Tracking Window

Gocator 2100 series sensors do not support tracking window.

A sensor can follow a relatively flat target as it moves up and down beneath the sensor, using a “tracking window.” When you define a tracking window, the sensor effectively reduces the active area to match the size of the tracking window, which results in a faster scan rate. The reduced area moves to track the laser line within the area defined in the Active Area tab. A tracking window is typically used in road or web scanning applications where the target is a continuous surface.

You must balance the gain in speed due to the reduced area of the tracking window and the impact it has on the sensor’s tracking ability: a smaller window gives the tracking function less data to predict where the profile is moving.

The sensor adjusts the position of the tracking window to center the area on the average height of the entire visible laser profile. A laser line remains tracked as long as the percentage of detected laser points exceeds the user-defined search threshold. When the sensor loses track of the laser line, the sensor searches for the laser line using the full defined active area.

You should adjust the lighting and the active area to remove all background objects, such as the conveyor belt surface.

On Gocator 2342 sensors, the Bridge Value tool's Window and StdDev measurements can force the tracking engine to switch to search mode in some situations. For more information, see Bridge Value.

The tracking window is defined in the Active Area tab, beneath the settings for the active area.

To enable the tracking window:

1. Go to the Scan page.
2. Choose Profile or Surface mode in the Scan Mode panel.

If one of these modes is not selected, you will not be able to set the tracking window.
3. Expand the Sensor panel by clicking on the panel header.
4. Click on the Active Area tab.
5. Check the Tracking Window box.

The panel below the checkbox expands and shows the settings for the window used to track the object height.
6. Click the tracking window's Select button.
7. Resize the tracking window shown in the data viewer.

Only the height of the window is required. You can move the position of the tracking window to cover a live profile to help adjust the window height.
8. Edit the Search Threshold setting.

The search threshold defines the minimum percentage of the points detected across the profile for the laser to be considered tracked. If the number of points falls below this percentage, tracking is lost, and the sensor searches for the laser line using the full active area.
9. Click the Save button in the Sensor panel.
10. Save the job in the Toolbar by clicking the Save button .