A non-inductive magnetic eye-tracker: from dipole tracking to gaze retrieval

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel wearable eye tracker using a magnet-based system that infers complete eye movements from magnetic field measurements, offering a new minimally invasive diagnostic tool.

Contribution

It introduces a non-inductive magnetic eye-tracker that infers full eye pose from magnetostatic field data, overcoming symmetry limitations with physiological constraints.

Findings

Achieved accurate eye-pose inference despite measurement symmetry.

Demonstrated the device's potential for medical diagnostics of ocular disorders.

Assessed the angular precision and accuracy of the prototype.

Abstract

We analyze the information that can be retrieved from the tracking parameters produced by an innovative wearable eye tracker. The latter is based on a permanent-magnet marked corneal lens and by an array of magnetoresistive detectors that measure the magnetostatic field in several positions in the eye proximity. We demonstrate that, despite missing information due to the axial symmetry of the measured field, physiological constraints or measurement conditions make possible to infer complete eye-pose data. Angular precision and accuracy achieved with the current prototypical device are also assessed and briefly discussed. The results show that the instrumentation considered is suitable as a new, moderately invasive medical diagnostics for the characterization of ocular movements and associated disorders.