3D Guidance

3D Guidance products

3D Guidance products

3D Guidance is a line of 3D tracking systems by Ascension and NDI.

The sensors range from 8mm down to 0.56mm thick.

All patents on 3D Guidance systems expired in 2023.

The measurement rate is user-configurable on the latest NDI units between 20 hertz and 255 hertz.

3D Guidance driveBAY was advertised to support up to a 420Hz update rate.

3D Guidance products are capable of reducing errors induced by highly constructive metals (such as aluminum) to zero by adjusting the measurement rate.

3D Guidance products use an FTDI chip to communicate over USB. NDI distributes Virtual COM Port (VCP) and D2XX drivers for Windows.

The sensors have a 12-pin connector.

Products

3D Guidance Model 800 sensor

Base units

• 3D Guidance trakSTAR 940041 Rev E
• 3D Guidance trakSTAR 940038 Rev D
• 3D Guidance medSAFE 940033 Rev F
• 3D Guidance medSAFE 600752-4 - with a D-sub connector for the transmitter
• 3D Guidance 600752-4FX
• 3D Guidance trakSTAR 600789 Rev. B
• 3D Guidance trakSTAR
• 3D Guidance driveBAY
• 3D Guidance trakSTAR 2
• 3D Guidance trakSTAR 2 - 601150-SM REV. B - Cross listed as Siemens 10441624 for Acuson S3000
• 3D Guidance driveBAY 2
• 3D Guidance driveBAY 601145
• 3D Guidance driveBAY 600785-3 Rev. C - Three connections for sensors, used in GE Healthcare Logiq E9 before Logiq E9 R4. Cross-listed as GE 5168286-20-R.
• 3D Guidance driveBAY 600785-4
• 3D Guidance driveBAY 600785-4 Rev. D

Transmitters

• Ascension Mid-Range transmitter
• Ascension Short-Range transmitter
• 600222-K-GE transmitter - a mid-range transmitter made for GE Healthcare for OEM integration

Sensors

• 3D Guidance Model 55 sensor
• 3D Guidance Model 90 sensor
• 3D Guidance Model 130 sensor
• 3D Guidance Model 180 sensor
• 3D Guidance Model 800 sensor
• Medical ultrasound sensors exist that have two plugs at the end of the wire to go into a computer, one for the ascension 3D tracker unit and one for the actual ultrasound sensor(s).

Software support

There is an application programming interface for USB connectivity to Ascension's 3D Guidance products, called the ATC3DG API in code, which stands for "Ascension Technology Corporation 3D Guidance API".

The Windows API consists of the files ATC3DG.DLL or ATC3DG64.DLL. The header is ATC3DG.h, or ATC3DGm.h for MedSafe version.

Ascension provided two free utilities: CUBES and APITest (formerly pciBIRDTalk). CUBES enables visualization of sensor tracking in free space. It is often used as an out-of-the-box demo when the tracker is first connected to a Windows PC or laptop.

In 2010, Ascension announced that 3D Guidance trakSTAR and driveBAY trackers would be able to communicate with Linux and Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) operating systems, along with Windows support.

In Windows, the driveBAY appears as "3D Position Sensor Controller" (Ascension USB Device for DRIVEBAY).

NDI driver versions

• v2.08.28

OEM integrations

3D Guidance products are used in the following downstream healthcare products:

• Esaote MyLabTwice
• MyLab Class
• MyLab Eight
• Mindray Resona 7
• MyLab 9
• GE LOGIQ E9 w/ XDclear, & XDclear2.0
• GE LOGIQ S8 & S8 w/ XDclear
• Hitachi ARIETTA 850
• Samsung Medison UGEO RS80A
• SuperSonic Imagine Aixplorer version 11.2 or later
• Canon Aplio 500, i900, i800 and i700.

References

• https://github.com/PlusToolkit/PlusLib/tree/master/Tools/Ascension
• https://magneticsmag.com/magnetic-motion-tracking-brings-new-capabilities-to-medicine-now-including-robotic-surgical-navigation/
• https://www.ndigital.com/electromagnetic-tracking-technology/3d-guidance/3d-guidance-sensors/
• "Logiq E9 PDF". 2025-11-29. https://www.scribd.com/document/461692529/logiq-e9-pdf.
• "Consent Page". https://ph.services.gehealthcare.com/gehcstorefront/consent?redirect=https://ph.services.gehealthcare.com/gehcstorefront/p/5168286-20-R.
• https://web.archive.org/web/20101226214630/http://www.ascension-tech.com/