Sasha Pachev <sa...@asksasha.com> writes: > Questions: > > - What is the technical term for something like this?
This is generally called a motion capture system. It sounds like you specifically want a magnetic motion capture system. The base station projects a magnetic field, and each sensor has 3 coils that measure the magnetic flux at their position. They transmit this data back to the base station, which can then figure out the position and orientation of each sensor. > - If something like this exists, can I get the precision of 0.1 cm > and the ability to query 1000 distances per second for a reasonable > cost (let's say under $1000)? I haven't seen anything that supports that high of a sample rate and that fine of resolution, but I'm pretty sure you can get by with less. I'm not really sure what they cost; it probably depends on what kind of a deal you can work with the sales people. > - Assuming the answer to the previous questions is that it is > technologically possible, but not for the given price. Suppose a > demand arose for a system like this to where you had, let's say, a > million potential customers. Would it be economically viable to > manufacture a system like this for less than $1000 for a base + 16 > sensors? A million total potential customers is not exactly a huge number these days, but I don't really know what the motion capture market is like. You could contact these guys and see what they'd sell this system for: http://www.polhemus.com/?page=Motion_Liberty_Latus It doesn't look like it's cheap, though. > If it is not obvious, and also to keep the discussion on topic, I do > want to be able to use Linux to control the base and collect the data. Since when do we have to be on topic here? ;) --Levi /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
