Description

The Super-Beacon is the most versatile, easy-to-use, and recommended beacon for Marvelmind precise indoor positioning and navigation system, particularly when starting with the Marvelmind Indoor “GPS” system.

The system is used for autonomous robots, forklifts, drones, and people, as well as for industrial applications requiring precise positioning and localization indoors.

See detailed specifications for the Super-Beacon.

The beacon can also be used for precise distance measurement of up to 50m (1D) or up to 120m (1D) with Marvelmind Horn.

Super-Beacon is a dual-use beacon – it can both receive and transmit ultrasonic pulses.

It can work both as stationary and as mobile.

The Super-Beacon Beacon can be used in Non-Inverse Architecture (NIA), Multi-Frequency NIA (MF NIA), and Inverse Architecture (IA): Architecture comparison.


Ultrasound frequency selection:

If you want to get additional Super-Beacons to your Starter Set Super-MP, get as many different ultrasound frequencies as available. It will give the maximum flexibility for your configurations in IA, MF NIA, and even NIA.

Read more about the ultrasound frequency selection.
 

SW:

All essential SW, as well as Marvelmind Dashboard API, are already included in the price. Just download the Marvelmind SW pack.


Radio:

The Super-Beacon supports a license-free 915MHz ISM band (for example, US, Japan, Korea) and a license-free SRD band 868MHz (for example, EU, Russia). Support of the 433MHz ISM band (EU) comes with a larger order.


IMU:

All Super-Beacons have 6D IMU (3D gyro + 3D accelerometer) onboard.


Comparison with other beacons:

The Super-Beacon is improved and in an all-the-way superior version of the Beacon HW v4.9:

  • The Super-Beacon has a separate receiving part with a single wide-beam microphone and sharp DSP filters (like Mini-RX, Industrial-RX, or Industrial Super-Beacons have). Thus, it is more sensitive than Beacon HW v4.9; more resistant to external noise, and easier to set up because you don’t have to care about turning on and off ultrasonic sensors to optimize coverage vs. sensitivity
  • The Super-Beacon can receive any ultrasonic frequency from the bands: 19kHz, 22kHz, 25kHz, 28kHz, 31kHz, 34kHz, 37kHz, and 45kHz. The filter can be selected in the Dashboard. At the same time, the ultrasonic frequency of Beacon HW v4.9 is HW-defined by ultrasonic sensors and can’t be changed
  • The Super-Beacon can receive several ultrasonic frequencies at once. That is used in the Inverse Architecture (IA) and the Multi-Frequency NIA Architecture (MF NIA). See the architecture comparison
  • The Super-Beacon has several-times improved battery lifetime in TX mode as compared with Beacon HW v4.9
  • The Super-Beacon can work with regular Beacons HW v4.9 and Mini-RX and Industrial-RX in any combination as a part of a Starter Set or a part of navigation systems. In all cases, the beacons shall use the same radio band

The Super-Beacons have superseded the Beacon HW v4.9, which have already been discontinued.

Distance between beacons

  • Reaches up to 50 meters in lab conditions
  • Recommended distance is up to 30 meters (RX4 to RX4)
  • Range of stable tracking of Super-Beacon + Super-Beacon is 20-50% bigger, than the range of Beacon HW v4.9 + Beacon HW v4.9 in the same conditions

Coverage area

  • Reaches up to 1000 m2 with the Starter Set configurations
  • Coverage for larger territories is similar to cellular networks

Location precision

  • Absolute: 1–3% of the distance to the beacons
  • Differential precision: ±2 cm
  • Differential precision is on par or better than in the Beacon HW v4.9, partially, because the sensor is a point – not as spread sensors of HW v4.9; and, partially, because of higher processing power and more advanced algorithms of the Super-Beacon

Location update rate

Non-Inverse Architecture:

  • 0.05–25Hz
  • Can be set manually or in automatic mode
  • Depends on the distance between the mobile and stationary beacons (shorter distance — higher update rate)
  • Depends on the number of mobile beacons: for example, update rate of 25Hz for 1 mobile beacon will result in update rate of 25Hz/2 for 2 mobile beacons, and 25Hz/3 – for 3 mobile beacons, etc. – TDMA approach
  • Depends on the radio interface profile (500kbps vs. 38kbps)

  Inverse Architecture:

  • 0.05–25Hz. Future SW releases are planned to support IMU fusion that will  enabled update rate of up to 100Hz
  • Can be set manually or in automatic mode
  • Depends on the distance between the mobile and stationary beacons (shorter distance — higher update rate)
  • Doesn’t directly depend on the number of mobile beacons – all of them are receiving
  • Depends on the radio interface profile (500kbps vs. 38kbps)

Power supply and battery lifetime

Internal:

