Valve’s ‘Lighthouse’ tracking system relies on an array of sensors which detect laser sweeps from the accompanying base stations. Valve has shown a glimpse of the latest iteration of the sensors which are remarkably small compared to earlier prototypes.

Valve’s “chief pharologist“, Alan Yates, tweeted a photo of the latest iteration of the Lighthouse sensor, tiny photodiodes which cover the HTC Vive headset and controllers to achieve what the company calls ‘room-scale’ tracking.

The photo shows the miniscule sensors and tiny onboard electronics against the backdrop of a US quarter for scale. One of the biggest real-estate hogs on the sensor appears to be a pin array for connecting the sensors together. Prior prototype sensors were far larger.

See Also: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Steam VR’s Lighthouse Tracking System

The diminutive sensors offer exciting potential for the creation of standalone sensor pucks which could be easily affixed to any object to enable Lighthouse tracking. Valve has said they want to make Lighthouse the widely used standard for VR tracking.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."