Downloads

• It is a major new SW release that brings many new SW features, improvements, and bug fixes

• Sending user payload from your central system (computer) via the modem via the mobile beacon to your mobile device (robot, drone, etc.) with each location update. Also, sending the user payload from your mobile device (robot, drone, etc.) via the mobile beacon via the modem to your central system (computer)
• “Location update rate boost”: the feature increases the location update rate by 25-100% by freeing time slots that are generally allocated to advanced telemetry, data transfers, commands. Enabled by the optional SW license MMSW0012
• “Virtual pen” – an optional SW feature that allows using a mobile beacon as a virtual pen and drawing/not drawing/wiping in real-time on the virtual screen, for example, a projector. The functionality can be used for presentations, exhibitions, and shows. Enabled by the optional SW license MMSW0013. The future development of the feature will allow using the mobile beacon as a computer mouse
• Now, the default settings, for example, radio profiles, are not stored in the firmware but in separate files that can be edited. This offers great flexibility to meet the certification requirements of different countries and the requirements of specific projects. It is possible to edit the files manually and set your own default settings for nearly any important parameter, for example, radio or ultrasound settings

• Control of the Super-Modem via API over UDP over WiFi instead of USB. Enabled by the optional SW license MMSW0014
• Snap to grid feature when drag and drop stationary beacons on the map
• Set beacon to (0,0,0) feature – choose by the right mouse click on the beacon – in the beacon’s context menu and the map’s context menu 

• Specially dedicated buttons to Mirror Submap and Mirror Service Zone
• Option not to stream out location data in the streaming if the data quality is below a set threshold. Also, an option not to show location update dots in the Dashboard, if the quality of the location measurement is below another threshold

• New feature: IMU+Ultrasound post-processing sensor fusion for location is introduced. Read more
• New feature: Support for a new SW feature: MMSW0007: Submap islands
• New feature: Support for a new SW feature: MMSW0008: All hedgehogs’ location update in every cycle
• New feature: the timestamp between all devices is now fully synchronized and linked to the time of the modem. If the modem is connected to the Dashboard, the modem’s time is synchronized with the time of the computer that runs the Dashboard. The new streaming format is not backward compatible. But there is a tick that can return the compatibility, but it will lose the new feature: Dashboard => Interface => “Stream real-time timestamps”
• New feature: it is possible to set a static address of the Super-Modem now
• Linux x86 is also supported in Ubuntu 20.04 now

• Optional SW features brought by MMSW0005 are now marked with L at the end of the release name. For example, v7.200 – only base SW features are enabled – by default. Purchasing the MMSW0005 license activates optional features and the SW version changes to v7.200L
• Naming example IA vs. NIA: v7.200 and v7.200L – SW for NIA and MF NIA, v7.200i and v7.200Li – SW for IA
• If some beacons/modems don’t have the MMSW0005 license, their addresses are listed in the upper part of the Dashboard – information window

• The SW files for beacons/modems that don’t require an update with the new release won’t be replaced with the new files in the new SW pack. However, the Dashboard will assign the new version number to them based on the newly introduced SW version compatibility table. Thus, the files physically remain the same, but if they are compatible with the latest SW pack, the Dashboard will automatically substitute their older SW version number with the latest SW version number
• It is done to detect and avoid the most common mistake by the users – an attempt to run incompatible SW versions of beacons, modem, or Dashboard obtained from different SW packs, i.e., not updating the beacons/modems to the latest SW version from the same SW pack upon getting the equipment from Marvelmind Robotics

Minor SW release v7.080 (14.Jun.2022):

• New feature: Support of 8 ultrasound frequencies in MF NIA – particularly important for multiple drones and other systems with multiple
  mobile beacons, when IA is not feasible, for example, because of excessive noise near the mobile beacons
• New feature: Geofencing zone violation. Instead of reading the stream of location data in the protocol, it is now possible to have just a pin from the 4X4 pins be automatically switched to “0” or “1” every time reset when the geofencing zone rules are violated. Thus, it simplifies the interfacing. This is an option SW feature under license: MMSW0006
• New feature: It is now possible to have 3D geofencing zones. XY – based on the shape of the zone. Z – heights range – a layer thickness
• New feature: An option for highly-resilient industrial applications – an automatic self-reset of beacons in case of the absence of the modem’s radio signal, when the radio from the modem is supposed to be available, but the beacon doesn’t get it for some reason. It shall help the beacons to re-assign themselves to the radio traffic from the modem
• New feature: Support of new hardware: Industrial Super-Beacons-3 (Industrial-RX-3, Industrial-TX-3)

