How the Marvelmind Indoor Positioning System Works

Marvelmind RTLS is a high-precision indoor positioning system based on
ultrasound Time-of-Flight trilateration using mobile beacons,
stationary beacons, synchronized timing, and advanced filtering.
The system provides reliable accuracy even in harsh industrial environments.

Below is a clear, engineering-level explanation of how beacons communicate,
how distances are measured, how coordinates are computed,
and how the system maintains stability in noisy, metallic, or complex indoor spaces.

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Marvelmind RTLS integrates mobile beacons, stationary beacons, modems, and software
into a complete indoor “GPS”. Download the full architecture overview as
PDF.

1. Core Principle: Time-of-Flight Ultrasound

Marvelmind measures ultrasound Time-of-Flight (ToF) between mobile and stationary beacons.
Distances are solved by trilateration — similar to GNSS, but indoors and with far higher precision.

Ultrasound travels slowly (≈340 m/s), giving extremely high timing resolution.
This is why Marvelmind achieves ±2 cm accuracy where radio-based technologies struggle.

More on timing & update rates:
Latency & Update Rate.

4. Synchronized Timing: The Key to Accuracy

All beacons share the same precise clock through the modem.
This removes drift, eliminates timestamp offsets, and ensures stable centimeter-level accuracy.

Modem details: Marvelmind Super-Modem.

5. Robust in Metallic & Noisy Environments

Ultrasound operates outside the crowded RF spectrum, making it immune to Wi-Fi, BLE, LTE, and UWB interference.
This results in more predictable and stable accuracy in factories and warehouses.

Details: RF Noise & Interference Guide.