#LDI2010 Preview: Cast Software’s BlackTrax Tracking Software

CAST Software Ltd. of Toronto, Canada will be bringing the Innovation Award winning BlackTrax to Las Vegas for LDI, October 22-24 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Stand 805.

How do you track the realtime motion of people and objects, currently some but eventually hundreds, moving in relationship to each other around a three-dimensional space?

BlackTrax — First Phase is a revolutionary realtime tracking system for monitoring people and objects.  BlackTrax (patent pending) precisely monitors dynamic and spatial positioning using a proprietary sensor device placed on the moving object / person and tracked by a camera for one or hundreds of people/objects, each moving object or person is an individual measurable set of data. First Phase is tracked in 3 Degrees of Freedom – X, Y, and Z coordinates (adding 6 — roll, pitch, and yaw angles in the future).

BlackTrax uniquely combines multiple existing technologies into one intelligent active tracking beacon.  In other words, BlackTrax delivers at super-fast speed and with pinpoint accuracy realtime, live with 6 Degrees of Freedom information using one LED source vs. what motion capture, inertia systems, and wireless communications might accomplish if they could be combined and somehow coordinated.  Further, BlackTrax can tag and independently track each object/person (for hundreds or more without system degregation) to deliver unique and pinpoint realtime tracking data for each tag (or group).  BlackTrax is designed for the entertainment industry and works under all different types of lighting conditions.

BlackTrax enhances safety by realtime precision tracking.  This means it is possible to avoid collisions between multiple performers and moving scenery – and this outcome can be further enhanced by CAST’s BlackBox, which can send out an alarm to a stage manager or a STOP to the moving set. Vision is not always 100% in a live entertainment environment and is prone to human error. With the speed and accuracy of BlackTrax, one can be sure that no two moving objects or people will collide.

Cast Software Set to Debut BlackTrax at PLASA

CAST Software of Toronto, Canada will be debuting their newest technology, BlackTrax (patent pending), at PLASA, September 12-15 at Earls Court in London, Stand 1-G15. BlackTrax is a revolutionary motion tracking system for people and objects that operates in real time. BlackTrax is designed to work with CAST’s game-changing BlackBox system of multi-directional high-speed control coordination.

The BlackTrax system works using a proprietary sensor device that is placed on the moving object(s), giving tracking information for what we like to call Six Degrees of Freedom – X, Y, and Z coordinates (in First Phase), roll, pitching, and yaw angles (coming soon). BlackTrax monitors the velocity of the object(s) in motion, as well as giving important spatial relationships between objects and people in a 3D space – and each moving object or person is an individual measurable set of data, completely distinguished from the next. BlackTrax monitors all of these parameters at a very high speed and with stunning accuracy.

BlackTrax is safe, and uses redundant monitoring of several varieties to track the people and objects you need to monitor. When line of sight is breached in your system (which is the primary mode of tracking), inertial movement and X, Y, and Z parameters are still maintained until the person(s) or object(s) come back into the line of sight.

When you need real time monitoring of one, two, or hundreds of objects and people in all six degrees of freedom, you need BlackTrax.