The reliability of position and orientation data provided by an optical tracking system (outside-in or inside-out) can for some applications be compromised by occlusions and slow system reaction times. In such cases it makes sense to combine optical tracking data with information from an inertial measurement unit located on the device. Our optical-intertial sensor fusion system offers algorithms to implement this functionality for integration with an existing tracking system or for the development of a novel system for a specific application case.

The graphs below show two examples of how the signal from an optical positioning system can be improved using inertial measurements. Slow camera framerates or occasional drop-outs are compensated by information from the integrated inertial measurement unit, improving the overall tracking performance.

Our opto-inertial sensor fusion development kit LP-MAZE combines three NEXONAR IR trackers and an LPMS-B2 IMU, mounted together as a hand controller. The system allows position and orientation tracking of the controller with high reliability and accuracy. It the strong aspects of outside-in IR tracking with inertial tracking, improving the system’s reaction time and robustness against occlusions.