CEO Q&A: Warehouse RTLS & Robot Navigation | Marvelmind

0:10 Hello colleagues, let's check that I'm heard. Please confirm that you can see, you can hear me, okay? So let's start with the

1:11 presentation. Today we will be talking about indoor GPS, precise indoor GPS. How precise? Plus or minus two centimeter precision for what? Stationary and mobile vehicles, robots, drones, for places and humans. So this is the first webinar of this sort, so bear with us in case there will be glitches. There. The agenda is very basic. Two minutes about the presentation in general, then basics about their indoor GPS for those who don't know yet, their details of the system, then we will be talking about products and some new products intro, and then there will be a question-and-answer session where you can ask over the web and I

2:07 will be able to answer and even show in the dashboard their real life how to turn on something or which off or something. So let's go. Okay, basic problem that we solve is that GPS doesn't work indoors and precision of five to ten meters. That regular GPS gives usually is not enough for there. For the robots, autonomous robots to move from point A to point B. And not only there. Many are the solutions, which is great, which namely are ultra-wideband, Bluetooth, odometry, magnetometers. By Wi-Fi, society. Why certain angulations? Why? There's many. All of them have serious limitations, usually either precision or price. Precise and in one way or another you do need to know location for the

3:03 robot, for the drone, or for people. Our system is a ready-to-use precise indoor navigation system based on ultrasonic beacons united by radio in license-free ISM or short radio device bands. And the control is with the modem and their location is calculated based on trilateration. So this is a very typical starter set that we are offering and probably most of you are familiar. Each of the beacon is $69, the whole set is $399. So this set is coming up to 1,000 square meters in coverage. We choose the modem. Precision. Let's already talk a bit deeper about two types of architectures that we have. I guess you may have questions about them, so please collect these questions

4:01 and I will be answering them all, so live if necessary. So once again, we do have two types of architectures: Non-Inverse Architecture and Inverse Architecture. Known in the circuit. Non-Inverse Architecture is great when you have a noisy drawer or a noisy forklift or when you know the robot, but you have a few of them: one, two, three, four, five, something like that. So it's not particularly about number of beacons or number of robots, but about number of robots and update rate you wish. How the system works: the Mobile beacon or hedgehog, or hatch, which is placed on the robot or drone, is the emitting ultrasound pulses and the radio control of the modem. And overall radio synchronization is done between all the

4:58 beacons with the modem. So in this way, in all architectures, the modem is the most important element of the system because it provides the synchronization. The stationary beacons in this case are Mini-TX beacons. They receive ultrasound pulse but they know when the ultrasound pulse was emitted because all of them are synchronized like GPS satellites to exactly the same time and to exactly the same o'clock. So these are the basics of Non-Inverse Architecture. In Inverse Architecture it is rather opposite. So in Inverse Architecture the stationary beacons are emitting ultrasound and the mobile beacon is receiving. It's far more complex to do than in Non-Inverse Architecture because in this case each mobile beacon must be

5:57 able to receive ultrasonic, different frequencies, different ultrasonic frequencies from. Jump on this case? 19.5 kHz, 25.5 kHz, 30.1 kHz, or let's say 45.531 kHz. So in order to trilaterate and measure position in 3D, at least three frequencies must be heard and direct line-of-sight, or direct line of hearing, must be available. So there are many questions regarding this and let me kind of repeat and repeat, repeat. The system is based on modem. It's the same approach as GPS. This way it has nothing to do with GPS. This technology. But we are using, you know, GPS in quotations because from many perspectives it is very much GPS-like. But instead of satellites you have stationary beacons, and instead of your terminal you have a mobile beacon. But the requirements are the same. So in order for the mobile beacon to determine

6:52 its position, the mobile beacon must hear or see directly the stationary beacons. For 3D, at least three beacons. For 2D, at least two beacons. We usually offer three plus one redundancy because if one of the beacons is blocked the system will still try to recover and still provide you great tracking even if one of the beacons is blocked. Because of redundancy we have some other solutions and I will be talking about today is TDMA, for example. Okay, let's talk about it maybe later, just not to confuse the guys. So once again, two major architectures. In this. And non. Unless you have a special document, and this document is about selection. And let me open the website and probably share with you the website when you get the system where you show

