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Pupil Neon Eye Tracker

Pupil Neon is a lightweight, wearable eye tracking system developed by Pupil Labs. It is designed for mobile, real-world research and rapid deployment, combining eye tracking, scene video, and motion sensing in a compact form factor.

Pupil Neon

Image © Pupil Labs. Used for documentation and identification purposes.

Pupil Core and Pupil Neon differ mainly in design goals and usage context. Pupil Core is a modular, research-focused system that connects to a host computer and offers high flexibility in hardware configuration, sampling rates, and software extensibility, making it better suited for controlled laboratory studies and custom experimental setups. Pupil Neon is a fully integrated, lightweight, glasses-style device designed for fast setup and mobility, with fixed hardware optimized for stability and comfort during natural behavior, field studies, and long recordings outside the lab.

It also includes an automatic calibration workflow that reduces setup time and user intervention compared to manual calibration in Pupil Core.

The system is intended for research and development use.

Overview

Pupil Neon is a head-mounted eye tracker optimized for ease of use and portability. It integrates eye cameras, a scene camera, and inertial sensors into a single lightweight device that connects to a mobile recording unit or smartphone.

The system is designed to support natural behavior and movement, making it suitable for studies outside controlled laboratory settings.

Measurement Capabilities

Pupil Neon supports measurement of:

  • Gaze position in the scene camera reference frame
  • Fixations and saccades
  • Blink events
  • Pupil size and pupil dynamics
  • Head motion (via inertial sensors)

Eye tracking is based on video-based pupil detection using infrared illumination.

Hardware Components

  • Eye cameras
  • Infrared-sensitive cameras with integrated IR illumination

  • Mounted close to the eyes for stable pupil imaging

  • Scene camera

  • Forward-facing RGB camera

  • Wide field of view for capturing the user’s visual context

  • Inertial measurement unit (IMU)

  • Accelerometer

  • Gyroscope

  • Headset

  • Lightweight, glasses-style frame

  • Designed for comfort during long recordings

  • Recording unit

  • Connects wirelessly to the headset
  • Handles data storage and power

Technical Specifications (typical)

  • Eye camera frame rate: up to 200 Hz
  • Scene camera resolution: up to 1920 × 1080
  • Scene camera frame rate: up to 120 Hz
  • Gaze accuracy: approximately 0.6° visual angle under controlled conditions
  • System latency: low-latency real-time streaming supported
  • Weight: significantly below traditional head-mounted systems (headset-only)

Exact specifications depend on configuration and firmware.

Data Acquisition and Storage

  • Recording modes:
  • Live streaming
  • On-device recording
  • Time-synchronized streams:
  • Eye data
  • Scene video
  • IMU data
  • Data export supported for offline analysis

Software

Pupil Neon integrates with Pupil Labs software for acquisition and analysis:

  • Real-time visualization of gaze and pupil data
  • Recording management and data export
  • Support for synchronized multimodal experiments

Supported platforms include mobile and desktop environments, depending on setup.

Synchronization and Integration

Pupil Neon supports synchronization with external systems through:

  • Lab Streaming Layer (LSL)
  • Network-based data streaming

This allows integration with EEG, fNIRS, motion capture, physiological sensors, and behavioral task software.

Typical Applications

  • Human–computer interaction studies
  • Usability and user experience research
  • Mobile and field-based gaze studies
  • Behavioral and cognitive experiments
  • Multimodal neuroscience research

More Information

Technical specifications and hardware details:
https://pupil-labs.com/products/neon/specs

Manufacturer: Pupil Labs GmbH, Berlin, Germany

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