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Purpose: Rigid-body markers are a common component of surgical tracking systems, but there is a limited number of commercially available, valid marker designs, presenting a limitation to researchers developing novel navigation systems. This work presents the development and validation of a large, open-source library of rigid-body markers for passive marker tracking systems. Methods: Ten groups of rigid-body tool designs were generated according to an algorithm based on intra- and inter-body design constraints. Validation studies were performed using a Polaris Vicra tracker (NDI) to compare the performance of each rigid body to a standard commercially available reference tool, including: tool-tip pivot calibration; measurement of fiducial registration error (FRE) on a computer-controlled bench; and measurement of target registration error (TRE) on a CT head phantom. Results: The resulting library of rigid-body markers includes 10 groups - one with 10 markers and nine with 6. Each group includes one tool geometrically equivalent to a common commercially available rigid body (NDI #8700339)1. Pivot tests showed tool-tip calibration ~0.4 mm, indistinguishable from the reference tool. FRE was ~0.15 mm, again meeting that of the reference. TRE measurements showed registration in a CT head phantom with error ~0.95 mm, equivalent to that of the reference. Conclusions: The library of custom tool designs perform equivalently to common, commercially available reference markers and present a multitude of distinct, simultaneously trackable rigid-body marker designs. The library is available as open source CAD files suitable to 3D printing by researchers in image-guided surgery and other applications.
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