Skip to main content

PolhemusConnection

Namespace: UTILSLIB  ·  Library: Utilities Library

#include <utils/polhemus_connection.h>

class UTILSLIB::PolhemusConnection

Polhemus digitizer connection (mock + serial-port backends).

src/examples/ex_utils/main.cpp
PolhemusConnection connection;
PolhemusSerialConfig serial;        // 115200 baud, inches; the hemisphere and stream command a Fastrak needs
connection.open(QString(), serial); // empty port name = mock backend sweeping a 10 cm sphere; e.g. "/dev/tty.usbserial" for a Fastrak
PolhemusCoregistration coreg;
coreg.setConnection(&connection); // station 1 = pen, station 2 = head tracker

// Model fiducials are the pen fiducials turned 90 deg about z and moved 5 cm in x; the registration must find that transform
QMatrix4x4 truth;
truth.translate(0.05f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
truth.rotate(90.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f);
const QList<FiducialId> fiducials = {FiducialId::NAS, FiducialId::LPA, FiducialId::RPA};
QList<QVector3D> penAt;
for (const FiducialId id : fiducials) {
    QEventLoop wait; // let the next mock pen sample arrive, as the user would move the pen
    QTimer::singleShot(350, &wait, &QEventLoop::quit);
    wait.exec();
    coreg.captureCurrentPenPositionAsFiducial(id);
    penAt.append(coreg.penPosition());
    coreg.setModelFiducial(id, truth.map(coreg.penPosition()));
}
const bool registered = coreg.computeRegistration();
connection.close();

Inheritance​

Public Methods​

PolhemusConnection(parent)​

~PolhemusConnection()​

open(portName, cfg)​

Open the connection.

Parameters:

  • portName : const QString & Empty → mock backend. Non-empty → hardware backend.

  • cfg : const PolhemusSerialConfig & Serial transport configuration; ignored by the mock backend.

Returns:

  • bool — True if connected (or already connected), false if the backend failed to open.

close()​

Close the active connection.

Safe to call when already closed.

isConnected()​

backendName()​

Static Methods​

availablePorts()​

Enumerate every serial port currently visible to the OS.

Convenience wrapper around QSerialPortInfo::availablePorts that returns just the system port names (e.g. /dev/cu.usbserial-AB0, COM3) so callers can populate a combo box without pulling in QSerialPortInfo themselves.

Returns:

  • QStringList — System port names of all visible serial ports; empty if none.

autoDetectPortName()​

Best-effort auto-detection of an attached Fastrak/FastSCAN.

Polhemus Fastrak/FastSCAN units ship with an FTDI USB-serial bridge (vendor id 0x0F44 for newer Polhemus-branded units, 0x0403 for the generic FTDI chip used in older units). This scan returns the first matching port name, or an empty string if no candidate is found.

Returns:

  • QString — Port name of a Polhemus-vendor port, else the first FTDI port, else an empty string.

Example​

Used in examples​

ex_utils​

Utilities library: buffers, observers, logging, file formats, montages, layouts and reports.

src/examples/ex_utils/main.cpp, line 275
PolhemusConnection connection;
PolhemusSerialConfig serial;        // 115200 baud, inches; the hemisphere and stream command a Fastrak needs
connection.open(QString(), serial); // empty port name = mock backend sweeping a 10 cm sphere; e.g. "/dev/tty.usbserial" for a Fastrak
PolhemusCoregistration coreg;
coreg.setConnection(&connection); // station 1 = pen, station 2 = head tracker

Authors of this file​