• Improved: New default radio profile 100kbps instead of the former 38kbps and 153kbps. 100kbps allows us to have a common radio profile for the most extensive variety or radio chips and different batches of beacons/modems we supply, thus simplifying the settings in complex maps consisting of multiple hardware variants. Supported by all devices except for Beacons HW v4.9-433MHz and Modem HW v4.9-433MHz
• Improved: PPS (timing) signal from Super-Beacons in NIA
• Improved:  M1/M2 mode (“oranges”) – to easy building handover zones and to matching localization from neighboring submaps
• Improved: internal control of maps in IA based on multiple parameters – not only based on the number of beacons and submaps as before
• Improved: Optimized DSP filters in IA. The update rate is enhanced by 10-20% as compared with the previous SW release
• Improved: Greatly improved timings in IA and NIA. Stricter control over timings in complex maps
• Improved: In NIA, the mobile beacons that are not tracked are disappearing from the map, like it was earlier already implemented in IA, i.e., in order not to give false information about the current location, when location is not determined anymore
• Improved: Beacons and Modems with default settings are displayed with the “-d” suffix now – to highlight the importance of default settings for beginners and simplify debugging when wrong settings are used in the system. Applied to all beacons except for mature Beacons HW v4.9
• Improved: If the location of a mobile beacon is not determined, there still will be a stream of data, but the fields will carry a “not measured” mark with each time reset
• Improved: Measurements of battery voltages in beacons
• Improved: Temperature settings now affect on calculations in IA as well. Previously – only in NIA
• Improved: Dashboard interface improvements, particularly, related to working robots: path settings, manual control, robot selection, etc.
• Improved: The paired beacons in NIA are shown in the Dashboard based on IMU – not based on ultrasound. It gives for more stable angle of direction

• Bug fix: Fixed handovers in NIA. With larger number of submaps there could be handover issues
• Improved: Beacons and Modems with default settings are displayed with “-d” suffix now – to highlight important of default settings for the beginners and to simplify debugging, when wrong settings are used in the system. Applied to all beacons except for mature Beacons HW v4.9
• Bug fix: Fixed issues with submaps in NIA with Beacons HW v4.9 and Modem v5.1
• Bug fix: Fixed issues with the embedded Oscilloscope with Beacons HW v4.9 in IA

• Minor SW release v7.040 (20.Feb.2022):

• Minor SW release v7.030:

It is a major SW release: Marvelmind SW pack v7.000/v7.100.

Super-Modem only: SD-card image and HEX file for Super-Modem

Release notes: https://marvelmind.com/pics/marvelmind_SW_v7.000_v7.100_release_notes.pdf

• • Improvement and update SW release: Marvelmind SW pack v6.240a

• • New features:

    • New hardware (HW) for Super-Beacons is supported. We have two types of Super-Beacons: Super-Beacon (produced until Dec.2020) and Super-Beacon-2 (starting from Jan.2021).
      • Super-Beacon-2 has MIC/TELEC certification for Japan. Super-Beacon didn’t have it and won’t have it. From the SW point of view and the main functionality point of view the Super-Beacons are equal. There are additional improvements with optional external microphones and some differences in 4×4 pinout. See more in the Operating Manual
      • Both types of Super-Beacon HW are tested and supported now and in the foreseeable future
    • Similarly to Super-Beacons, new hardware (HW) for Super-Modems is supported. We have two types of Super-Modems: Super-Modem (produced until Nov.2020) and Super-Modem-2 (starting from Dec.2020).
      • The Super-Modem SW is the same for both versions and the HW is detected automatically. You can see the type of your HW in the Dashboard, when the modem is USB connected
      • Both types of Super-Modem HW are supported now and in the foreseeable future. Only the latest Super-Modem-2 HW has been thoroughly tested in this release. The older HW will be tested in the coming weeks. The probability that is already well supported is very high
    • Supported option CAN interface for Industrial Super-Beacon, Industrial-RX and Industrial-TX. CAN interface with other interfaces are described in detail
    •  Dashboard:
      • Possibility to assign own icons instead of hedgehog’s default icon
      • Enhanced and enriched interface of Robot v100
      • Possibility to draw a floorplan directly in the Dashboard

• • Improvements:

    • Dashboard
      • Realtime Player in NIA mode with low location update rate improved

• • Known issues (to be confirmed soon in this release):

    • Verification tests of the SW release with Super-Modem HW are still to be done

• • New major SW release: Marvelmind SW pack v6.240
  • Please, notice that Super-Modem SW is still being prepared. Thus, if your system is using Super-Modem, use the previous SW pack

• • New features:

