Alternatives for optical tracking

Introduction One of the main goals for the UbiCom position tracking system is an accuracy in the centimeter range and a latency of 2 ms. We planned to use inertial tracking to reach the latency requirements, but inertial trackers have drift. The main job of the additional tracking system is to resolve this drift problem. We chose to use a camerabased tracker for this. Depending on the drift of the inertial trackers and the required precision and maximum jitter, we expect that the optical tracking system has to run at approximately 1 to 10 Hz. An alternative for optical tracking would be realtime kinematic (RTK) GPS. RTK GPS systems can reach an accuracy of a 1 to 3 centimeters [Tiberius98, Ashtech98]. In wide open space, especially without nearby features, this will be a very useful approach. But for a cluttered urban environment and for indoors we expect that camera tracking is the best approach. This report mainly aims at setting the basis for a discussion about the way our research should take. We explore the existing systems and alternatives, in order to find the proper configuration for the UbiCom tracking system and to find realistic research opportunities. We start with a sketch of the global system setup. Then we review existing systems, to get an impression of what has been achieved already. Then we estimate requirements for our system, and conclude with some suggestions for research opportunities.