The design and implementation of a hardwired 3-D video position-tracking transducer

The on-line processing of 3-D computer images is time consuming, causing delay in the information flow which makes it unsuitable for real-time control applications. This paper discusses a vision-processing system which has the potential for real-time applications. It consists of a video position-tracking transducer realized by means of hardwired analog and digital electronic circuits. A peculiar feature of this work is that the voltage, time and distance relationships intrinsic in the operation of the TV system have been used as a basis for the design of the video position-tracking transducer which converts 3-D positions to corresponding 2-D analog voltages. A prototype of this transducer has been implemented in the laboratory and used for derivation of perspective transformation matrices. The theoretical basis, system description and schematics, experimental procedures and results, and suggestions for further development are discussed