Technical Review: Electromagnetic Sensor System for Localization of Medical Devices

The electromagnetic (EM) sensor system is one of most widely-used sensor systems for object localization. A distinct advantage of providing position and orientation information without line-of-sight configuration makes the EM sensor system applicable to various fields such as motion detection, object tracking, and sports posture analysis. The sensor measures the intensity of electromagnetic field from the field generator, which can be converted into the position and orientation information after data processing. Although the system can also be applied to medical fields like otorhinolaryngology and orthopedics, additional constraints should be considered. This paper presents a comprehensive systematic review of the present EM sensor systems. Also, several limitations and future direction are discussed.