How to deploy indoor positioning system?
We provide full support for your indoor positioning and navigation projects from a design of a concept and discussion of key requirements to the detailed network planning and full remote network deployment.
We ask initial basic questions about your needs
When you decided that you need a precise indoor positioning and navigation system for your business needs, we ask you a set of basic questions in order to identify what architecture or what products/starter sets will suit you the best.
That is a preliminary network planning phase. See the questionnaire in details: https://marvelmind.com/indoor_positioning_system_planning.
You reply with answers to our questionnaire
It is usually sufficient to answer with a few words or a couple of sentences at this stage. It is not a full-blown RFI or something. We simply need to better understand what your project is about; your area; your type of mobile objects to track; your KPIs, constrains, and targets to achieve.
We offer a budgetary proposal for your potential project
Based on your answers to our questionnaire, we propose the most optimal solution for your particular needs. Every projects is unique; requirements and constrains are slightly different. Thus, we tune our proposal to each case.
Some typical recommendations for the most typical cases you can find here:
- Robots: https://marvelmind.com/robots
- Drones: https://marvelmind.com/drones
- Vehicles/forklifts: https://marvelmind.com/vehicles
- People: https://marvelmind.com/people
- UWB: https://marvelmind.com/uwb
Based on our budgetary proposal you make a decision whether the solution looks attractive to you from technical and commercial points of view and move to the next step.
You order a starter set and make basic tests (PoC)
Before deep engagement in a large-scale deployment we recommend a starter set for you. It can be a typical starter set from our Products page or it can be a custom-build set for your particular needs and requirements. Usually, it comprises of available beacons and modem.
But we can also develop a special SW feature for you or even a new HW variant. Many products appeared as a direct customer request, first, and then they we offered to other customers, for example: Robot v100, Marvelmind Belt, Marvelmind Horn.
When you get your set, follow our Operating Manual, Placement Manual and the Help page and test the system, familiarize yourself with it or even integrate with your system (robot, drone, WMS, etc.).
You give a green-light for the full-size project
After the thorough testing of our system and already having the preliminary budgetary proposal, you tune your requirements to the full-size project with much better understanding of your real needs, real capabilities and limitations of our system. You send the new requirements to us.
Our additional clarifications questions are very similar to those that you have answered earlier (https://marvelmind.com/indoor_positioning_system_planning), but they are more detailed. Likely, we will need a very detailed videos/photos of your indoor locations that we need to cover like if we were there in person. We will have to estimate the complexity to the last beacon and be ready to the detailed network planning.
We don’t do the full network planning at this stage yet, because requires plenty of efforts, but we do very closely estimate the complexity of the task and requirements and discuss the preliminary but detailed solution with you. Often, there is a need for trade-offs, for example, coverage confidence vs. the number of beacons (costs) or complexity vs. location updates.
We interactively work on the requirements with you until potential solution address your needs and all trade-offs are discussed and taken into account.
We provide a detailed offer
In the detailed offer we quote for all required equipment, software and most importantly the Network Planning and the Full Remote Network Deployment.
The Network Planning and the Full Remote Network Deployment already has enough details for the quotation. But after the real projects starts and even more detailed inputs are provide by you, the real final amount of equipment may change. Usually, it is ±10-30% or less, but it totally depends on the newly provided details. We have have had all possible cases: when there fewer pieces of equipment needed at the end; more equipment needed; and when we had to adjust the plan significantly, because an integrator installed the equipment (beacons) not according to the initial plan. Luckily, the system allowed the stretch with that particular setup, but those kind of cases must be avoided.
You confirm and make payment
With our quotation in hands, you make all necessarily internal approvals. If needed, we sign a contract with you. While, usually, a more simple and straightforward approach with a invoice with all key details described in the notes works faster and better.
After completing all formalities, you make a payment and we immediately engage in the project based on the agreed schedule. We start with the detailed Network Planning, because it is a key for everything else.
We do a detailed Network Plan
The Network Planning is a service that we do remotely based on your requirements and inputs. It includes:
- An exact calculations of the number of stationary beacons and mobile beacons requirement; the number of modems
- SW and additional features (if any)
- Exact locations of the beacons inside your premises (down to ±0.5m – typical length of a power cable)
- Frequency allocation for each beacon
- All submaps
- All service zones and resulting handover zones
- TDMA slots for each submap
As a result of the Network Planning, the system is ready for the Full Remote Network Deployment.
We do a Full Remote Network Deployment together with you
Full Remote Network Deployment:
- Based on the Network Planning, you get the required equipment and SW on site
- You or your local integrator/subcontractor physically installs the beacons on site by following the results of the Network Planning. We can recommend integrators in some markets, if you need
- After the physical installation, you grant us a remote access via TeamViewer or via a similar application to your computer running the Marvelmind Dashboard and we continue deployment of the network remotely
- We will need your help on site to tune location and direction of some stationary beacons – confirm their line of sight, shifting or rotating them in order to obtain that, if needed. And then we need one-two of your staff to perform walk-tests between the submaps and service zones
- We do this together until the full network is ready. It could be a few days or a few weeks, depending on the complexity of your case
- At the end, we hand over the network to you. Everything is done.
After that, you can run the network fully by your own or you can subscribe to our remote maintenance service. We will monitor the network for you and warn and even fix remotely when some abnormalities are detected.