7:49 go in order to familiarize yourself and see their the data. So let me share. So this is the page, downloads page. First of all, of course, check the Operating Manual. And then operating manuals. Basically a pretty detailed document which is describing everything about how to start the system, how the system works, all their details about the dashboard, everything. Then there's a Placement Manual, which is basically guiding you through typical cases: 2D robot, or 3D drone, or people, or multiple submaps. A good starting point for placing your beacons. Then quite many guys are flying, so we have particularly two documents about the drones. So check them out: ArduPilot multicopter settings manual and DJI Naza manual. So. Then there's beacon comparison because

8:48 we have quite many beacons, so it's it's useful to see differences between their pros and cons. And selection guide for those who are ready to buy. So the selection guide between sets. So use it when needed. Then the next slide about particularly use cases. Majority of you'd know them. So it's virtual reality for different kind of industrial and game applications. Absolutely different types of drones, and even more different types of robots: delivery robots, advertising robots, all kinds of robots. But not only so. More and more people are using for real-life applications like tracking mobile assets. So you install them a beacon on your

9:46 Forklift or cart or any mobile assets, and you're able to track it and basically know what they are—as I did—when, why, what was the average speed, maximum speed. It's already everything pre-built. So there is a real-time or there is a player. So let me show the player. Okay, switch it off. So there's a player and this player is able to play back everything which was recorded. And through the player you are able to analyze the log, the basic analysis. But for those who are interested in more detailed analysis: first of all, you can do this by yourself because the CSV file is available. And second, we do additional development for those who are interested.

10:45 Particular analytics based on the raw data, which is stored automatically. CSV file is stored in the Dashboard folder. This way, files store 24 hours and then a new one starts—just not to lose too much data in case of issues. So this is a particular track of a forklift inside a big warehouse. The green dots are our lovely stationary beacons on the ceiling. So this is the floor plan which you can upload just as a basic graphical format. And the blue is the track of the forklift. It could be forklift, it could be robot, it could be a person—basically doesn't matter. What is great: you can build many other things, like geofencing for example on the driving zone. So there are many zones which help to solve your particular—let's say—

11:44 Requirements or issues. Like, I don't want there the driver drives to this area. Oh, I don't want this particular robot to move to this area. So they will be automatic alarms. Oh, it's also possible to make a magic alarm based on this information. This is well for drones and forklifts, but even more for robots. Example: I don't want my robot to drive to this area. Okay, you create a no-driving zone and the robot doesn't go there. So zones are transferred to our system. So you build them in the Dashboard and you send them to our system. And let me repeat: it's indoor GPS. So it's GPS—it's not controller of your robot. So we don't drive your robot; your robot's controller does. But what we do: we provide you precise localization and we are able to send the

12:41 Data like path or zones from the robot, or let's say from the system to the robot. But you can also send the data back like some sensory information, some other data from the robot to the system, which is extremely useful in many cases. So you can monitor your voltages or some other things. It's not high speed—it's several hundred bits per second or maybe a couple of kilobits per second—but still it's far enough for majority of applications. Then, as mentioned: not only robots, drones, but people. So we are already offering a helmet badge based on Mini-RX. And the colleague of mine is currently wearing this. So as soon as we will have questions about them, also something we

13:39 Would be able to show this performance live. Again, for safety and productivity—this is the key. If you know everything about your forklift, even more: you can know about your people, prevent them from doing some terrible things or mistakes in dangerous areas. In industrial applications, all kinds of geofencing and alarms are pre-built and possible, but even more possible with customized development. So this is the demo. Please check our YouTube channel. So you're already on YouTube—that's great. So we try to publish as much as possible. What is the request to the audience: in general, ask us more questions and we would be able to provide particular additional videos, demos, or explanations, help videos on how to do demos again. Send us your feedback and we will be happy to provide even more information. So check our YouTube channel and send us feedback.

