Oculus Sensor
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| Oculus Sensor | |
|---|---|
| Basic Info | |
| VR/AR | Virtual Reality |
| Type | Accessory |
| Subtype | Tracking camera |
| Developer | Oculus VR |
| Announcement Date | 11 June 2015 (Oculus pre-E3 press event, San Francisco) |
| Release Date | March 2016 (one sensor with the Oculus Rift CV1); 6 December 2016 (second sensor in the Oculus Touch package) |
| Price | US$79 sold separately at the Oculus Touch launch (December 2016); US$59 from March 2017 |
| Requires | Oculus Rift CV1 and a PC USB port (USB 3.0, or USB 2.0 mode for an additional sensor) |
| Image | |
| Field of View | 100 x 75 degrees (Oculus figure) |
| Tracking | |
| Tracking | Constellation optical outside-in tracking of infrared LEDs |
| Connectivity | |
| Connectivity | USB 3.0 cable |
| Device | |
| Sensors | Infrared camera behind a visible-light filter |
Oculus Sensor (also called the Rift Sensor or Constellation sensor) is the external infrared tracking camera for the Oculus Rift CV1, developed by Oculus VR. It is the central component of the positional tracking system Constellation: the sensor detects infrared light from LEDs built into the headset and, from December 2016, the Oculus Touch controllers.[1][2]
Oculus showed the sensor with the consumer Rift in June 2015. The Rift came with one sensor at its March 2016 launch,[3][4] the US$199 Oculus Touch package added a second, and Oculus sold additional sensors on their own for 360-degree and room-scale setups, first at US$79 and from March 2017 at US$59.[5][6] In March 2019 Oculus announced the Oculus Rift S as the original Rift's replacement, and the Rift S uses inside-out Oculus Insight tracking with no external sensors.[7]
Announcement and release
At the company's 2015 pre-E3 show in San Francisco, California, on 11 June 2015, Oculus VR presented the consumer Oculus Rift, which it said was tracked by an "IR LED constellation tracking system for precise, low latency 360-degree orientation and position tracking".[1][2] Digital Trends described the sensor shown at the event as "an understated cylinder on a pole that looks a bit like a webcam".[8] In a YouTube interview reported by VRFocus, Oculus founder and Rift creator Palmer Luckey explained the reasoning behind the name: "So we call it a constellation tracking system. We actually have an external sensor that mounts and it can detect the infrared light that is in the headset. We've actually got a constellation of infrared, LED light emitters underneath the fabric, and this fabric is actually infrared transparent so it looks black to us but the infrared light, it passes right through."[2]
UploadVR presented Constellation as Oculus's answer to the HTC Vive, which Valve and HTC had announced at GDC with full room-scale tracking from the Lighthouse system of the SteamVR platform; UploadVR wrote that the Vive used two tracking sensors to create a trackable space of about 15 by 15 feet.[9] Asked whether such experiences would come to the Rift, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe told UploadVR that "Constellation will allow for a bigger room area" and "so you will be able to move around in it", adding that the company had "a number of different things that we are going to be talking about as we move forward on this." Iribe also said the system offered "full 360 tracking, all off of a single camera" and that "We do support multiple sensors".[9]
The Rift went on sale in March 2016 with one sensor, a configuration Oculus described for seated or standing experiences with a gamepad.[3][4] When Oculus Touch launched on 6 December 2016, the US$199 package contained two controllers and a second sensor.[5][4] Later bundles also counted sensors: the Oculus Rift for Business bundle announced at Oculus Connect 4 on 11 October 2017 cost US$900 and included the headset, Touch controllers, three sensors, an Oculus Remote and three Rift Fits.[10]
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 11 June 2015 | Constellation tracking and the sensor shown with the consumer Rift at Oculus's pre-E3 event in San Francisco[1][2] |
| 25 June 2015 | Road to VR reports that Oculus will open its Constellation tracking API to third-party peripheral makers[11] |
| March 2016 | Oculus Rift CV1 launches with one sensor[3][4] |
| 4 April 2016 | iFixit publishes its teardown of the sensor[12] |
| October 2016 | Oculus details four supported Rift and Touch sensor configurations at its Connect developer conference[4] |
| 6 December 2016 | Oculus Touch launches at US$199 with a second sensor; a third sensor is sold separately for US$79[5] |
| March 2017 | Price of a separate sensor permanently cut from US$79 to US$59[6] |
| April 2017 | Oculus software 1.14 adds a guided setup for three-sensor 360-degree configurations[3] |
| May 2017 | Oculus software 1.15 stops treating three-sensor configurations as experimental[3] |
| 11 October 2017 | Oculus Rift for Business bundle (US$900) includes three sensors[10] |
| 20 March 2019 | Oculus announces the Rift S, which replaces the original Rift and needs no external sensors[7] |
Hardware
