High-bandwidth low-latency tracking using optical and inertial sensors

We present an optical-inertial tracking system for tracking a handheld tool in a computer-assisted surgery system. Tracking is fast enough for servo-control of the handheld tool. We show that commercially available optical tracking systems which are suitable for use in computer-assisted surgery systems are not suitable for this application. A modified Extended Kalman Filter is used to fuse optical and inertial data. Our approach is a direct one which uses marker image data instead of triangulated position data, thus reducing latencies. Experimental data show that the optical-inertial system can track a moving object at a high bandwidth.