Wireless acoustic tracking for extended range telepresence

Telepresence systems enable a user to experience virtual or distant environments by providing sensory feedback. Appropriate devices include head mounted displays (HMD) for visual perception, headphones for auditory response, or even haptic displays for tactile sensation and force feedback. While most common designs use dedicated input devices like joysticks or a space mouse, the approach followed in the present work takes the user´s position and viewing direction as an input, as he walks freely in his local surroundings. This is achieved by using acoustic tracking, where the user´s pose (position and orientation) is estimated on the basis of ranges measured between a set of ceiling-mounted loudspeakers and a microphone array fixed on the user´s HMD. To allow for natural user motion, a wearable, fully wireless telepresence system is introduced. The increase in comfort compared to wired solutions is obvious, as the user´s awareness of distracting cables is taken away during walking. Also the lightweight design and small dimensions contribute to ergonomics, as the whole assembly fits well into a small backpack.