Paired Beacons: a step-by-step guide
One more time on the importance of the step-by-step approach
We have discussed the step-by-step approach and the Paired Beacons configurations a few times already:
- Operating Manual – Paired Beacons (FN0005) chapter
- Step-by-step approach and its importance to success
- Eight essential steps from unpacking to autonomous drive/flight
- Help: PixHawk + PX4 + Paired Beacons for Location + Direction instead of magnetometers
- SW feature demo: paired beacons – location + direction
- Demo: Precise (±2cm) Location + Direction Indoor
However, it looks like we need to address it again 🙂
Basic steps
The key to success is to go in small steps and confirm the functionality on each step. It is the fastest and most reliable approach.
- Verify each atomic step first:
- Achieve a good basic 2D tracking of a mobile beacon on your tripod – not yet on your mobile device (drone/robot/etc.). Mind the blocking of the line of sight between the serving stationary beacons and the mobile by your own body. Remember the most critical requirement: Line of sight is a must for precise indoor positioning systems
- Make sure that there is no left/right inversion and when you move left, the mobile beacon in the Dashboard moves left. Rebuild the map or flip the settings in the Dashboard if you have the inversion
- Confirm that the left mobile beacon is tracked perfectly. The right one must be off
- Confirm that the right mobile beacon tracked perfectly. The left one must be off
- Achieve perfect tracking of both of them simultaneously, but not yet in the paired mode. It is an essential step since many users jump directly to pairing, i.e., jumping over several steps and leaving a lot of room for mistakes
- Pair the beacons and confirm the perfect tracking with the direction
- Potential mistakes/difficulties:
- Not verifying each mobile beacon’s tracking separately, and both together in the unpaired mode
- Not verifying that physical movement on the left leads to the movement on the left on the Dashboard. The same for the right, obviously 🙂 – i.e., you may have the left-right map inversion. Rebuild the map properly. Swap the stationary beacons, if easier
- The same type of swap problem but up-down. Check where are your stationary beacons according to the Dashboard – below the mobile beacons or above the mobile beacons?
- The distance between the centers of the beacons isn’t set right
- Master/slave beacons are mixed up
- Improper connection of wires between the mobile beacons
- Forgetting the ground connection between the mobile beacons
- Wrong baudrate or other UART settings
- The distance between the mobile beacons is too small – it must be 20 cm or more. The larger the distance, the better angular accuracy of the Paired Beacons