    • New Modem v5.1 is supported
    • MF NIA is supported and fully commercially available. MF NIA is particularly great for multiple drones and multiple noisy mobile objects when location update per mobile beacons is important. MF NIA allows to have up to 5 times higher update rate than NIA in the configurations with 5 or more mobile objects. See more:
      • Architectures comparison – basic explanation of Non-Inverse and Inverse architectures, their use cases and differences between them
      • https://youtu.be/5DGJeRrO3r4
      • MMSW0004: MF NIA support
    • MMSW0002: Heading packet GPHDT for NMEA0183 introduced
    • MMSW0003: UBX (u-blox) protocol for PX4
      • Great feature for fully autonomous flight with PixHawk & PX4
      • Supports the Paired Beacons instead of u-blox thus resolving one of the most critical issue for the indoor flight – direction, when compass doesn’t work
      • Check out the Drones page
    • It is not necessarily now to make a filter selection for Super-Beacons, Mini-RXs, and Industrial-RX/Industrial Super-Beacons. The system is handling this information automatically
    • A new parameter in IA: “Max. hedges readout per cycle”. Update rate per mobile beacon/hedgehog doesn’t directly depend on the number of mobile beacons, because they calculate their location independently from the modem and at the same time. However, if you want to track all those hedges in the Dashboard and there are many hedges at once, the radio bandwidth may be become a bottleneck. Thus, this parameter helps to define the optimal number of hedges that share their location with the modem at once. For example, if you have 60 mobile beacons, you can choose all 60 to be sending their location to the modem with each location update. Even though, they could have 8-10Hz location update per mobile beacon, 60 messages per location update create high radio traffic load and lead to the reduction of the update rate to every beacon. Thus, the real location update rate may reduce to 1-3Hz instead of 8-10Hz – depending on the chosen radio profile. However, if you choose, 10 hedges to be updated at once, then you will still have your 8-10Hz per beacon, but on the modem side, you will see your hedge with 8Hz/60*10 location update, i.e. 1/6 of the real location update on the hedges’ side.
    • Stereo microphone support enabled. External stereo microphones are very useful and very powerful when it is needed to provide the highest performance for larger maps consisting of many submaps (warehouses, for example), or the stationary beacons are close to the horizon and the embedded microphone in Super-Beacon or Mini-RX don’t perform too well anymore. Stereo microphones are used, for example, in Marvelmind Autonomous Delivery Robot v100
    • In the paired beacon configuration, it is now possible to send data between the hedges via UART or via radio and to choose it from the Dashboard
    • Option to never sleep. Before, the beacons would automatically sleep after 1 min, when the connection with the modem lost
    • There is a new flag in IA indicating incorrect positioning detected by the system. Previously – in NIA only
    • New and richer coloring of beacons and buttons in the Dashboard in different modes (sleep, no radio, no ultrasound, etc.)
    • Several new modes in the Dashboard for beacons: with coordinates, without coordinates, small dots
    • New button: Freeze zones. It blocks changes in all kinds of zones (service zones, no-driving zones, etc.) and in the robot path. It is done it prevent accidental changes of the zones after they are created. Use Save map button to create backups for the maps and service zones. Use Save path button to store paths

• • Improvements:

    • In NIA, when the service is selected, there is no anymore an automatic submap size limitation. Previously, it was calculated based on a fixed formula and the size of the submap depended on the distance between stationary beacons. For shorter distances between the beacons, the submap could have been smaller than wanted. Now, there is no such a dependency and the size of the submap is defined by the Limitation of Distance, if a service zone is not defined, or the service zone for the submap, if it is defined. By default – the service zone. But, again, if the service zone is defined. If it is defined, it possible still possible to manually switch to higher limitation of distance and, for example, for 10-m submap, the limitation of distance will be 30m. It will lead to slower update rate, because the system will wait longer for an ultrasound to arrive. But in same cases, it may be interesting and required by the user. So, such an option exist
    • In IA, there is an internal check now that the map and the timing of “hedgehogs” and “owls” are loaded to hedges correctly
    • New warnings and messages in the Dashboard for the end users:
      • When the user tries to activate more than 4 stationary beacons per submap – only up to 4 stationary beacon per submap is supported. For more – build more submaps
      • When the user tries to introduce in a submap in IA stationary beacons with the same ultrasonic frequencies. It is not allowed, because IA submaps must have beacons with different ultrasonic frequencies
      • When only one hedge per cycle is selected in the Paired Beacons configuration – at least, two are required
    • In radio profile, FEC is not disabled for 38kbps and 153kbps. The radio becomes incompatible with the previous SW versions, but we ask to update the SW for all beacons and modem to the latest from the same SW pack anyway. So, the change is unnoticed to a regular user, but brings higher update rate due to shorter radio pulses
    • Updated 500kbps profile to achieve compatibility between Modem v4.9 and Modem v5.1
    • Improved ultrasonic trigger (distance measurement) for Super-Beacons, Mini-RXs, Industrial-RXs, Industrial Super-Beacons
    • Dashboard now shows a message when there is no lock between gyroscope angle and the ultrasonic angle in the Paired Beacons configuration. Used, for example, in the following cases: https://youtu.be/TWWg_8JHYzo and https://youtu.be/E8i_ZE8JXnc.
    • Improved tracking in IA in 2D
    • Log-files of the Dashboard now have extension .CSV instead of previous .log
    • Several robots driving simultaneously are supported in the Dashboard now
    • Default height of the service zone is 10m

