Design of TrackIR5 Hat Clip

[ark1320]

The reflectors on the hat clip are approximately semicircle strips arranged horizontally. As a result, one can just about look behind yourself in Yaw. However, for a Pitch curve similar to the Yaw curve, the range of view seems to be much less. Although the monitor screen is not as tall as wide, the tracking locks up at the vertical extremes before you "run out of monitor". This tends to be a problem in a/c where you would like to be able to look at switches overhead as well as controls located down between, and slightly aft, of the cockpit seats. While one could try to compensate by increasing the "gain" of the Pitch curve, this often makes pitch movements too dynamic or "jumpy".

I assume the reduced range in pitch is partly because of the limited vertical dimension (height) of the horizontal reflector strip -- the camera loses sight of the reflectors as the current vertical limits are reached. So why not augment the horizontal strip reflectors with similar vertical semicircle strip reflectors so for each of the three reflectors you have two semicircle strips at right angles to each other in a cross configuration? Or perhaps, simply make each reflector a complete forward facing hemisphere (half a ball), etc. It would seem this would provide an increased range of motion in the vertical direction.

Would either of these ideas cause major problems with the software?

Thx,
Al

[Seth Steiling]

Hi Al,

I'm really sorry for the long delay in response. Your post slipped through the cracks, and I'm only now seeing it. Yikes!

Your questions are good ones, and the idea about a hemispherical (or even fully spherical) reflector instead of a curved strip is promising. I'll definitely run this up the flag pole.

[ark1320]

Hi Seth,

Thanks very much for looking into this. Even if the tracking software has to be updated a bit, I think some type of hat clip mod that would increase the vertical range would be a plus for NaturalPoint, and a big help to flight simulation enthusiasts, and probably others as well.

I'm certainly interested in what you find out.

Al

[ark1320]

Hi Seth,
Are you able to provide any news on this issue?
Thx,
Al

[Seth Steiling]

Hi Al,

We have some design discussions coming up, and we'll take a look at this then. Nothing to report just yet.

[ark1320]

Seth,
Appreciate the feedback, thanks.
Al

[ark1320]

Seth,
Its been a while, anything new on this?
Thx,
Al

[MikeWitham]

Hi Al,

Sorry for the delay in my response, it's been a hectic week. We are still at the "nothing to report" stage, but discussion are starting and if anything changes we will post it here.

Regards,

[ark1320]

OK Mike, thanks. I'll keep checking back.
Al

[ark1320]

Hi Mike,
It has been quite a while so I'm checking back to see what the latest is concerning the possibility of a hat clip design improvement.
Thx,
Al