Polhemus Announces LATUS™ XRT: Totally Wireless, Large Area Tracking

Posted: November 06, 2006

COLCHESTER, VT (November 30, 2006) ---- Polhemus, the industry leader  in 6 Degree-of-Freedom (6DOF) motion capture, motion tracking and digitizing technologies, is announcing the completion of  a working prototype of LATUS™ (Large Area Tracking Untethered System) XRT (Extended Range Tracking). This system represents a whole new dimension in wireless tracking technology, one that offers the capability to track hundreds of soldiers over village-sized areas in and around metal containers.

Polhemus President and CEO Al Rodgers said, "Because of Polhemus' advanced IRAD initiatives, LATUS XRT is able to track the position and location of a soldier within and around large metal containers to an accuracy significantly better than 0.5 meters."

An almost limitless number of independent battery powered tracker tags, known as Position Location Tags (PLTs), can be used within the scalable magnetic tracking architecture. Each PLT will weigh about three ounces and is smaller than a deck of playing cards. The PLTs incorporate the electronics necessary to compute position/location, wireless links send the data directly to command and control. The PLTs are serialized to be individually identifiable and designed with no hard limit on the number of devices that can be tracked.

Each magnetic source (a 4 inch cube) is self-contained except for its external, modular power supply. Depending upon the environment, a single source allows for a maximum spherical coverage up to 40 feet in diameter and does not require any cabling other than power. Sources are arranged in arrays to effectively cover any size or shape of the building or village.

State of the art Digital Signal Processor (DSP) electronics in concert with innovative patent pending AC magnetic technology provide improved signal-to-noise ratios increasing range, stability, resolution and speed. The system combines magnetic technology for PL determination and RF data link technology to provide a truly scalable architecture for the coverage in and around all types of structures.

The Polhemus wireless LATUS series, in combination with LIBERTY™, FASTRAK®, and our cost-effective PATRIOT™ and MINUTEMAN™ motion tracking systems, provides a full line of products to meet various tracking requirements and budget constraints.