Wide field of view optical tracking system

1. An optical tracking system for determining the pose of a moving object in a reference coordinate system, the system comprising:

at least one light emitter attached to said moving object;

at least one other light emitter situated in a fixed position in a reference coordinate system;

at least one Wide Field Of View (WFOV) first optical detector attached to said moving object, said WFOV optical detector including

an optical sensor for sensing light received from at least one of said at least one light emitter, and

at least two optical receptors optically coupled with said optical sensor, each of said optical receptors including an entrance pupil, said optical receptors being spatially spaced apart from each other, each of said optical receptors projecting a different angular section of an observed scene on said optical sensor;

a second optical detector situated at said fixed position in said reference coordinate system; and

a pose processor coupled with said first optical detector, with said second optical detector, with said at least one light emitter attached to said moving object, and with said at least one light emitter situated at said fixed position, for associating at least one representation of one of said at least one two light emitters situated at a fixed position on an image acquired by said optical sensor, with a respective one optical receptors projecting the light received from said one of said at least one two light emitters situated at a fixed position, on said optical sensor, according to the position of said representation on said image.

2. The WFOV optical detector according to claim 1 , wherein the optical axes of said at least two optical receptors are unparallel with respect to each other.

3. The WFOV optical detector according to claim 1 , wherein each of said at least two optical receptors has a different focal length, and wherein each of said at least two optical receptors is one of an optical lens and a pinhole receptor.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said second optical detector is a WFOV optical detector including:

an optical sensor, for sensing light received from said at least one light emitter; and

at least two optical receptors, optically coupled with said optical sensor, each of said optical receptors including an entrance pupil, said optical receptors being spatially space apart from each other, each of said optical receptors projecting a different angular section of an observed scene on said optical sensor.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least two light emitters are attached to said moving object.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one light emitter attached to said moving object is of a shape exhibiting rotational asymmetry around an axis normal to the object plane of said light emitter, within a desired range of angles.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said at least two light emitters are situated in a fixed position in the reference coordinate system.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one light emitter situated in a fixed position is of a shape exhibiting rotational asymmetry around an axis normal to the object plane of said light emitter, within a desired range of angles.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said pose processor associates said at least one representation with a respective one optical receptor by tracking said representations.

10. The system according to claim 1 , said pose processor associates said at least one representation with a respective one optical receptor by determining a figure of merit for each one of said at least one representation and selecting the representation with the higher figure of merit.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said pose processor associates each one of said representations, with a corresponding optical receptor, according to the geometric configuration of said at least two optical receptors.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said optical sensor is selected from the group consisting of: a charge coupled device; a complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensor; a position sensitive device; and a lateral photo-detector.

13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said orientation processor determines an orientation angle of said moving object by subtracting a first angle from a second angle thereby determining said orientation angle of said moving object in said reference coordinate system.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein said orientation angle is the horizontal orientation angle, and wherein an azimuth orientation angle is approximated according to said horizontal orientation angle.

15. The system according to claim 13 , wherein said orientation angle is a vertical orientation angle, and wherein an elevation orientation angle is approximated according to said vertical orientation angle.

16. The system according to claim 13 , wherein said first angle is determined according to the directional response of said optical detector situated at a fixed position, to an acquired image of said at least one light emitter attached to said moving object, and wherein said second angle is determined according to the directional response of said optical detector attached to said moving object to an acquired image of said at least one light emitter situated at a fixed position.

17. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the optical center of gravity of said at least two light emitters situated at a fixed position is located at the entrance pupil of said second optical detector situated at a fixed position, and wherein said pose processor determines the roll angle according to the position of the representations of said at least two light emitters situated at a fixed position on an image acquired by said optical detector attached to said moving object.

18. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the optical center of gravity of said at least two light emitters attached to said moving object is located at the entrance pupil of said WFOV first optical detector attached to said moving object, and wherein said pose processor determines the roll angle according to the position of the representations said at least two light emitters attached to said moving object on an image acquired by said second optical detector situated at a fixed position.

19. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one light emitter attached to said moving object and at least two reference light emitters situated in a fixed position are Light Emitting Diodes.

20. The system according to claim 1 , wherein a reflective surface is situated at a fixed position in said reference coordinate system instead of said at least one light emitter and said at least one optical detector situated at a fixed position in said referenced coordinate system, wherein said optical detector, attached to said moving object, detects light reflected from said reflective surface, and wherein said pose processor determines the orientation of said moving object in said reference coordinate system according to the light incident on said optical detector.

21. The system according to claim 20 , wherein two additional light emitters are fixed in the vicinity of said reflective surface.

22. The system according to claim 20 , wherein another light emitter is fixed in the vicinity of said reflective surface and wherein said another light emitter is of a shape exhibiting no rotational symmetry around an axis normal to the object plane of said light emitter, within a desired range of angles.

23. The system according to claim 20 , wherein said reflective surface is a wavelength selective reflective surface, and wherein, said reflective surface is selected from the group consisting of: a mirror; a computer screen; a television screen; a vehicle windshield; and an aircraft windshield.

24. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said reference coordinate system moves with respect to another coordinate system.