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Ascension Motion
Trackers Now Configurable
to FASTRAK®-Based Applications
Burlington, Vermont
USA: September 15, 2003: Ascension
Technology Corporation today
announced release of the Polhemus
FASTRAK® Emulator which
can adapt Ascension’s motion
tracking devices for use in
applications originally designed
for FASTRAK. Motion tracking
customers previously reliant
on FASTRAK now can take advantage
of DC magnetic tracking technology’s
greater resistance to metal
interference and save as much
as $3,000 per tracker. They
will also have a broader range
of motion tracking devices
available to them, all with
an industry standard command
interface.
Ascension’s Flock of Birds®
and Nest of Birds™ (RS-232C
interface) running firmware
3.86 or higher support FASTRAK
Emulation. In addition, Ascension’s
pcBIRD® and MotionStar
Wired® with an RS-232C
interface will also support
the Emulator. In the Emulation
Mode these trackers, when
using a standard transmitter,
will follow nearly all FASTRAK
command protocols without
the need to rewrite driver
code.
According to Ascension Software
Engineer Scott Totten, the
Emulator will be delivered
pre-set for the Ascension
tracking device it accompanies.
Users will simply plug it
in, with no more than a few
switches to set for communications
speed.
Ascension’s trackers provide
real-time head, hand, body,
instrument and object position/orientation
data. This data is used for
graphic and cursor control,
interactive visualization,
three dimensional imaging
and reconstruction, and stereotaxic
localization. FASTRAK-based
applications in scientific
visualization, simulation,
biomechanics and human factors
analysis now have the features
and benefits of Ascension
trackers available to them.
“FASTRAK Emulation gives
customers more tracking options
to choose from,” explains
Ascension Vice President Jack
Scully. “Our goal is to provide
many tracking solutions suited
to one’s performance requirements
and pocketbook. Customers
can now drop an Ascension
DC magnetic tracker into their
application without changing
a line of driver code and
save thousands of dollars
to boot.”
Ascension Technology Corporation,
based in Vermont, USA, develops
motion tracking solutions
for 3D computer-graphics applications
in real-time visualization,
animation, military targeting
systems, simulation, biomechanics
and medical imaging. Ascension’s
website address is http://www.ascension-tech.com.
-- end --
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jack Scully (802)
893-6657 or e-mail: jscully@ascension-tech.com
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