The HiBall Tracker: high-performance wide-area tracking for virtual and augmented environments

Our HiBall Tracking System generates over 2000 head-pose estimates per second with less than one millisecond of latency, and less than 0.5 millimeters and 0.02 degrees of position and orientation noise, everywhere in a 4.5 by 8.5 meter room. The system is remarkably responsive and robust, enabling VR applications and experiments that previously would have been difficult or even impossible. Previously we published descriptions of only the Kalman filter-based software approach that we call Single-Constraint-at-a-Time tracking. In this paper we describe the complete tracking system, including the novel optical, mechanical, electrical, and algorithmic aspects that enable the unparalleled performance.