>>369598327
>I originally thought they were basically cameras, that saw my room, and tracked the position of the controllers/headset. 
no, that's how the original Oculus Rift worked. That's why the Oculus sensors need to be plugged into your PC with USB. The Vive/Index work the other way around. The headset sees the base stations, the base stations don't "see" the headset.

Basically, the base stations/lighthouses are called "lighthouses" because they do actually supposedly send a rotating light "beacon" through your room. This light is invisible to you, but your headset sensors pick it up and can use it to tell where you are.

The base stations are basically just dumb boxes that shoot light into your room. That's all there is to it. That's why they only need power, not a USB connection. Your headset simply "sees" the light and transmits that info to your PC.