The Active Tag Batch Programmer provides a convenient way of programming multiple OptiTrack components including the Tags, Pucks, and the Base Stations. This page provides instructions on how to use this program to configure the components.
You can download the active batch programmer from the following link: Active Batch Programmer.
The batch programmer ships in ZIP format. Extract the ZIP file to access the contents.
Without any of the active components connected to the computer, yet, start the batch programmer. When it loads up, you should see the following window:
Step 3) Configure the settings
The RF Channel and Uplink ID fields in the IMU section of the Properties pane are IMU specific. These are currently only compatible with Motive 2.3.1. You will still need to make sure that your BaseStation and Active Tags/Pucks are on the same RF Channel, however, you will not need to record this in Motive 3.0 in the asset's IMU Properties.
Before connecting anything, you will want to configure the settings first:
Radio Frequency Channel (RF Channel)
Select the Set Radio checkbox and type in the RF Channel you wish to use (applicable range 11-26). The RF Channel for any Active Tag/Puck should match the RF Channel of the BaseStation you are using.
Disabled Markers
You can disable specific markers for each of the active components if needed.
Set LED Options
Custom Brightness
Select Set LED Options checkbox
If custom Brightness is selected you can enter any value between 0 and 100. The Default is 20.
Auto Brightness
If Auto Brightness is selected the value is 0.
Unless there is a specific need for a change, you will typically not need to make any changes here outside of changing the RF Channel.
Active labels on a batch of active components.
One batch of active components contain one Base Station and one or more sets of active markers; whether the markers are on the active Tags or the Pucks.
To each active Tags or Pucks, a labeling group will be assigned. A labeling group is a set of unique active marker labels that gets programmed to the active IR LEDs on either the Tag or the Puck.
As long as none of the active components are assigned with an overlapping labeling group number, the batch programmer will make sure a unique active label gets assigned to each marker in the batch. Once all of the settings are configured, we can now start programming the labeling groups.
If you want the configuration above to be applied to your Active Tag or Puck, you first must deselect Read-Only Mode (just report existing configuration)
While they are powered off, connect a Tag or a Puck to the computer via a USB cable.
Once connected, power on the Puck or the Tag. Wait until it gets recognized in the batch programmer. Once it connects, it will be listed under the current batch section, and configured settings will get programmed automatically. Monitor the Log while connecting the component to make sure the configuration gets applied successfully.
Step 6) Unplug and plug another component
Unplug the Tag/Puck that was connected on step 5, and connect a new Tag instead. You will have to repeat step 4 and 5 for each of the active components in the batch.
Step 7) Check to make sure all Tags/Pucks have been programmed
At the end, you should see all of the components in your batch listed in the programmer with unique labeling group number assigned to each of them.
Firmware Compatibility Chart
Below is a chart to see which versions are compatible with which BaseStations and Active Tags/Pucks. Essentially, it is a one-to-one correlation between Active hardware and firmware versions with some exceptions. For Active Tags specifically, it boils down to: if it doesn't have an IMU then it's compatible with 1.x. If it has the first version of an IMU, then it is compatible with 2.x. And, if it has an upgraded IMU, then it is compatible with 3.x.
BaseStation and Active Tag compatibility Simplified
If you have a 1.x BaseStation you would use it with a 1.x Active Tag/Puck, if you have a 2.x Active Tag/Puck you would use it with a 2.x BaseStation and so on. The exception being that a 2.x BaseStation is compatible with both 2.x and 3.x Active Tags/Pucks.
This guide is intended for advanced users or those under the guidance of the OptiTrack Support Team. Your OptiTrack Active hardware should arrive fully configured and ready for immediate use. In most cases, you should not need to modify its configuration. If configured incorrectly, tracking may perform poorly, or may cease to function entirely. Do not attempt to modify the configurations of your OptiTrack Active hardware unless you have been instructed on how to do so by an OptiTrack Support Engineer.
The BaseStation and Active Tag can both be connected to a computer via USB, and expose a virtual serial port. You can connect to this serial port using a terminal application in order to view and modify the configuration of the devices.
A popular choice of terminal application for Windows is the freely available PuTTY, which the latest version can be downloaded here and will be used in this guide.
Note that the UI of PuTTY may look slightly different for each version, however, all of the relevant settings will be present.
After a successful download of PuTTY, we'll want to create a saved session that we can use every time we boot up PuTTY for our Active hardware configurations.
