Implementation and Evaluation of a 50 kHz, 28μs Motion-to-Pose Latency Head Tracking Instrument.

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Perception Science

Background:

• High-fidelity augmented reality (AR) requires precise and low-latency head tracking.
• Existing systems often struggle to meet the demanding latency requirements for immersive optical see-through AR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel 6-degree-of-freedom optical head tracking instrument.
• To enable sub-100μs motion-to-photon latency in optical see-through AR head-mounted displays (HMDs).
• To facilitate research into human visual perception and motion tracking.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of an instrument using high-intensity infrared emitters and duo-lateral photodiode sensors for pose triangulation.
• Development of a laser-pointer-based technique for measuring tracking latency and repeatability.
• Evaluation of tracking performance at high rotational velocities.

Main Results:

• Achieved a sampling rate of 50,000 poses per second.
• Demonstrated a motion-to-pose latency of 28μs.
• Attained dynamic precision of 1-2 arcminutes at rotational velocities exceeding 500°/sec.

Conclusions:

• The developed instrument is a key component for next-generation AR HMDs.
• It provides a platform for advanced human perception research requiring high-sample-rate motion tracking.
• The instrument's design is scalable, with potential trade-offs to consider for larger tracking volumes.