Coils for magnetic tracking

Talk about Head Mounted Displays (HMDs), augmented reality, wearable computing, controller hardware, haptic feedback, motion tracking, and related topics here!
Post Reply
Cross22
One Eyed Hopeful
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 1:58 pm

Coils for magnetic tracking

Post by Cross22 »

I would like to try my hands at DIY-ing a magnetic position tracker based on the old Polhemus approach. Unfortunately my google skills are failing and I cannot find any manufacturers that make perpendicular / collocated inductors similar to what you would find in the Hydra :
http://howiem.com/wordpress/index.php/2 ... wn-part-2/

Has anyone here seen these coils for sale?
Hand-winding them just sounds like asking for trouble (i.e. non-uniform field strength).
WiredEarp
Golden Eyed Wiseman! (or woman!)
Posts: 1498
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:47 pm

Re: Coils for magnetic tracking

Post by WiredEarp »

Id consider buying an old Polhemus or Ascension system off ebay. You can probably get one along with a FlockOfBirds and a sensor for < $200-$300 (think I paid about $300 for my one a couple of years back). Otherwise, id buy a broken Hydra and use that one.
Cross22
One Eyed Hopeful
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 1:58 pm

Re: Coils for magnetic tracking

Post by Cross22 »

Thank you for your suggestion, WiredEarp. I had checked ebay/amazon but as you pointed out even the broken systems are in the > $200 range. Hard to justify that for components that would be < $40 today.
WiredEarp
Golden Eyed Wiseman! (or woman!)
Posts: 1498
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:47 pm

Re: Coils for magnetic tracking

Post by WiredEarp »

Yeah, it seems the prices have gone UP, not down, on this old stuff.
I wonder if I can sell my old Ascension gear and make some money back that I can put towards my Vive?

What country are you in? I'll have to check my parts collection, but I had 3 Hydras at one point so I believe I should have a spare base. You could probably have the base station (and likely a handset unit) if you wanted to pay the shipping (which might cost a bit though, since i'm in New Zealand).
Haloar
One Eyed Hopeful
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Dec 26, 2013 7:57 pm

Re: Coils for magnetic tracking

Post by Haloar »

WiredEarp,
are any of the "old" magnetic tracking companies still in business?
WiredEarp
Golden Eyed Wiseman! (or woman!)
Posts: 1498
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:47 pm

Re: Coils for magnetic tracking

Post by WiredEarp »

Hey Haloar

Yes, I think both Polhemus and Ascension are both in business. I tried to get a copy of some drivers for one of my Ascension systems a year or two back and they definitely were still there. Not very helpful though, seeing as they didn't have copies of old drivers and instead tried to sell me a new system.

You can get their gear on ebay, sometimes for around the $300 for a single sensor package (like a Polhemus Fasttrax). It seems the sensors are the most expensive bit though.
Post Reply

Return to “General VR/AR Discussion”