Northern Digital Inc.

Andrew Wiles

Westley S Ashe

Richard Van Wijngaarden

Jose Alarcon Herrera

Asli Dinc

Martin Kopcik

An electromagnetic tracking system includes a magnetic transmitter configured to output magnetic fields, a receiver responsive to the magnetic fields, an electronics assembly having conductive elements that cause distortion to the magnetic fields, and an output mechanism configured to output a position of the receiver relative to the magnetic transmitter, wherein the magnetic transmitter has at least one winding disposed around a hollow ferromagnetic core comprised of conductive material through which current is made to flow by the electronics, wherein the electronics assembly is at least partially contained within the hollow portion of the hollow ferromagnetic core. Methods of manufacturing include shaping walls into a hollow shell to surround an electronics assembly, covering the hollow shell with ferromagnetic material, inserting the wrapped hollow shell into a plastic bobbin, and winding the plastic bobbin with coil wire to produce three orthogonal windings.

Self-contained electromagnetic tracking unit

An electromagnetic tracking (EMT) system includes a tracked device, a tracking device, and a computing device. The EMT system is configured to receive, at the tracking device, an electromagnetic signal generated by the tracked device, determine, based on the electromagnetic signal, a set of possible positions and orientations of the tracked device relative to the tracking device, receive a measured inertial value representing a motion of the tracked device, determine an estimated inertial value corresponding to the motion of the tracked device based on at least one position and orientation of the set of possible positions and orientations, determine a difference value representing a difference between the estimated inertial value and the measured inertial value, determine a particular position and a particular orientation from the set in response to determining the difference value, and generate an output including the particular position and particular orientation.

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Waterloo, Canada

Andrew Wiles