The Constellation sensor was designed in collaboration with the acquired team at Carbon Design, the team behind the original Xbox 360 controllers.[9] The sensor is a cylindrical head with an infrared camera inside, mounted on a slim stand; UploadVR estimated the stand at about ten inches tall from a size comparison with an iPhone 5s.[9][8] The stand can be removed, and the sensor has a standard screw hole (Oculus calls it "a standard tripod connector") so that it can be mounted on a wall or elsewhere instead of standing on a desk.[9][12][13]
The sensor normally stands on the desk and plugs into the computer with a USB 3.0 cable; Digital Trends wrote that it is "designed to disappear completely once in place" and would blend in next to a monitor and speakers.[8][12] There is a special filter in front of the camera that blocks out everything but infrared light, so the camera can more easily pick out the Rift's infrared LEDs. iFixit's teardown found the visible-light filter held over the image sensor with strong adhesive and noted that it can be removed and replaced if damaged.[12]
iFixit identified an EtronTech eSP770U webcam controller, a Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 Bluetooth Smart and 2.4 GHz system-on-chip (the same part also found in the Rift headset) and Macronix MX25L1006E 1 Mb serial flash memory on the sensor's board, together with a heat sink on the camera. It rated the sensor 7 out of 10 for repairability, citing its modular parts and swappable USB cable, and listed the glued filter and the hard-to-remove stand as drawbacks.[12]
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Sensor | Infrared camera behind a removable visible-light filter[12] |
| Field of view | 100 degrees horizontal, 75 degrees vertical (Oculus figure)[13] |
| Touch tracking range (one sensor) | Ideal up to 6 feet, good up to 8 feet, essentially no tracking past 10 feet; poor tracking within about a foot and a half of the sensor (Oculus figures)[13] |
| Touch tracking range (two sensors seeing a controller) | Ideal up to at least 10 feet (Oculus figure)[13] |
| Connection | USB 3.0 cable; additional sensors can run in USB 2.0 mode[12][14] |
| Mounting | Removable stand; standard tripod connector[12][13] |
| Height on stand | About ten inches (UploadVR estimate)[9] |
| Main chips | EtronTech eSP770U webcam controller; Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 SoC; Macronix MX25L1006E 1 Mb serial flash[12] |
| Repairability (iFixit) | 7 out of 10[12] |
Usage
The Constellation system has been designed as an extendable single-camera solution. One sensor can track the headset, and adding sensors gives customers the option to play with various sensor configurations and extend the tracking ability of the system for use with the Oculus Touch controllers.[9][4] At its Connect developer conference in October 2016, Oculus listed four supported Rift and Touch configurations, from a single front-facing camera for seated or standing gamepad experiences up to a three-camera layout for room-scale Touch experiences.[4]
Single sensor
The Rift originally shipped with one tracking sensor, which Oculus listed as the configuration for seated and standing gamepad experiences.[4] Those who also bought the Touch controllers got a second sensor in the box.[5][15]
Multiple sensors
All of Oculus's supported Touch configurations use at least two sensors.[4] Oculus's advice is that the sensors should be placed in parallel on the desk and face forward, a layout that is very different from the HTC Vive's recommendation to put its base stations at opposite ends of the room.[15] The Verge reported that Oculus suggested spacing the two front cameras between three and seven feet apart, while a later Oculus guide gave three to six feet.[5][13] Two front-facing cameras allow standing front-facing Touch experiences, and two cameras pointed in opposite directions allow standing 360-degree Touch experiences.[4] Road to VR, summarising Oculus's guidance, wrote that two cameras in opposite corners of the room give a large play space but risk being too far from the headset, a setup Oculus called "not terribly robust".[4]
After connecting the new sensor to an open USB 3.0 port, users are required to complete a setup process in which the controllers and sensors map the play area.[15] According to Road to VR, Oculus said it believed the front-facing two-sensor setup is the most practical and would be used by the majority of users.[4]
For true room-scale VR, Oculus recommended a third sensor, sold separately for US$79 at the Touch launch.[5] Road to VR had earlier reported that Oculus planned to sell individual cameras for US$80, and TechRadar wrote that Oculus had said extra sensors would cost about US$70.[4][15] In March 2017 Oculus permanently reduced the price of additional sensors to US$59.[6] UploadVR described 8 by 8 feet as the recommended maximum play space for the Rift with Touch and three sensors. "However, we found that this space limitation is mostly artificial. By spreading that third sensor out farther and moving the two main sensors a bit further apart, we were able to get closer to 9 ft. or 10 ft. tracking in either direction," commented UploadVR.[16]
