Starter Set NIA-SmallDrone is designed for tracking mini- and micro-drones (under 100g) indoor. It is suitable for larger and autonomous drones as well.
However, if you want to use with PixHawk, we recommend to use Starter Set Super-MP. Super-Beacons are much easier to connect with PixHawk – there are ready to connect pins available. Whereas, with Mini-TX you need either fine soldering or an external USB to UART converter, which makes it easier to use Super-Beacon in the first hand.
Content:
- 4 x Super-Beacons 915/868 MHz as stationary beacons
- 1 x Beacon Mini-TX 915/868 MHz as mobile beacon – for event lighter version, we recommend to remove the housing and replace the original battery with a light 100mAh battery. The minimum weight that we achieved was 8.7g
- 1 x Modem v5.1 915/868 MHz
The set is suitable for different use cases, but, most of all, it is designed for precise (±2cm) indoor tracking of small and light drones (under 100g) in area of up to 400-500 m2. Of course, it would work with heavier drones as well.
Demos:
- Micro-drone tracking with Real-time Player enabled
- Micro-drone tracking with Real-time Player disabled
Further expansion:
- For more area coverage – by adding more stationary Super-Beacons
- For more drones – by adding more mobile beacons Mini-TX
Marvelmind Indoor Navigation System is an off-the-shelf indoor navigation system designed to provide precise (±2cm) location data to autonomous robots, vehicles (AGV), drones and forklifts. It can also be used to track other objects that the mobile beacon is installed upon, for example, virtual reality (VR) systems, helmets for construction workers or miners, jackets, etc.
The navigation system is based on stationary ultrasonic beacons that are united by radio interface in a license-free band (915MHz). The location of the mobile beacon is calculated based on the propagation delay of an ultrasonic signal (Time-Of-Flight or TOF) to a set of stationary ultrasonic beacons using trilateration.
Key requirements for the system to function properly:
- For 3D (X, Y, Z) tracking – An unobstructed line of hearing/sight by a mobile beacon to three or more stationary beacons simultaneously
- Distance to the nearest 3 beacons – not more than 20 meters (recommended). In good conditions – up to 30 meters – for Mini-TX & Super-Beacon combination