Instructions
Start PuTTY.
Choose the Serial option under the "Connection Type" section.
Enter 115200 into the Speed field.
Under Saved Sessions enter an appropriate name like "Active" or "Tag Settings".
After everything is entered correctly click the Save button. This will populate your saved name below Default Settings.
The next time you boot up PuTTY you can select the saved session and click Load to load the settings we set up above. You can access more detail information about the serial connection by clicking the Connection > Serial option in the Category section on the left.
When connecting to an OptiTrack Active device you'll need to input the correct COM# port into the "Serial Line" section.
When you're ready to start programming your Active tags you need to verify their class-compliant virtual serial port to enter into the Serial line in PuTTY. To do this you'll need navigate to the Device Manger for any Windows machine.
From the Device Manger window you can click the dropdown arrow for Ports. This will show a list of all the COM ports that are plugged into your machine.
The easiest way to find out which COM number is associated with your Active Tag is to plug in the Active Tag and see which new COM port appears.
Once you have this number (ie. COM3, COM4, etc.), you can navigate back to PuTTY to enter this port into the Serial line text field.
Now that we have all the settings we need to properly interface with Active Tags and BaseStations, we can open a PuTTY session.
To do this we simply load the settings configured above and then click Open.
This will open a command terminal where we can implement commands to configure both the Active Tags and BaseStations.
There are three serial commands that we'll be concerned about for this application: d, s, and v.
This command takes no parameters, and outputs a listing of all configuration options and their current values. Each configuration option is listed on its own line, starting with its ID (surrounded by square brackets), followed by its name, and finally its current value.
The ID is used to refer to the options when modifying their values (described below); if the ID is displayed as a dash, this means the value cannot be changed.
If the value begins with the prefix “0x”, this means the value is displayed in hexadecimal (base 16); otherwise, the value is a regular decimal (base 10) number.
This command takes two parameters (separated by spaces), and is used to modify the value of a configuration option.
The first parameter, as described above, is the ID of the configuration option you want to modify.
The second parameter is the new value to use for the specified option. The new value can be provided in either decimal or hexadecimal; if hexadecimal, the value should be prefixed with “0x”.
As an example, the command s 1 2 will set the option with ID 1 to the value of 2. Similarly, the command s 1 0xF will set the option with ID 1 to the value of 0xF (hexadecimal), or 15 (decimal).
This command takes no parameters, and writes the current configuration to the flash memory of the device. This should always be performed before closing a PuTTY session if you wish to save the configuration.
The v command is required to preserve any changes you’ve made to the configuration since the last time you saved. If you do not issue the save command, your configuration changes will be lost the next time the device is powered off.
Some of the options in PuTTY change depending on the firmware version you use with Active hardware. These options are for Firmware Version 1.x.
When configuring a BaseStation there are only a couple of options we would need to worry about for most setups. It's good practice to first configure a BaseStation and then program Active Tags around the BaseStation's settings.
BaseStation Commands
[1]: rfPanId
Default: 0x0001
This is the 16-bit PAN (personal area network) identifier used for wireless communication.
The PAN ID is used to filter traffic at the hardware level, and different PANs may be used to partition a single wireless channel into multiple separate logical networks. This may, for example, be useful if you needed to use two separate OptiTrack Active systems in close proximity. However, in general, the use of different wireless channels (see option [3]: rfChan below) should be preferred, rather than using multiple PANs on same wireless channel.
The PAN ID and channel values configured on the BaseStation must match the values configured for every Tag that is intended to be used with that BaseStation.
[2]: rfSrcAddr
Default: 0xABCD
This is the 16-bit wireless address of the BaseStation. You should not need to change this.
[3]: rfChan
Default: 20
This is the radio channel used for wireless communication. The range of valid channels is 11-26. The frequency in MHz for the channel ch is given by 2405 + 5 · (ch - 11).
You may wish to change the radio channel if you have determined that you’re encountering poor RF performance due to external interference, or if you want to operate multiple OptiTrack Active systems in close proximity.
The PAN ID and channel values configured on the BaseStation must match the values configured for every Active Tag that is intended to be used with that BaseStation.
When configuring Active Tags, you'll want to match the rfPanId and rfChan to the BaseStation. If these do not match then the Active Tags will not properly synchronize to your OptiTrack system.