  • LiPol battery 1000mAh
  • Battery lifetime totally depends on usage
  • Receiving beacon mode with 8Hz update rate and 10m-submaps => up to 30h
  • Transmitting beacon with 1/10Hz update rate => several months
  • Future power saving features may increase battery life to 1year and more (with very slow update rate or location update on demand)

External:

  • microUSB – recommended for permanent use

Weight

  • 59 grams (including 1000mAh battery, housing and 50-mm antenna)
  • 27 grams (bare board w/o battery)

Size

55x55x33 mm (with 50mm antenna: 55x55x65mm)

Description

The Super-Beacon is the most versatile, easy-to-use, and recommended beacon for Marvelmind precise indoor positioning and navigation system, particularly when starting with the Marvelmind Indoor “GPS” system.

The system is used for autonomous robots, forklifts, drones, and people, as well as for industrial applications requiring precise positioning and localization indoors.

See detailed specifications for the Super-Beacon.

The beacon can also be used for precise distance measurement of up to 50m (1D) or up to 120m (1D) with Marvelmind Horn.

Super-Beacon is a dual-use beacon – it can both receive and transmit ultrasonic pulses.

It can work both as stationary and as mobile.

The Super-Beacon Beacon can be used in Non-Inverse Architecture (NIA), Multi-Frequency NIA (MF NIA), and Inverse Architecture (IA): Architecture comparison.


Ultrasound frequency selection:

If you want to get additional Super-Beacons to your Starter Set Super-MP, get as many different ultrasound frequencies as available. It will give the maximum flexibility for your configurations in IA, MF NIA, and even NIA.

Read more about the ultrasound frequency selection.
 

SW:

All essential SW, as well as Marvelmind Dashboard API, are already included in the price. Just download the Marvelmind SW pack.


Radio:

The Super-Beacon supports a license-free 915MHz ISM band (for example, US, Japan, Korea) and a license-free SRD band 868MHz (for example, EU, Russia). Support of the 433MHz ISM band (EU) comes with a larger order.


IMU:

All Super-Beacons have 6D IMU (3D gyro + 3D accelerometer) onboard.


Comparison with other beacons:

The Super-Beacon is improved and in an all-the-way superior version of the Beacon HW v4.9:

  • The Super-Beacon has a separate receiving part with a single wide-beam microphone and sharp DSP filters (like Mini-RX, Industrial-RX, or Industrial Super-Beacons have). Thus, it is more sensitive than Beacon HW v4.9; more resistant to external noise, and easier to set up because you don’t have to care about turning on and off ultrasonic sensors to optimize coverage vs. sensitivity
  • The Super-Beacon can receive any ultrasonic frequency from the bands: 19kHz, 22kHz, 25kHz, 28kHz, 31kHz, 34kHz, 37kHz, and 45kHz. The filter can be selected in the Dashboard. At the same time, the ultrasonic frequency of Beacon HW v4.9 is HW-defined by ultrasonic sensors and can’t be changed
  • The Super-Beacon can receive several ultrasonic frequencies at once. That is used in the Inverse Architecture (IA) and the Multi-Frequency NIA Architecture (MF NIA). See the architecture comparison
  • The Super-Beacon has several-times improved battery lifetime in TX mode as compared with Beacon HW v4.9
  • The Super-Beacon can work with regular Beacons HW v4.9 and Mini-RX and Industrial-RX in any combination as a part of a Starter Set or a part of navigation systems. In all cases, the beacons shall use the same radio band

The Super-Beacons have superseded the Beacon HW v4.9, which have already been discontinued.

Additional information

Weight 0.025 kg
Dimensions 4.7 × 4.2 × 1.5 cm
Ultrasonic_frequency

19kHz, 22kHz, 25kHz, 28kHz, 31kHz, 34kHz, 37kHz, 45kHz

Questions and Answers


Gabriel
2 years 8 months ago

Hello, I have some 915/868 HW v4.9 beacons. I would like to know what frequency of Super-Beacon I should choose.

2 years 8 months ago

If you already have 915/868MHz Beacons HW v4.9, then you certainly need to get Super-Beacons for the same band – 915/868MHz.

In regards to the ultrasonic frequencies, the answer is less straightforward.
– First of all, you need to check what ultrasonic frequency your existing beacons have
– Then, you need to choose between IA, NIA and MF NIA: https://marvelmind.com/pics/architectures_comparison.pdf => For IA, you need different ultrasonic frequencies. For NIA – the same. MF NIA is somewhat in the middle.

Hal
2 years 7 months ago

Do the Super-Beacons support the 100hz imu fusion supported by the v4.9-IMU beacons? If they don’t and will in the future, can you provide a timeline.

2 years 7 months ago

Unfortunately, they are not supported today. We hope to enable the functionality in the future, but no firm date exists.