Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

NatNet, VRPN, TrackD, and Plugins
Nemesis
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:00 am

Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by Nemesis »

Hi,

I am basically looking into sending the coordinates (and rotation values) from Tracking Tools to a BeagleBone (or for simplicity let's just say Ubuntu) over a network. I am less than a novice in "networking/communication" so I was hoping if anyone could guide me as to how I can do that?
I have been looking into the Boost libraries (ASIO to be specific). Can anyone help me out?
jolsonsalem
Posts: 323
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:18 am

Re: Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by jolsonsalem »

If you are trying to do real time streaming you might want to look into if your app can support the VRPN protocol.
Nemesis
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:00 am

Re: Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by Nemesis »

I am quite not sure what exactly you mean by " your app can support". Are you referring to the Tracking Tools software??

Well it does have a VRPN server.
jolsonsalem
Posts: 323
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:18 am

Re: Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by jolsonsalem »

I'm not overly familiar with BeagleBone/BeagleBoard having just done a quick Google search on it, but it seems it's just a small computer running Ubuntu as its operating system. I assume you're running some sort of application on it that needs to be able to get position and rotation information about the rigid bodies from Tracking Tools. VRPN is the most supported protocol in Linux environments. So yes, you would set up Tracking Tools as the server and whatever application you're running on your BeagleBone as the VRPN client, if it's supported.

If you don't need it in real time you can export your tracking data as a .csv file which will have all the raw information.
Nemesis
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:00 am

Re: Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by Nemesis »

So having a VRPN client on the Beaglebone (or any Ubuntu system as a matter of fact) should essentially be able to get the "real-time" data. I will look more into VRPN.

Oh and, the Tracking Tools I'll be running on a separate computer (Windows 7) and will be "transmitting" the output from that computer to a separate computer with Ubuntu over a network. (I am just mentioning this again to clear out any confusions). So a VRPN client on the Ubuntu should basically do the trick.

Once I have figured out a proper way to do this, I will post it here as well. Thank you!
jolsonsalem
Posts: 323
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:18 am

Re: Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by jolsonsalem »

Sounds like you're on the right path. What kind of project are you putting together? I haven't heard of BeagleBone before, but I know people have done some really cool things with the Raspberry Pi.
Nemesis
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:00 am

Re: Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by Nemesis »

Oh well, it's just experimenting around. Someone else actually recommended me the BeagleBone for now.

Can you please point me towards the "Client Code" (To compile and execute on Ubuntu) that could help me with understanding this task?

I tried to "research" a bit more. There's a sample program - Vrpn_Listener. But that mentions it's for a "local machine" and it's written for Windows. So can I use the same kind of code & translate it to Ubuntu. I tried doing that, but there were issues compiling that code. Kept on giving me "undefined references".

Was I clear enough with my query?
Any guidance will be appreciated! Thank you once again!
jolsonsalem
Posts: 323
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:18 am

Re: Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by jolsonsalem »

Ideally you would have an application that would use the tracking information running on the BeagleBone, and that application would already have a VRPN client built into it.
Nemesis
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:00 am

Re: Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by Nemesis »

Uh... I am supposed to build a vrpn client on the Beaglebone... why would there already be one?? :|
jolsonsalem
Posts: 323
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:18 am

Re: Optitrack (Tracking Tools) and BeagleBone(Ubuntu)

Post by jolsonsalem »

The VRPN client would be built into whatever app uses the tracking information.
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