Camera light turns blue, then works again, Headset not recognized, Vive Trackers loose tracking/goes

[EnterRealityVR]

Hi all,

 

I keep having a really weird issue with my Vive, since this is the second time this happens.

 

In short, I went to a customer with the entire setup, meaning Vive+Lighthouse+Controllers+8 Vive Trackers, in order to do a on-site mocap session ( combined with IKinema Orion ), and I had lots of issues, namely one of the cameras just seems to be unresponsive for a bit ( light turns blue, Headset is not tracker, even if the other camera sees it ), then goes back to work again, sometimes telling me that the base have lost optical sync ( even though the sync cable is plugged ), and sometimes I have a "HMD not connected", which is all weird.

 

This is the second time this happens, and I have no idea why...setup was in a room, with a very big tv behind me, without any wifi or additional gear turned on, so I don't know what is the issue.

Also, when I do the same thing in my studio, everything works perfectly, and I never had one of the cameras acting this weird, which is frustrating, since this had happened when I went to customers...is there a spoecific way to test if the cameras are working properly? I enable the debug view of the cameras, and everything was ok there, but this issue is so random that I don't know what is causing this.

 

I also notice ( and this is related to the mocap itself ), that the Trackers act very weird, meaning that I can see them flying around, of blinking in and out of existence, or sometimes I can see one of the tracker ( in SteamVR ) pulsing, while in reality is in full view of the cameras.

As a result, since the Trackers kept loosing tracking after 2 seconds ( because of the in-out of existence and overall really bad tracking ), the mocap session was cancelled.

 

I notice that this issue is less and almost non existent when wifi is turned off, which was impossible to do while I was with the customer, but I had this advice directly from IKinema Support.

 

Since the issue is related to ( I think ) radio frequencies and wifi being a very bad interference for the Trackers, and since I have another on-site mocap session in short time, there are tests or additional setup I need to consider before I go to my customer, in order to avoid this odd behaviour?

 

I'll be flying half of the planet to be there, and I don't want to have the same issue without being able to solve this, but since this is mostly hardware related, I want to know at least what can be done in order to avoid those issues.

 

Cheers

 

Nicolas

[alubaking]

Sounds like you have reflection issue or USB bandwith issue. Try to cover reflective objects as much as possble. BTW, do you have a second PC or laptop you can test?  Since you are talking about VIVING with 8 trackers at the same time? 

 

Not sure if you have done this but I would reduce the number of trackers and see what happens.  I would also unplug unwanted USB devices and also leave only one PC monitor as well. 

 

Ensure your customer PC's ram is not overclocked. I have seen Asus motherbaord users have their RAM OCed can cause tracking issue or stability issue as well. 

[Synthesis]

 

 

It could be related to the Wifi, yes. Trackers are operating on a 2.4ghz frequency which is also used by many wifi routers, so perhaps you can reposition it further away or switch to 5ghz on the router (if it's capable of it) to try to reduce the "noise" overall. There's a good chance you've got more wireless transmitters in the room as well, so consider that.

Reflection could also be a contributing factor, so keep an eye out for that if you haven't already.

Thank you!

-John C

[EnterRealityVR]

Thanks both,

I'm currently using an external usb hib ( this one, suggested by IKinema itself ), in order to connect all the USB dongles for the trackers, since I'm using a kinda-laptop ( MSI VR One ), where only 4 usb are available, so the hub is a necessity, and works perfectly.

Since IKinema license is on this laptop, I've been using that exclusively, so I haven't tested this solution on another pc.

Point is, this setup, in my studio, where the router is in the next room, works perfectly, and just to be 100% sure, every time I do a mocap session, I turn off the router, even though I notice that with it turned on it also works fine...side issue ( due to the dongles ), is that sometimes the wifi of the laptop won't work, so I have to unplug the usb hub sometimes, but it's very random.

 

I also tried ( directly when I did the on-site mocap ), to remove 2-4 trackers ( IKinema minimum setup is 6 ), by removing elbow tracking and using the controllers for the hands, but same thing, everything went nuts after a bit, so the entire thing was unusable.

 

Anyway thanks again for the advices...

 

Regarding the completely random issues with one of the Lighhouse, is there some tests I can do?

Again, in my studio I have no issue with both lighthouses, but this is the second time that, when I'm on-site, one of the cameras start switch to blue light, the HMD is not recognized anymore, then after a couple of seconds everything is ok again...and it's again, completely random...