14:38 A few words about future development. So currently our system supports single Modem configurations only. So each Modem supports up to 250 beacons, which is enough for very large applications. But in many cases it may not be sufficient. So what are those applications? Now, obviously, when you have more than 250 beacons—by beacons I mean combined stationary and mobile—we don't distinguish them from the small perspective. But even more, Multi-Modem configuration could be required when you have thick walls or high distance, when the Modem is simply not capable to reach. In open space with full-size antenna on 433 megahertz, we measured up to 400 meters. So for example, if you have a Modem, or let's say future Super-Modem, this Super-Modem

15:33 Would be able in open space to talk to beacons up to 400 meters away in one direction and 400 meters away in another direction over radio. In ideal conditions, but never less. It's testable and possible, but very often this is not, especially indoors. So this is why this is a demo of how it will look like in any tunnel or in metro or in underground. So you have a Super-Modem which is covering part of the tunnel. This should cover to another one. So this is upcoming. It will be Super-Modem, each of them covering up to 250. And there is also a Super-Super-Modem, which is basically combining information from all of these Modems into one map. And you see a huge map basically consisting of hundreds and hundreds of beacons as one single map. So we have three layers: submap, map, and super-map. In Super-Super-Modem, this is

16:33 Coming again. But be cautious about timing. We put effort for this. We will be happily publishing it. It's now in development. So just to give you a hint: when you grow enough and you need more capacity, I think we'll be ready by the time. About types of beacons: as discussed, different applications require different types of beacons. So this is why we have them ready in different types. Mini-RX is one of the latest. It's tiny. It's versatile because it can be used in Inverse Architecture as mobile beacon and in Non-Inverse Architecture as stationary beacon. It's very sensitive. And as you see, it has only one microphone or one sensor, which is very useful because you don't have to care to switch on or switch off all the sensors. Example: when

17:29 You switch on all the sensors in hardware version 4.9, the sensitivity will drop. You will have widest 360 degrees horizontally and 180 degrees vertically coverage of the whole hemisphere, but the sensitivity will be the least. If you want the highest sensitivity, then you better disable some of the sensors which you don't need. Each of the sensors is roughly 90 degrees beam. In this case, one sensor is capable to cover everything, but it's a drawback: it's only RX, so it's not able to transmit any ultrasound. But it's more sensitive and it's easier to handle and it's smaller. Mini-TX beacon is kind of opposite to this. So this is only TX, and so

18:27 Transmitting ultrasound. And it's also small. It's useful for virtual reality applications and for drones—even lighter drones to have a version without battery. So it's very, very light. In some cases we suggest even not to use housing. And as far as I remember, it was like six to seven grams. So very, very light and very classical. Dual-use universal: they could use hardware version 4.9. So this is very standard for all of us and probably the most typical one. It's used in Non-Inverse Architecture, but also in Inverse Architecture when the sensors have different frequencies. So let me remind: for Non-Inverse Architecture, all of them talk on the same ultrasonic frequency.

19:25 Usually in Inverse Architecture, they must use different frequencies, so Mini-RX is capable to receive all of them. Cloggers—beacons which are transmitting—their hardware defined. And that means that you must select either nineteen or twenty-five or thirty-one or forty-five traders. This beacon, Mini-RX's, can be IP67, so there are two options: without IP67 and with IP67. And even for more harsh environment, we have Industrial Set. Industrial Set, unlike all of this—except for this—it doesn't have an internal battery, so there is input for the battery and there's input/output for UART, RS-485, and...

20:24 Can, as an option, the same for RX dock RX beacon. So a bit more about Marvelmind. Watch the same in ER X. In this case, as mentioned, it's tiny, it's versatile. So as all of our beacons can be charged over USB—all except for Industrial—and running time really depends on the usage. If you turn it on to the highest frequency, it will be around twelve hours. If you use it very occasionally—whatever, some one update for fifteen seconds or something—it can last up to one month. It can be indoor and outdoor, but notice that it has embedded antenna, so embedded on 10. I usually have lower performance over radio, so realistically fifty to one hundred meters at most. So mile mat jacket—so my on my jacket, I will talk about more about in next slide. It's Mini-RX.

21:23 With the jacket, what we try to do—we always recommend to put the mobile beacon as high as possible and the station beacon even higher—so to minimize the obstruction. So the best way and the best option would be helmet. If helmet is not possible, than the jacket. If jacket is not possible, then a badge. If badge is not possible, than a watch. Effectively, it's Mini-TX with the jacket. If you watch detailed words about Mini, or let's say Industrial TX—power supply external twelve-volt, but other options available. Very protected, special sensors, input/output UART, RS-485, and CAN is an option. Very similarly, RX beacon with the same input/output capabilities and with the same power supply, there are...

