Method and system for motion tracking

• US 8,396,684 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2010
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Yi, Chih-Wei, Chai, Wen-Tein, Liu, Pin-Chuan, Su, Chao-Min, Chiang, Tsun-Chieh, Huang, Jiun-Long
• Primary Examiner(s): NOLAND, THOMAS
• Application Number:
  US12/762,932
• Publication Number:
  US 20110048103A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,058 Days
• Field of Search: 73/17.9, 735/10, 701/300, 702 92- 94, 702150-152, 702/196, 702/FOR.144
• US Class Current: 702/151
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/166 Mechanical, construction or arrangement details of inertial navigation systems

Abstract

A method and a system for motion tracking, capable of tracking a trajectory of a movable object by an architecture having at least three accelerometers arranged in a predefined structure. The trajectory, displacement and rotational angle of the movable object are determined by ways of extrapolation, numerical calibration and vector transformation according to the acceleration signals detected by the at least three accelerometers.

Claims

1. A method for motion tracking, comprising steps of:

providing at least three accelerometers disposed on an object, the at least three accelerometers being provided with a relative position defined between neighboring accelerometers;

calculating a second position corresponding to each of the at least three accelerometers by extrapolation after a specific time period according to a first position corresponding to each of the at least three accelerometers and an acceleration value relative to the first position;

calibrating the second position according to the relative position defined between the neighboring accelerometers so that each of the accelerometers is provided with a calibrated position;

determining a transformation matrix according to the calibrated position and an initial position corresponding to each of the accelerometers; and

obtaining a rotational angle of the object according to the transformation matrix.

2. The method for motion tracking as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the accelerometers is a tri-axial accelerometer.

3. The method for motion tracking as recited in claim 1, wherein the second position is calibrated by a method of least squares.

4. The method for motion tracking as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining the transformation matrix further comprises steps of:

determining a first initial vector, a second initial vector and a first initial orthogonal vector orthogonal to the first initial vector and the second initial vector according to the initial position corresponding to each of the accelerometers;

determining a first calibration vector, a second calibration vector and a second orthogonal vector orthogonal to the first calibration vector and the second calibration vector according to the calibrated position corresponding to each of the accelerometers; and

determining the transformation matrix according to a first matrix composed of the first initial vector, the second initial vector and the first initial orthogonal vector and a second matrix composed of the first calibration vector, the second calibration vector and the second orthogonal vector.

5. The method for motion tracking as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the rotational angle of the object further comprises steps of:

determining a relation between the object and the rotational angle according to the rotational angle corresponding to a third axis, a second axis and a first axis; and

determining the rotational angle corresponding to the third axis, the second axis and the first axis based on an algorithm according to the relation between the object and the rotational angle and the transformation matrix.

6. The method for motion tracking as recited in claim 1, wherein the acceleration value of each of the accelerometers is a product of an acceleration signal having experienced consistency calibration and the transformation matrix according to the calibrated position and the initial position.

7. The method for motion tracking as recited in claim 6, wherein the consistency calibration further comprises steps of:

choosing one from the accelerometers as a reference accelerometer;

determining a linear transformation matrix between each of the accelerometers and the reference accelerometer; and

calibrating detection axes of each of the accelerometers according to the linear transformation matrix.

8. A system for motion tracking, comprising:

at least three accelerometers disposed on a movable object and provided with a relative position defined between neighboring accelerometers, each of the accelerometers being provided with an acceleration signal according to the movable object; and

a control unit electrically connected to the at least three accelerometers respectively so as to calculate a second position corresponding to each of the at least three accelerometers by extrapolation after a specific time period according to a first position corresponding to each of the at least three accelerometers and an acceleration signal relative to the first position, to calibrate the second position according to the relative position defined between the neighboring accelerometers so that each of the accelerometers is provided with a calibrated position, to determine a transformation matrix according to the calibrated position and an initial position corresponding to each of the accelerometers, and to obtain a rotational angle of the object according to the transformation matrix.

9. The system for motion tracking as recited in claim 8, wherein each of the accelerometers is a tri-axial accelerometer.

10. The system for motion tracking as recited in claim 8, wherein the second position is calibrated by a method of least squares.

11. The system for motion tracking as recited in claim 8, wherein the control unit further determines a relation between the object and the rotational angle according to the rotational angle corresponding to a third axis, a second axis and a first axis, and determines the rotational angle corresponding to the third axis, the second axis and the first axis based on an algorithm according to the relation between the object and the rotational angle and the transformation matrix.

12. The system for motion tracking as recited in claim 11, wherein the relation between the object and the rotational angle is expressed as a matrix composed of sine and cosine functions of the rotational angle corresponding to the third axis, the second axis and the first axis.

13. The system for motion tracking as recited in claim 8, wherein the at least three accelerometers are arranged to form a planar polygon or a three-dimensional polyhedron.

14. The system for motion tracking as recited in claim 8, wherein the acceleration value of each of the accelerometers is a product of an acceleration signal having experienced consistency calibration and the transformation matrix according to the calibrated position and the initial position.

15. The system for motion tracking as recited in claim 14, wherein the consistency calibration further comprises steps of:

choosing one from the accelerometers as a reference accelerometer;

determining a linear transformation matrix between each of the accelerometers and the reference accelerometer; and

calibrating detection axes of each of the accelerometers according to the linear transformation matrix.