MOTION CAPTURE

EQUIPMENT

Electro Magnetic Tracking System

Advantages
High Accuracy
Visual occlusion will not affect the tracker or the transmitter.
Sensor size suitable for the proposed project.
Disadvantages
Limited Range
Electromagnetic Interference possible due to the monitor, computer system, power lines,
mobiles etc.
Large metallic objects, such as desks or cabinets, located near the source or
sensor, may adversely affect the performance of the system
Optical Tracking System
Advantages
Higher Rate of data acquisition when compared to EMTS
No problem of electromagnetic interference
Higher Range than EMTS
Disadvantages
Visual occlusion a major problem.
Sensor size may not be suitable for the proposed project.

POLHEMUS LIBERTY

FEATURES
Electromagnetic Tracking Based System

Wired System
Update Rate: 240 Hertz per sensor, simultaneous samples
Latency: 3.5 ms

Supports up to 16 sensors depending on the model

Accuracy: 0.762 mm RMS for XYZ positions and 0.15 RMS for sensor orientation (smaller sensors
might reduce the specified range slightly)
Software Development Kit included with the Software package
Dimensions of the Unit: 31cm x 17.8 cm x 27.94 cm, Weight- 5 Kg
Compatible with the 1.8 mm micro sensor also manufactured by Polhemus
Compatible with Bio-Mechanical analysis softwares Visual 3D and Motion Monitor

Has distortion sensing capabilities which can warn if the environment is not suitable for data
acquisition.
Compatible with Matlab and LabVIEW. ( Drivers Available)

1.8 mm Micro-sensor
(Polhemus)

Update rate: 240 Hz

Weight of Sensor Head: < 1 gram
6 Degrees of Freedom Tracked: X,Y,Z positions; Pitch, Roll and Yaw
No Line of Sight required

Ascension trakSTAR

Electromagnetic Tracking Based System

Wired System
Update Rate: 80 Hz default, user-configurable from 20-255 Hz
Latency: (The specification is not present on the website and the manufacturer didnt clarify it
either!)
Supports simultaneous tracking of up to 16 sensors (But only 4 sensors per unit)
Accuracy: 1.4 mm RMS, 0.5RMS
Dimensions of the Unit: 29 cm x 18.4 cm x 6.4 cm
Weight: 1.31 kg per unit
Compatible with Micro Sensors Manufactured by the same company
Compatible with Motion Monitor and Ascension trakStar
Range: Mid Range Transmitter (660 mm - Normal Mode,1800 mm - Expanded Volume Mode)
Dimensions of Transmitter: 96 mm x 96 mm x 96 mm, Weight: 2.3 Kg
Compatible with Matlab and LabVIEW. ( Drivers Available)

Ascension Micro Sensors

Biomechanical Analysis Softwares

Visual 3D
Motion Monitor

Visual 3D
Biomechanics Calculations: 3D Kinematics, 3D Kinetics, & EMG. In addition to metrics such as joint
angles, moments, center of pressure, signal filtering, DFT, center of mass, energies, rotations,
volumes, derivatives, and much more you can write your own computations. Full control of
input parameters, Euler angles, rotation order for cardan angles, coordinate systems, and other
parameters make Visual3D the most powerful analysis tool for biomechanics available.
Comprehensive Reporting and Graphing. Graphs can be constrained to events, exported as
images or OpenDoc XML, or correlated to create normative data.

Enables and Supports Complex Analyses. Build custom mathematical expressions within a
pipeline for creating metrics, processing signals, or manipulating data
Real-Time Streaming from systems that can support it.
Real-Time Biofeedback, RT Analysis, RT Pipeline
Induced Acceleration Analysis.
Visual3Ds standard input file is in the C3D format. Visual3D reads and writes C3D files created on
any common computer platform (PC, VAX, SGI, MAC). Tab-delimited ASCII files and Matlabs files
can be imported, exported and converted into C3D files.

 SDK available for development of plugins

The data from Visual 3D can be saved in a database but programming expertise required to
use that data elsewhere.
Produces .mot and .xml files.

A Visual 3D server required for biofeedback and real time streaming and analysis. (an
additional $3000!).
The Server is not able to have Visual3D v5 as a client as that program has it's own dedicated

real-time component.( No information available about the real time component)

The full RT Server is needed if you want to write your own biofeedback applications outside
of Visual3D - using Matlab, C++, python, etc to make the client apps. Even then, you use
Visual3D to define the model and analysis pipelines. These are incorporated into the client,

which in turn uploads them to the biofeedback Server so that it knows what to provide back
to the client.
Data can be exported to Matlab.

Motion Monitor
Compatible with a very wide range of motion capture equipment including Polhemus and
Ascension.
The MotionMonitor is a turn-key 3-D motion capture system designed to synchronously collect data
from kinematic trackers, EMG, force plates, video, event markers and other analog devices.
Event driven triggers for exact start or end of data collection
Autosave/Autoname features for hands-free data collection
Event onset and duration tracked using a choice of hardware switches such as IR, LEDs and FSRs
User defined software switches for contingent start or end conditions
Automatic synchronization of data collected from devices with different sampling rates
Input is the C3D format.
Determine joint centers and segment orientation using accepted protocols such as the Bell, Davis or
Functional methods for hip and shoulder joint centers.
All kinematic and kinetic data are user-selectable from drop-down menus with no programming
required.
New variables can be defined using standard mathematical notation including vector and matrix
operations.
Employ analog filters such as Butterworth and Chebyshev with cut-off frequencies for each sensor
and each analog channel.
Apply user-defined, Dempster or Zatsiorsky anthropometric assumptions.
Scripting functions to facilitate complex data collection.
Post sales support seems to be better than Visual 3D.

 The company seems to provide support in purchase of all the equipment.

The Bio-feedback system seems suitable to the project.
The Company will help with integrating the system with the hardware.
Bio-Feedback module present and visual perturbation possible using this module which fulfills a
requirement of the project.

Phase-Space Active LED Marker

System
Frame Rate: 960 fps at full Resolution
Lightweight linear detector based cameras (3600 x 3600 resolution at 960 Hz)
Subpixel Resolution: 30000 x 30000
Latency= <10 ms
Camera FOV: 60

Number of Cameras Supported: Upto 50

LED types available: RED and InfraRED
API/SDK : C++, Python and VRPN

Compatible with Motion Monitor and Visual 3D

Impulse X2 glove available for finger tracking
Capture spaces can be anywhere from 8'x8' to 50'x50', even larger with overlapping camera setups
or multiple systems.
Compatible with Visual 3D and Motion Monitor