When Touch shipped, Oculus allowed 360-degree and room-scale configurations but did not officially support them; they were labelled "experimental". Software version 1.14 added a prompt that guides users through three-sensor setup when a third sensor is connected, and version 1.15, released in May 2017, stopped treating three-sensor configurations as experimental; Tom's Hardware noted that two-sensor 360-degree tracking was still considered experimental.[3]
Room setup guidance
In a January 2017 guide for original Rift owners, Oculus recommended a maximum playable area of five feet wide by five feet deep for two-sensor 360-degree setups and eight feet wide by eight feet deep for three-sensor room-scale setups. Its preferred layout put three sensors directly in the corners of the room, about eight feet high, facing downward at a 45-degree angle toward the center of the play area. Oculus also wrote that "using more than three sensors can create more technical and performance issues than it's worth."[13]
USB connection
Each sensor connects to the PC by USB rather than to a power outlet, so multi-sensor setups need several free ports.[16] Oculus recommended connecting no more than two sensors in USB 3.0 mode to a single USB host controller, with the third sensor in USB 2.0 mode, and advised against USB hubs because a hub does not add bandwidth to a host controller. Its stated maximum for the best experience was two USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 connection, for three sensors in total.[14] Oculus wrote that USB 2.0 extensions often work more reliably at lengths of 15 feet or more and that it did not recommend USB 3.0 extensions longer than around 15 feet; a separately purchased sensor came with a USB 2.0 active extension cable.[17] UploadVR reported that the extension cable was 5 meters long.[16]
Third-party developers
Oculus wanted to allow third-party peripheral manufacturers to create their own devices that are tracked by the system. At E3 2015, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey told Road to VR, "we're going to be opening up our tracking API for people so then they'll be able to make peripherals that are tracked using our tracking system." He also said he believed the company's Touch controller was "making the right set of compromises and tradeoffs to make a pretty universal VR input," adding, "it's never going to be better than truly optimized VR input for every game. For example, racing games: it's always going to be a steering wheel. For a sword fighting game, you're going to have some type of sword controller. For things that are really about fine-grain finger interactions, it's probably going to be maybe even some type of glove or computer-vision based hand tracking solution."[11] Road to VR noted that details about how Oculus would open the API were "thin on the ground".[11]
Reception
In its Oculus Touch review, The Verge wrote that the two-camera setup "easily beats Sony's PlayStation Move and the previous one-camera Rift in precision, range, and reliability", but that it was "not quite up to the standards of the Vive", and that Touch worked well unless the user's body blocked the controllers. The reviewer moved the cameras to a diagonal layout, which required an extension cord and a cable across the floor, and was unsure whether the test PC had enough free USB ports for a third camera.[5]
UploadVR's David Jagneaux, comparing three-sensor Rift room-scale with the HTC Vive, found tracking best near the center of the play area and named cord length as the most frustrating issue; in his setup, anything farther than 9 feet from the PC tower was not plausible, and the third sensor needed an extension cord to reach that far.[16] TechRadar's review listed the inclusion of a second sensor as a reason to buy Touch, and the "additional components needed for room-scale VR" as a reason to avoid it; it also found that the setup process "isn't nearly as smooth as it should be".[15]
Research
A study by Adrián Borrego, Jorge Latorre, Mariano Alcañiz and Roberto Llorens of the Universitat Politècnica de València, published in Games for Health Journal in 2018, compared the head tracking of the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive in a 10 by 10 grid covering 25 square meters, at sitting (1.3 m) and standing (1.7 m) heights. The Vive's working area (24.87 square meters) was twice as large as the Rift's, and its working range (7 m) was larger than the Rift's (4.25 m). At sitting height both headsets showed excellent and comparable performance, with accuracy up to 1 cm and jitter below 0.35 mm. The authors concluded that both devices could be used for real navigation, exploration, exergaming and motor rehabilitation in virtual reality.[18]
Succession
