Polhemus Fastrak

[williamchappell]

Hey, after reading though some of your tutorials I've got the following code:

import viz
import vizact
import viztracker

viz.setMultiSample(4)
viz.fov(60)
viz.go()

lab = viz.addChild('lab.osgb')

PORT_FASTRAK = 1
fastrak = viz.add('fastrak.dls')

Which gets me the error:

Loading File: lab.osgb
fastrak.dls              	Polhemus Fastrak v1.0
** ERROR: Failed to connect to Polhemus Fastrak over USB or COM1
** Load Time: 0.26 seconds

The fastrak is working correctly, to my knowledge, as the bundled software can connect and display the data.
Is there anything else I need to do to ensure a connection the the fastrak?

Thanks, Will.

[Kevin Chiu]

Hi,

Can you try this code and see if the Fastrak is connected?

import viz
import vizact
import viztracker

viz.setMultiSample(4)
viz.fov(60)
viz.go()

lab = viz.addChild('lab.osgb')

polhemus = viz.add('polhemus.dle')
fastrak = polhemus.addFastrak(port=1,baudRate=115200)

[williamchappell]

Hey Kevin, I tried your code, however I'm getting the error:

Loading File: lab.osgb
polhemus.dle             	Polhemus Extension
** ERROR: Failed to connect to Polhemus Fastrak over USB or COM1
** ERROR: Failed to create extension sensor with polhemus.dle
** Load Time: 0.25 seconds

[Kevin Chiu]

Hi,

What kind of interface you are using for connecting Fastrak with the computer? is that serial port or USB?
Also you may need to check about if the PiMgr application is running at the same time.
If it does, please quit the PiMgr and try to run Vizard again.
If you still run into trouble for connecting Fastark, please let me know.

Thanks.

[williamchappell]

Hey Kevin, we're currently connected via USB.

PiMgr has also been closed before trying to run the code.

Will.

[Kevin Chiu]

Hi Will,

Sorry for the late reply.
It now seems more like an USB driver issue for me, are you using the latest Fastrak USB driver on the computer for connecting the Fastark?

Since we know that older versions of the Fastrak USB driver were unstable with Vizard, I think it will also be good for that if you can contact Polhemus support for checking the version of your USB drivers are the newest one.

Please let me know if you still run into problem even using the latest Fastrak USB driver.
Thanks.

Best Regards,
Kevin

[farshizzo]

Can you try the following code instead:

polhemus = viz.add('polhemus.dle')
fastrak = polhemus.addFastrak(port=1,baudRate=115200,legacy=False)

We added experimental support for the newer FasTrak protocol and the legacy flag controls whether to use the older or newer protocol.

[williamchappell]

Hey guys, I've tried the latest code, but still get the following error:

******************************************************************************
** Loading trackingtest.py
******************************************************************************
Loading File: lab.osgb
polhemus.dle             	Polhemus Extension
** NOTIFY: Connected to Unknown device over USB: 1 sensors detected
** ERROR: Failed to connect to a FasTrak: Device not found
** ERROR: Failed to create extension sensor with polhemus.dle
** Load Time: 2.60 seconds

[williamchappell]

Hey, I've been in contact with the guys at Polhemus, and they seem fairly confident that the issue isn't on their end.

Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks.

[farshizzo]

I believe the issue is that the newer Polhemus FasTrak drivers identify themselves as a different device, so our existing plugin is unable to detect them properly (hence the "Connected to unknown device" message). We've updated our plugin to support these newer models. Try downloading/installing the latest version of Vizard and see if it fixes the issue.

[williamchappell]

Thank you for your reply.

I will head into work tomorrow and give it a try!

Will.

[williamchappell]

Thank you! It works like a charm now