22:22 Beacons is fully sealed in with compound, so it's very well protected. Super-Modem, which is coming—it's effectively the bottom but with extended capabilities. More power, more capacity, and even more importantly, it has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth internal embedded, so it means that it has connectivity. So effectively, it's a small computer which you can remotely connect in, and the streaming will be done also over UDP if needed. So about Marvelmind watch—so you have seen demos on YouTube. Please check them once again. So demos in museum or some other demos as well. So Marvelmind watch is a useful case when helmet or jacket is not possible for some reason. My on my page is a new product, so we are introducing this today.

23:22 For the first time. Monument badge is an extended version of Mini-RX with additional external microphones. The benefits are improved tracking in real-life performance, because your body would be blocking the signal. So we help this by providing more microphones, thus by providing more coverage and most stable coverage. Monument helmet—so it's already commercially available. Yes, it's modified once, so think about certifications and all kinds of things. But nevertheless, so it's effectively Mini-RX with external microphone and ready-to-use helmet. It's IP67, so ready for usage in real applications. So about the jacket—a few words. The same story as with Mohammed.

24:19 Badge. It's Mini-RX with additional microphones to provide better coverage. It's more robust, it's reliable, and it's basically designed for real-time applications when obstructions are very often, and it simply improves the tracking in real-time or in real-life performance in real-life environment. So for those who are not capable to get our own helmets, we have a so-called Marvelmind headlight, which is basically connected to any kind of helmet. So if you have a certified helmet, so you can use it. It's also Mini-RX with additional microphones to provide better ultrasonic coverage. So that was a bit about our new products. So...

25:15 Thank you for listening, and now this is Q&A session. Please type, and I will be answering. So there are some questions in Russian. I will be able to translate and answer them in English and also show. So the question is: what is the base for station beacons for stable Mini-RX with high precision? Basically, the answer is the following: it is the same for Mini-RX, and for all kinds of things—the more, the better. What is the more? Know imagine a triangle. When you already are measuring to D, into D, you will have the distance between station beacons. Oh, let me try to draw. Give me a second. I will try to find my...

26:15 My paint. So for example, you have a one beacon—station beacon—and another station beacon, and there have a mobile beacon, okay? Color. So this is a noble beacon. So when you have a obviously short distance here, or short base, and what we do—they affect—will measure the distance from this beacon to this beacon to this beacon. And that means that when you measure the distance with a one...

27:14 Centimeter precision—even tiny change in the distance here would result in quite large error here. But if you place the beacons—the station beacons—farther from each other, this error in positioning would be significantly smaller, because the same error in the distance measurement would result in a much smaller location measurement. Yes. First of all, this presentation is already short on YouTube, and it will stay there, so you can always play it back. Second, yes, we will upload this presentation, and it will be a link to this video. Answering yes, it's possible to upload...

28:13 Your map. It's like this. You go—you may with my mouse, okay? Let me connect to the modem. I'm connecting now to the modem. So the modem wakes up the beacons. They have a submap, and decide the submap. And I will need to check with my guys. Give me—sorry, I forgot. Give me a second. Can ya submerge it plant one foot?

29:19 Question with no parameter, guys. Help me—I actually forgot myself. So this is: you select the floor and the floor plan. So it's here because floor plan is basically effectively for each floor. So yes, it's possible. The new product—stationary beacons available now? Yes, yes, we are introducing them today. So for smaller volume, let's say to pilot, to show your own customers—yesterday available or availability several days—like industrial applications. So we don't store them; we make them, basically modify the existing.

30:12 Ones. But yesterday, I—well, will I have? If you—if you are the basic hints, I will ask my colleagues to move. OK, so this is live performance, and with my mouse—OK, for example. Some basics. I mean, while you're asking additional questions, some basics like instead of last 50 seconds, 5 seconds. OK, so this is 5 seconds trail—very useful, 50 seconds. If I don't want, I press M. OK, map is cleared. Just basic hints also are very—supplied many questions about the.

