From: Lance Norskog Subject: Microwaves and your infrared system Date: 26 Nov 91 10:47:28 PST (Tue) Dave Stampe's camera-based tracker gets rid of the primary problem with motion tracking: connecting wires to the body. My experience in electric fencing is that these connectors are a pain, and that in VR they are a very bad idea. In fencing, we use an electric fencing system where there's a cable connected to your back. There's a pulley hung from a contraption which keeps the cable up off the floor. The fact that the fencer is supposed to face only one way, and move in only a straight line, allows the pulley scheme to work well. This won't cut it in VR. I was trying to solve the occlusion problem with microwaves, but selah. The only problem remaining with the infrared LED system is powering the suckers. Mounting them on wide flat velcro bracelets or chokers would be a tolerable amount of clothing. If there are flat NICAD or other batteries available which could be built into the flat bracelet, that would be ideal. You could take them off and plug them into your charging unit when you're not wearing them. It would be distracting to have a big weight strapped onto the flat bracelet. You could wrap wires into the fabric to form a transformer coil and power the LEDs via a Tesla coil. But I wouldn't. Lance Norskog p.s. Fencing particulars One wire clips to your electric mesh clothing, and a few more run up your back, through your armpit, down your sleeve, and over the back of your hand to a plug at the base of your foil. The foil blade is hollow, and there's a switch at the tip. There are at least two wires to the switch. The main box feeds a variety of voltages to both fencers, reads back more voltages, and via arithmetic (I think) figures out what parts of the fencers are connecting.