Active Tag Commands
[1] rfPanId
Default: 0x0001
Refer to the description in the section above: Firmware Version 1.x > BaseStation Commands > rfPanID.
The PAN ID and channel values configured on the BaseStation must match the values configured for every Tag that is intended to be used with that BaseStation.
[2] rfSrcAddr
Default: 0x5678
This is the 16-bit wireless address of the Tag. You should not need to change this.
[3] rfChan
Default: 20
Refer to the description in the section above: Firmware Version 1.x > BaseStation Commands > rfChan.
The PAN ID and channel values configured on the BaseStation must match the values configured for every Tag that is intended to be used with that BaseStation.
[D0] led0Id … [D7] led7Id
Default: 0x0 (0)
These settings are used to specify the active ID for each of the 8 active marker LEDs connected to the Active Tag. The default value of 0 is a special value indicating that the LED is not actively labeled and behaves as though it were a passive marker (with its LED on time synchronized with the exposure of the cameras).
BaseStation Commands
[1]: rfChannel
Default: 20
This is the radio channel used for wireless communication. The range of valid channels is 11-26. The frequency in MHz for the channel ch is given by 2405 + 5 · (ch - 11).
You may wish to change the radio channel if you have determined that you’re encountering poor RF performance due to external interference, or if you want to operate multiple OptiTrack Active systems in close proximity.
When configuring Active Tags, you'll want to match the rfChannel to the BaseStation. If the two devices do not match then the Active Tags will not properly synchronize to your OptiTrack system.
Active Tag Commands
[2]: uplinkId
Default: 0
The uplinkId identifies the Active Tag label class that the Tag belongs to. This allows for Active Tags to be uniquely identified when there are multiple Active Tags with the same form factor in the same volume.
[3] rfChan
Default: 20
Refer to the description in the section above: Firmware Version 2.x > BaseStation Commands > rfChannel.
[4] ledBrightness
Default: 20
You can choose to increase or decrease the LED brightness on each Active Tags active markers collectively. This will control the brightness of all of the LEDs together as a unit incase the cameras are having difficulty tracking. However, it is recommended to change physical characteristics of the cameras (ie. aperture), or of the volume (ie. blocking out excess light), or increase the exposure of the cameras in Motive prior to altering this setting.
[5] onWhileCharging
Default: 1
This setting allows the Active Tag to be powered on while charging. It is useful in setups where the Active Tag is mounted to an object that can supply power, thus ensuring the Active Tag will not run out of battery.
1 denotes that it is on while charging, 0 denotes that the Active Tag is off while charging.
[D0] led0Id … [D7] led7Id
Default: 0x0 (0)
These settings are used to specify the active ID for each of the 8 active marker LEDs connected to the Active Tag. The default value of 0 is a special value indicating that the LED is not actively labeled and behaves as though it were a passive marker (with its LED on time synchronized with the exposure of the cameras).
Currently, there is not a 3.x firmware version for BaseStations. Please refer to 2.x instructions above.
When configuring Active Tags, you'll want to match the rfPanId and rfChan to the BaseStation. If these do not match then the active tags will not properly synchronize to your OptiTrack system.
Active Tag Commands
[2]: uplinkId
Default: 0
The uplinkId identifies the Active Tag label class that the Tag belongs to. This allows for Active Tags to be uniquely identified when there are multiple Active Tags with the same form factor in the same volume.
[3] rfChan
Default: 20
Refer to the description in the section above: Firmware Version 1x > BaseStation Commands > rfChan.
[4] ledBrightness
Default: 20
You can choose to increase or decrease the LED brightness on each Active Tags active markers collectively. This will control the brightness of all of the LEDs together as a unit incase the cameras are having difficulty tracking. However, it is recommended to change physical characteristics of the cameras (ie. aperture), or of the volume (ie. blocking out excess light), or increase the exposure of the cameras in Motive prior to altering this setting.
[5] onWhileCharging
Default: 1
This setting allows the Active Tag to be powered on while charging. It is useful in setups where the Active Tag is mounted to an object that can supply power, thus ensuring the Active Tag will not run out of battery.
1 denotes that it is on while charging, 0 denotes that the Active Tag is off while charging.
[7] imuDecimationsRate
The ADIS16505 sample rate is 2000 Hz. The decimation, dec, can is used to smooth and decrease the effective sample rate using averages. Applying the decimation rate dec yields a nominal sample rate of 2000/(dec + 1).
You should not have to change this setting.