31:10 Latency. So the latency is defined by many parameters, and by default, probably the biggest implication is the real-time player. It's turned on. It gives—so this is without real-time player. It has low latency, but as you see the performance can be—is not perfect as in with real-time player, because the real-time player is analyzing quite many. OK, my colleague is basically—the same route is basically analyzed. They analyze the last thermal dots, and then giving the best, best performance. A real-time player you can trade off latency for even better performance. So now I turned on—there the real-time player—and as you see, it's extremely smooth and extremely actually a reliable system.

32:08 Has been already released. Oh, give me a second. Title once again—check with the guys—either we didn't publish or we will publish now. Anyway, TDMA is already available, yes, today. May I—I think in the latest operating manual it has been published, or at least we are certainly publishing TDMA. And you've seen the video. Oh, let me actually show—I have another demo from currently. I'm disconnecting the Non-Inverse Architecture, and I'm connecting another model with Inverse Architecture. Let me talk about TDMA a bit, because there are some questions. So this is TDMA Inverse Architecture network, which consists of.

33:08 Basically two submaps. One submap, OK? Now there was a transition. So now it's ready. One submap and another submap. Basics of TDMA, OK? There—basics. All of them have 100%, 100% coverage for the territory. OK, one of the beacons is dropping. I don't know why. 100% coverage for this territory, and you have two actual modes. OK, it's back. I don't know what was wrong. So the benefits are the following: when the beacon is moving near this area and we have, for example, some obstacles or something, the system automatically compares all the time the.

34:04 Quality of tracking from this submap and from this submap, and automatically chooses the best option. And this is so-called TDMA mode 1. So the system switches and keeps in one submap as long as the quality is great, but then it makes small, smooth moves, and for example, you're moving closer to this, and performance on this would be better, and it switches—switches to this submap—keeps in this submap, or let's say in these beacons, as long as the quality is great. So this is mode 1. In mode 2—so this is. I'm gonna switch it. But in mode 2, you can know the system is actually switching all the time: submap one to submap two, submap two to submap one. Segment to—let's say every second measurement is between different. So this system has pros: it's always have at least some.

35:04 Great tracking, but the first one is better when the tracking is great. So it provides better tracking, but when the tracking is terrible—I would say a lot of abstractions and a lot of issues. The second mode could be better. It's very important that in TDMA you use the real-time player, because the real-time player is basically smoothing the jumps between these two submaps, because they must be aligned. There are always some obstacles, there's always abstractions, but as soon as you enable TDMA and real-time player, the quality of tracking is usually very great, even with challenging conditions. So now my colleague will be moving. OK, so this is currently TDMA live. OK, there's another question in Russian. OK, 100 Hertz. So there was a question.

36:06 How to achieve 100 Hertz? 100 Hertz with our system is possible currently in NIA, in Non-Inverse Architecture, in Inverse Architecture. IMU fusion is coming, but the key point is that you need to enable IMU fusion and you must get the location data from them about every beacon because it's impossible to stream 100 Hertz update rate from the modern modem. You will still be getting location data only from ultrasonic, not not from the IMU. So let me repeat: 100 Hertz is possible in Non-Inverse Architecture, and only from the mobile beacon. In order for the IMU fusion to kick in, I mean really work, so you need to have at least 4 to.

37:04 8 Hertz ultrasonic. Because how IMU works—it's basically extrapolating based on double integration of IMU, extrapolating the location. But this extrapolation in time, you drift very quickly, accumulate errors. So this is why we cancel those errors often. How often? 4 times per second. If you do it 1 time per second, there will be just too big already. And OK, depending on your applications and requirements, but it will be a matter of, you know, some big centimeters than 2 centimeters. This is why we suggest and actually require that in ultrasonic you achieve at least 4 Hertz update rate. Then you enable stationary beacons. This IMU fusion. And from the mobile beacon you will be able to get 100 Hertz. OK, well.

38:01 No more questions. Let me switch. Let me try to now show the performance. My mouse. The performance—let me zoom in. I'm zooming in very simply by the mouse. For those who don't see it, currently 5 centimeters. So this is the performance with real-time player enabled, and this is OK. So this is live. Now 5 centimeters in this. Oh, these are lovely. Past 2 centimeter with latency around—you have 8 Hertz update rate, and you have 3. So it's around 0.2, 0.2, 4 to 2 Hertz update rate. Yes. So answering: yes, it's possible to create virtual fences. This—what was graphing as geofencing? Yes, it's possible.