• • Bug fixes:

    • When one of the hedges were lost over radio in NIA, another were lost too – fixed
    • RX485 if power save mode with Industrial Super-Beacons didn’t work properly – fixed
    • IMU fusion of angle with power saved enabled didn’t work properly – fixed
    • Simultaneous positioning in two submaps (M2 button in the Dashboard or “oranges”) for defining handover zones in didn’t work well in IA – fixed

• • Known issues (to be fixed in the next releases):

    • The button in the Dashboard defining the axis and the starting beacon – https://youtu.be/MQDg9TmsDA0 – works well only, when the submap is frozen. If it is not, the behavior of the submap/map can be unstable

• • New major SW release: Marvelmind SW pack v6.210 + SD-card image for Super-Modem
  • From now on, the Marvelmind SW will consist of two major parts: 1) Marvelmind SW pack that will include the SW for all beacons and modems; 2) Marvelmind SW for the single-board computer inside the Super-Modem (SD-card image for Super-Modem)

• • New features:

    • Support of up to 120m range in NIA. Works with special horn antenna with external microphone with Super-Beacon and Mini-RX
    • Modem can find too closely placed beacons now. Previously, both devices would be overloaded by RSSI
    • Support of geofencing zones in IA (previously, only in NIA)
    • Inverse and non-inverse geofencing zones (allowing and forbidding zones)
    • “IMU via modem” from beacons are available via radio in the Dashboard now with each location update. Previously – only via USB directly from modem to streaming, but not to the Dashboard
    • Dashboard streams out via UDP the received “IMU via modem” data
    • “IMU via modem” is supported in IA as well
    • All hedges stream our location data of all other hedges in IA now. It was previously supported in NIA only. In both architectures it is possible to turn the functionality off and increase the update rate by saving on the streaming time
    • Now IA supports new types of streaming packets via UART and USB: a) raw distances; b) raw IMU data; c) telemetry data (RSSI, battery voltage; d) quality of positioning. This have been supported in NIA only before. In IA and NIA these packets can be turned on from the Dashboard. By default only streaming of location data is enable
    • New types of devices added: robots and workers. And new layers of buttons in the Dashboard added to each of the new types
    • Player is now split into two parts: a) Player window, b) Statistics/Analytics window. Statistics/Analytics windows are customer specific and customized by request
    • Dashboard warns users that switched the Dashboard into streaming-only mode when they try to change settings in the beacons, because they can’t in this mode

• • New API features:

    • Function of read/write of configuration memory of the modem (settings and the map)
    • Function of angle received from the Paired Beacons feature
    • Function of manual entry of coordinates of stationary beacons
    • Function of read/write air temperature (as a parameter for speed of sound calculation)

• • Improvements:

    • When user starts entering distances in the table of distances manually, the automatic building up of submaps freezes to stop interfering with manual entries
    • LEDs of all beacon blink identically. Previously, for the same mode, different beacons could blink differently
    • Optimized power saving in Super-Beacons, Mini-RX and Industrial-RX and Industrial-RX beacons
    • Default size of submap and IA and NIA is the same now – 30m. Previously, 30m in NIA and 20m in IA
    • More settings are stored in the file of settings created by Save Map button
    • Quality of tracking of Mini-TX with Super-Beacons, Mini-RX and Industrial beacons
    • Dashboard automatically saves maps with any changes of settings and enters the link to the map into the log so that the Player could play log properly and use the right map accordingly

• • Bug fixes:

    • Corrected loading map into the hedges when button Load Map pressed in IA
    • Now the distance in the submap matches the distance in in the embedded oscilloscope in IA
    • Correct height entry of stationary beacons in overlapping submaps. Previously, when one of the heights enters, some other heights could alter

• • Known issues (to be fixed in the next releases):

    • Direction in the Paired Beacons configuration may not work properly with location update rates 1Hz or lower