Importance

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Abstract

Disclosed herein are method and apparatus for position and orientation measurement using a magnetic field and retransmission thereof. In a first embodiment, three coils are deployed as a three-axis antenna. A magnetic field is transmitted sequentially from the three coils each of which coil comprises the transmitter and receiver. Three passive resonant circuits are used as retransmitters and attached to an object the position and orientation of which are to be measured. The three coils, one from each of the retransmitters, are deployed as a three-axis antenna. In a second embodiment of the present invention, the three coils mentioned above with reference to the first embodiment are deployed merely as a three-axis receiver. As such, a separate coil is provided for the purpose of transmission. The three-axis retransmitter is attached to the object, the position and orientation of which are to be determined. In a third embodiment of the present invention, a transmitter coil is provided as well as a single resonant circuit retransmitter. In conjunction with these coils, nine coils are deployed as three-axis antennas which operate as receivers to receive the retransmissions from the retransmitter which is attached to the object and the thereby enable determination of the position and orientation of the object.

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First Claim