SpacePad
SpacePad is an electromagnetic spatial tracking system from Ascension that was available in the mid-1990s.[1] It was meant to be a floor-mounted horizontal pad that the user stands on. It operates on the principle of DC electromagnetic tracking.
It is comprised of an AT bus card that plugs into a Compaq-compatible personal computer and connected trackers. The card is made almost entirely of chips with final plastic encapsulation done in Asia.
SpacePad utilizes a large approx. 3 foot flat transmitter coil.[2]
SpacePad was used in the Virtuality 1000SD VR arcade machine.[3][1]
Hardware[edit]
The SpacePad card is a 16-bit AT bus card with a socketed Intel TN80C186 (84-pin PLCC) as its main processor socketed in a through-hole PLCC socket.
Other chips on the board include:
- 2x MS6264L-10PC SRAM chips
- 3x National Semiconductor LM324N amplifier
- CTS 761-3-R220 220 ohm resistor array (dual inline resistors)
- BI Technologies 898-3-R-1K 1K ohm resistor array (dual inline resistors)
- Catalyst 24WC02P
- TLE2144 amplifierx
- CTS MXO45HS-5 40mhz clock oscillator
- National Semiconductor ADC1251CIJ 12-bit successive approximation analog-to-digital converter
- Various 74HC-series logic chips:
- 4X 74HC4051
- 2X 74HC4053
- 74HCT273
- 2x 74HC32N
- 2x 74ACT573
- 74AL5574 Octal edge triggered D flip flop
The X, Y, and Z signals are fed through the LM324N chips into the analog-to-digital converter.
The Intel TN80C186 takes samples of the ADC data and runs a position-solving algorithms.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Ascension SpacePad brochure". https://www.xvrwiki.org/images/d/d1/SpacePad_brochure.pdf.
- ↑ "Ascension's Products". https://web.archive.org/web/19970301170754if_/http://www.ascension-tech.com/products.htm.
- ↑ Packwood, Lewis (2023). Curious Video Game Machines. Pen & Sword Books. pp. 185–193. ISBN 978-1399073776.