Turning to the experience of XR studios, I assembled a custom IR tag tracking system. In this project the task was to make an interactive paddle for digital boat rides. Tracking of the paddle position was realized using Slim 13 IR cameras by OptiTrack. Battery powered IR diodes were placed at the bottom of the paddle. And the camera was positioned above the boat and the user. 

Operating in the IR spectrum, the camera saw only a white dot - the glow of the IR diodes. In this way, through the movement of the array of white pixels on the video, it was possible to determine the direction of movement. Inside the TouchDesigner software I built the logic for determining the movement of the mark:

Horizontal movement of the point gave a command to turn the digital spoon, double horizontal movement turned the spoon, and vertical movement accelerated or decelerated the boat. This information in float form was fed into a program with generative content and used as control commands, similar to a joystick.