Abstract: A system for determining the position, orientation and system gain factor of a probe includes a plurality of magnetic field sources and at least one magnetic field sensor, such that a combination of a magnetic field sensor and a magnetic field source generates a unique measured magnetic field value. The system includes a probe whose gain, position, and orientation affect these unique measured magnetic field values. A processor is configured to receive and iteratively process these unique measured magnetic field values to determine a system gain factor indicative of the gain of the probe and a plurality of location factors indicative of the position and orientation of the probe. The number of unique measured magnetic field values generated must be at least equal to the sum of the number of gain and location factors calculated.

Abstract: A system for determining the position, orientation and system gain factor of a probe includes a plurality of magnetic field sources and at least one magnetic field sensor, such that a combination of a magnetic field sensor and a magnetic field source generates a unique measured magnetic field value. The system includes a probe whose gain, position, and orientation affect these unique measured magnetic field values. A processor is configured to receive and iteratively process these unique measured magnetic field values to determine a system gain factor and a plurality of location factors. The system gain factor is indicative of the gain of the probe, and the plurality of location factors are indicative of the position and orientation of the probe. The number of unique measured magnetic field values generated must be at least equal to the sum of the number of gain and location factors calculated.

Abstract: A process detects distortions to magnetic location or orientation determinations. The process includes measuring a plurality of magnetic field values, determining one of a probe's location and a probe's orientation from an extremum of an optimization function. The measured values depend on the probe's location and orientation. The optimization function depends on the measured field values and field values calculated from a model. The process also includes indicating that a distortion to the determining exists in response to the extremum belonging to a preselected range.