackers are really good at rotation without any of those downsides. But they lack positioning.

Thanks for the info.