>>280197492
no, not at all you only need one hive tracker with around 4 photo-diode sensors is enough.
They proved this multiple times. It has bluetooth, radio, batteries, all that stuff. They don't care about us though, they care about tracking rats and other things in a lab (literally), which was the reason they made it.
>>280197521
it's not consumer, open source. But they just show up as steamvr tracked devices like everything else, so you could use them today if you wanted, controller remapping "left foot" "hip" etc. You would have to fiddle with the source a little.
They actually have a pretty great driver to base your shit on if you're looking to make your own steamvr tracked object.
https://hivetracker.github.io/files/AH18-HiveTracker.pdf
https://hivetracker.github.io/files/animation.gif