38:58 Right now it's possible to build the geofencing. Let me ask my colleagues. OK, my colleagues are helping me. So zone setup: here you can create different types of zones—handover zone, zone disable, check-in. Anyway, so it's possible to create different types of zones that I mentioned, and it's right-click on each of the submaps. Basically, instance by any sound. And there are a bit about stuff. A couple of comments about the NIA: Inverse Architecture by definition is more sensitive to noise near the robot. So for example, if you are flying.

39:58 Drones we certainly recommend Non-Inverse Architecture because in Non-Inverse Architecture, my mobile beacon is emitting sound and station beacons, which are usually far from the noise, are listening to the sound. So if you have additionally, let's say, big noise, then of course use Non-Inverse Architecture. But nevertheless, in the majority of cases, Inverse Architecture is just good enough. And what you could do—I'm basically answering to Alex Romanov—check that your jumps are related to the noise but not to the obstruction. But because in the majority of cases it's not because of noise but because of obstruction, you still must provide the very fundamental thing of the system: direct line of hearing to your mobile station beacons for 2D or 3D mode—station beacons for 3D. Second, check your settings because maybe

40:58 The signal is just weak, and it's easy to do. And we strongly recommend to use an oscilloscope. There is an embedded oscilloscope inside. So for example, I want to see how my mobile beacon in this texture listens to. So I'm selecting from beacon to—to them about beacon. And as you see, it's extremely strong signal, and I see the trigger. So I want to check from beacon number 5 or whatever number. From beacon number 5, OK, it's slightly weaker but still extremely strong signal. It also depends on the gain and many other parameters, but never—always, always use the oscilloscope in case you have any kind of doubt, so in any kind of issues. So an oscilloscope is extremely powerful and available for monitoring. Second, it's about settings.

41:58 For example, in beacon I would be also checking what number of periods. So distances—do you meet in default? Recommend five, which is OK. Four, five, ten, or maybe eight, fifteen meters. But when the distances are more, increase it to some other values—fifteen, twenty, up to fifty. What else do you know? No, I already answered. So IA is more prone to the noise. And check ultrasonic settings. Check the oscilloscope and increase the number of periods if needed. And in case the noise is still high, or decrease their distances. So in, let's say, normal conditions, it could be up to thirty meters.

42:53 Decrease to twenty, decreased to fifteen or ten again. And check that this is actually noise-related but not obstruction-related. Even with loud music, possible of course. We have participated in many different events, exhibitions, and all kinds. So yes, it is possible. It's always a matter of how loud is it—loud in sound or in ultrasound as well. So not necessarily everything which is loud in sound is loud in the ultrasound. What are the distances? So it's basically signal-to-noise and interference ratio. But based on practice, usually when we run an exhibition and there's music and, you know, there is a lot of Wi-Fi, etc., we work. We simply work. So a secret is, you know, currently Non-Inverse Architecture is supporting

43:53 One hundred Hertz, and Inverse Architecture is not yet supporting because in the IA architecture is more, let's say, newer. So we are just developing—basically porting—so it's not yet available but it's planned to be available. You're very welcome. I wanted to show also another hint. I know that's working this architecture, but let me—it may be useful in some cases. I will switch on to Non-Inverse. For example, I want to change the position of my axis, and it's done by this. So you type: this would be my starting beacon, this would be my X, and

44:49 This would be my Y. OK, that's it. It's rebuilt. OK, now it's basically found your position. It's very useful. Also, double-clicking the map does this for those who are interested. What I wanted to show—ask questions anyway. I will be happy to answer if any. I guess you must have many questions and many doubts. Who asked? Shoot! Challenge!

45:42 And once again, after this session, please, if you recall something that was not covered or some particular question, send us any additional details or would say additional questions. And first of all, we will introduce this and would be a starting point with the next session. And second, we would be able to update our manuals or update our demos, hints, and so forth. So use this session as an opportunity to give us feedback so we would be able to provide you even with more details for the future releases or for the future help files or help videos. Though basically, I don't want to occupy

46:46 Any more time from anyone. So I think it was a hopefully useful demo. As mentioned, this will be available on the website. We will link the presentation. We will link to those documents that we showed, and we plan to have these sessions at least once a month. So if no more questions, I will be closing the session. And thank you very much to everyone.