The presently described technology provides a method for simultaneously employing two or more coil architectures in an electromagnetic tracking system. The method includes providing a transmitter that includes three single-coil transmitters, one or more receivers each including three single-coil receivers, and a receiver array that includes a plurality of single-coil receivers; tracking one or more of the single-coil transmitters of the transmitter with respect to the receiver array; and simultaneously tracking one or more of the receivers with respect to the transmitter.