The Horn is an optional item that extends the ultrasound range of a beacon from 30m to 100-120 meters in a single submap depending on the external noise conditions.
The Horn is recommended for 1D indoor positioning systems covering long corridors, tunnels, bridges, elevators, and similar. The extended ultrasound range of the Horn allows for reducing the number of beacons by a factor of 3-4.
The Horn can be used with Super-Beacons and Super-Beacons-Outdoor directly – without the need for any soldering – by clipping a separate 4×4 board on the horn to the 4×4 pins on the Super-Beacons
With Mini-RX, soldering is required. See the Operating Manual for more details.
Industrial Super-Beacons, Industrial-RX, and Mini-RX-Outdoor with Horns are produced on request.
The Horn is designed for:
- Indoor and outdoor usage (IP67-protected)
- Tracking multiple objects in 1D – distance measurements – simultaneously
- For construction sites, tunnels, mines
- Particularly good as an alternative for:
- Laser distance meters:
- Works in fog and dust
- Works with bright sun
- Very easy to attach a mobile beacon and track that particular point
- RTK GPS
- Works indoors, under bridges and underground and similar GNSS-denied areas
- Far less expensive than RTK GPS
- Laser distance meters:
The 4×4 board of the Horn is similar to the 4×4 board of the Omni-Microphone:
The Horn consists of a plastic horn with an embedded external microphone. The microphone is connected to receiving beacon via a flexible 1.6mm cable. The cable has easy-to-connect to a Super-Beacon 4×4 connector.
Typical configurations for the distance measurements or 1D tracking:
- Super-Beacon or Super-Beacon-Outdoor as a transmitter (a mobile beacon or a tag) + Super-Beacon or Super-Beacon-Outdoor as a receiver with a Horn + Modem HW v5.1 as a controller
- Industrial Super-Beacon or Industrial-TX as a transmitter (a mobile beacon or a tag) + Industrial Super-Beacon or Industrial-RX as a receiver with a Horn + Super-Modem as a controller
Many other combinations of RX and TX beacons are possible.
Recommended ultrasonic frequencies for the TX beacon are 19-25kHz because lower frequencies have lower losses over a large distance. The range decreases with higher frequency. At the same time, the external noise increases with lower frequency. The optimal is 19kHz for the largest range or 25kHz and more when you have a noisy environment.
