Wireless optical instrument for position measurement and method of use therefor

Abstract

Disclosed is a wireless instrument tracking system. The wireless instrument tracking system is used for determining the location of at least one point relative to the instrument in a three-dimensional space relative to a three-dimensional coordinate tracking system. Advantageously, a first wireless instrument can be placed into the optical field with the wireless instrument including a wireless receiver and at least one optical position indicator. The optical position indicator is typically light emitting diodes ( ) and communicates with corresponding measurement sensors ( ) across a wireless optical link. The wireless optical link is time multiplexed with repetitive time frames divided into time slots. Each LED ( ) emits an infrared signal or flashes in a respective time slot of a time frame. The measurement sensors ( ) are preferably CCD cameras. The LEDs ( ) are synchronized with the cameras and once synchronized each LED ( ) flashes in a different time slot in synchronization with the camera frame rate.