[8] imuFilterLevel [0-6]
Default: 5
This controls the level of filtering and smoothing. 0 means no filtering, 6 means maximum filtering. We recommend level 5 as the best option.
[9] imuBurstMode
Default: 32
This setting should not be changed as this version of the firmware only supports 32-bits mode when filtering.
[A] imuBiasUpdateCount
Default: 1000
Controls the number of IMU samples between IMU bias updates. If this value is N a bias update procedure will be initiated after every N samples.
[D0] led0Id … [D7] led7Id
Default: 0x0 (0)
These settings are used to specify the active ID for each of the 8 active marker LEDs connected to the Active Tag. The default value of 0 is a special value indicating that the LED is not actively labeled and behaves as though it were a passive marker (with its LED on time synchronized with the exposure of the cameras).
If your Active hardware is older than RevG for Active Tags and RevD for BaseStations, we recommend updating to RevG and RevD respectively.
The information below is detailed information that is not intended for the average user. What you receive out of the box will work for the majority of applications based upon initial setup with a Sales Engineer.
Active components that were shipped later than September 2017 uses the firmware 1.x or above.
Requires Motive 2.0 Beta 2 or later versions.
No longer requires eSync for synchronizing the BaseStation with the camera system.
Support for user-defined camera framerates.
The illumination time of active LEDs is synchronized to the camera exposure time.
Allows changing the depth of illumination patterns, allowing a higher number of active markers to be actively labeled.
Active tags with 1.x firmware and no IMU are compatible with BaseStations with 1.1.0 firmware (RevA, B, C, and D BaseStations are all compatible with 1.1.0 firmware)
RevA hardware version BaseStations are NOT compatible with 2.3.1 firmware.
RevB, RevC, and RevD hardware version BaseStations are compatible with 2.3.1 firmware.
IMU tags with 2.3.3 firmware are compatible with BaseStations with 2.3.1 firmware.
An IMU tag
Requires a BaseStation (RevB, RevC, RevD) with firmware 2.3.1.
Do NOT use with a BaseStation with 1.1.0 firmware.
A non-IMU tag
Requires a BaseStation (RevA, RevB, RevC, RevD) with firmware 1.1.0
NOT compatible with a BaseStation with 2.3.1 firmware.
Essentially, if an Active Tag has the same firmware as a BaseStation it will be compatible with a few exceptions. For example, if you have an Active Tag with 1.x firmware and a BaseStation with 1.x firmware, they will be compatible.
Firmware Compatibility Chart
Below is a chart to see which versions are compatible with which BaseStations and Active Tags/Pucks. Essentially, it is a one-to-one correlation between Active hardware and firmware versions with some exceptions. For Active Tags specifically, it boils down to: if it doesn't have an IMU then it's compatible with 1.x. If it has the first version of an IMU, then it is compatible with 2.x. And, if it has an upgraded IMU, then it is compatible with 3.x.
BaseStation and Active Tag compatibility Simplified
If you have a 1.x BaseStation you would use it with a 1.x Active Tag/Puck, if you have a 2.x Active Tag/Puck you would use it with a 2.x BaseStation and so on. The exception being that a 2.x BaseStation is compatible with both 2.x and 3.x Active Tags/Pucks.
These versions are outdated and no longer supported.
Active components that were shipped prior to September 2017 uses the firmware v0.8.
v0.8 BaseStation works only with v0.8 Tags.
Firmware v0.8 requires an eSync to synchronize the BaseStation and the mocap system together.
Whenever v0.8 BaseStation is power cycled, all of the v0.8 Tags must be power cycled as well.
v0.8 BaseStation is not compatible with v1.0 Tags
v0.8 Tags needs to be power cycled each time you close and relaunch Motive.
v0.8 Tags needs to be power cycled each time system frame rate has been changed in Motive.
In most cases, you will not need to update the firmware on your Active components. The Active components you receive should work for your system without the need to update. In the event that you are advised to update your Active components, we strongly recommend doing so only under the guidance of a OptiTrack Support Engineer. Please contact for instructions on how to update the firmware.
When you first receive your Active Tags and BaseStation they will be on firmware 1.1.0 unless otherwise setup with your Sales Engineer for very specific applications. Firmware version 1.1.0 is recommended for most applications. These will be RevG (revision G) for Active Tags and RevD for BaseStations. These should not need to be updated. Please contact if you need assistance with your Active hardware.