Oculus announced the Rift S on 20 March 2019 and said it "replaces the original Rift". The Rift S uses Oculus Insight inside-out tracking, shared with the Oculus Quest, with five sensors on the headset; Oculus's announcement told buyers to "Say goodbye to external sensors".[7] The same day, an Oculus spokesperson told The Verge that the original Rift remained on sale "while supplies last", and The Verge noted that the Rift S meant "no more USB cameras on sticks".[19] Oculus's room-scale guides now state that they were written for owners of the original Rift and do not apply to the Rift S.[14]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "The Oculus Rift, Oculus Touch, and VR Games at E3". Oculus Blog. Oculus VR. 2015-06-11. https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/the-oculus-rift-oculus-touch-and-vr-games-at-e3/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Jamie Feltham (2015-06-16). "Palmer Luckey Explains Oculus Rift's Constellation Tracking and Fabric". VRFocus. https://web.archive.org/web/20150617014717/http://vrfocus.com/archives/17005/palmer-luckey-explains-oculus-rifts-constellation-tracking-and-fabric/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Kevin Carbotte (2017-05-26). "Latest Oculus Software Update Officially Supports Room-Scale VR". Tom's Hardware. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/oculus-rift-official-room-scale-tracking,34529.html. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 Nate Kozak (2016-10-14). "Oculus Touch Will Support 360 and Room-scale Tracking With Extra Cameras". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-touch-support-room-scale-360-tracking-extra-cameras-sensor/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Adi Robertson (2016-12-05). "Oculus Touch review: the Oculus Rift is finally complete". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/5/13811232/oculus-touch-rift-vr-motion-controller-review. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Dominic Brennan (2017-03-03). "Oculus Cuts Price of Rift Sensors to $59". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/oculus-cuts-price-rift-sensors-59/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Announcing Oculus Rift S, Our New PC VR Headset Launching Spring 2019 for $399". Meta Quest Blog. Meta. 2019-03-20. https://www.meta.com/blog/announcing-oculus-rift-s-our-new-pc-vr-headset-launching-spring-2019/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Brad Bourque (2015-06-11). "Oculus shows off the consumer-ready rift and a new controller". Digital Trends. https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/oculus-pre-e3-2015/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Will Mason (2015-06-11). "Room Scale Rifting? New Details on Oculus' Tracking System". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/oculus-rift-room-scale/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Nick Statt, Chaim Gartenberg (2017-10-11). "Oculus is now selling its Rift headset to businesses with a new bundle". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/11/16459492/oculus-vr-rift-headset-business-bundle. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Ben Lang (2015-06-25). "Oculus to Open 'Constellation' Positional Tracking API to Third-parties". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/oculus-to-open-rift-constellation-positional-tracking-api-to-third-parties/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 Evan Noronha (2016-04-04). "Oculus Rift Constellation Teardown". iFixit. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Oculus+Rift+Constellation+Teardown/61128. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 "Oculus Roomscale - Tips for Setting Up a Killer VR Room". Meta Quest Blog. Oculus VR. 2017-01-25. https://www.meta.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-tips-for-setting-up-a-killer-vr-room/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Oculus Roomscale: Balancing Bandwidth on USB". Meta Quest Blog. Oculus VR. 2017-01-26. https://www.meta.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-balancing-bandwidth-on-usb/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Nick Pino. "Oculus Touch review". TechRadar. https://www.techradar.com/reviews/oculus-touch-controller. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 David Jagneaux (2016-12-04). "HTC Vive vs. Oculus Rift With Touch - Which Is The Better Roomscale Experience?". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/vive-vs-oculus-rift-touch-roomscale/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ "Oculus Roomscale: Extra Equipment". Meta Quest Blog. Oculus VR. 2017-01-30. https://www.meta.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-extra-equipment/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ Adrián Borrego, Jorge Latorre, Mariano Alcañiz, Roberto Llorens (2018). "Comparison of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive: Feasibility for Virtual Reality-Based Exploration, Navigation, Exergaming, and Rehabilitation". Games for Health Journal, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 151-156. https://doi.org/10.1089/g4h.2017.0114. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
- ↑ Adi Robertson (2019-03-20). "The Oculus Rift is out of stock almost everywhere, still shipping "while supplies last"". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/20/18273327/oculus-rift-available-out-of-stock-amazon-bestbuy-newegg. Retrieved 2026-10-17.