Eye Tracking Glasses at 120 Hz in "Good Agreement" with 1000 Hz Systems, Trial Finds

Eye Tracking Glasses at 120 Hz in "Good Agreement" with 1000 Hz Systems, Trial Finds

TELTOW, Germany, May 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

           Q1 - Q2 beta testing yields positive assessments from leading academics

    SMI's industry-first binocular, native 120 Hz eye tracking glasses
[http://www.eyetracking-glasses.com ] could prove an alternative technology to high-speed
desktop systems, a leading researcher has concluded.

(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160526/372500 )

    This assessment aligns with positive verdicts from other academic beta testers whose
feedback, said SMI Product Manager Dr Arnd Rose, has already been used to add the
finishing touches to the product which is now shipping to customers.

    In the weeks following the product announcement in February, prototype glasses (ETG
120 Hz) were provided to leaders in eye tracking research, including Prof. Ralf Engbert of
the University of Potsdam, Germany. He evaluated their potential for velocity-based
detection of saccades, the very rapid movements of the eye. In the past this has been the
preserve of high-performance desktop systems with a sampling rate of up to 1000 Hz.

    Prof. Engbert concluded the 120 Hz system is "in remarkably good agreement with the
benchmark data" from 1000 Hz eye trackers.

    "Statistical analyses using surrogate data indicate that saccades of all sizes above
the micro-range (i.e. mean amplitude > 1degree(s)) can be identified reliably," he wrote.
"SMI-ETG 2W system might represent an alternative technology to desktop systems for high
resolution eye-tracking research".

    The glasses were also assessed by the Center in Cognitive Interactive Technology
(CITEC) in Germany, which sees benefit for real-time gaze interaction applications. "We
tested interaction scenarios and also applied latency tests," said CITEC's Patrick Renner.

    "The higher sampling rate reduces the overall reaction time of the system. Improved
real-time fixation detection of the 120 Hz version also improves our gaze interaction
applications."

    Mohammad Al-Naser from the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)
works in the field of reading and image sentiment analysis. "The ETG's higher frequency
delivers smoother gaze measurements for the reading research, giving us the ability to
better analyze reading behaviour," he said.

    SMI Product Manager Dr Rose said: "What encourages me most is to see that our ETG 120
Hz compares well with a published benchmark dataset obtained from a 1000 Hz desktop
system. That exceeds our expectations but supports the trend of high-end eye tracking
research going mobile."

    SMI's eye tracking glasses are proven with more than 100,000 participants and are used
by leading universities around the world. First launched in 2011, the eye tracking glasses
technology builds on more than two decades of eye tracking experience by SMI.

    Technical Report 

    Prof. Engbert's findings are contained in the technical report Evaluation of
velocity-based saccade detection in the SMI-ETG 2W system
[http://read.psych.uni-potsdam.de/PMR2/attachments/article/156/TechRep-16-1-Engbert.pdf ].
Ralf Engbert, Lars Rothkegel, Daniel Backhaus, Hans A. Trukenbrod Allgemeine und
Biologische Psychologie, Universitat Potsdam (Technical Report 16-1, March 7, 2016).

http://read.psych.uni-potsdam.de/PMR2/attachments/article/156/TechRep-16-1-Engbert.pdf

    About SMI
SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) is a world leader in eye tracking technology, developing
and marketing eye & gaze tracking systems for scientists and professionals, OEM and
medical solutions for a wide range of applications. Find out more at
http://www.smivision.com. Follow @SMIeyetracking on Facebook
[https://www.facebook.com/smieyetracking ], Flickr
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/smieyetracking ], YouTube
[https://www.youtube.com/user/smieyetracking ] and Twitter
[https://twitter.com/SMIEyeTracking ].

       
         
        Contact 
        SensoMotoric Instruments GmbH (SMI) 
        Tim Stott 
        +49-162-271-6166 
        tim.stott@smi.de 

     

    Photo:
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160526/372500

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160526/372500
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Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160526/372500
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
SensoMotoric Instruments GmbH (SMI)