UWB POSITIONING TECHNOLOGY
UWB – Ulta Wideband – ultra wide-band communication for transmitting high-frequency pulses with minimum energy consumption. The UWB technique differs from competitive technologies BLE, ZigBee, WiFi in volume, and speed of transmitted data, but it lacks in the transmission range. The graph shows the dependence of the range and bandwidth of wireless communication technologies. Research in the field of ultra wide-band radio communications began in 1940 before 1990 it was widely used for military purposes, and commercial use began in 1994. UWB has a number of advantages: there are no limitations of the high-frequency spectrum; speed; multiple channels; simultaneous operation of networks in the local PAN or WAN; low cost; security – the failure of data receiving by not the target system; precise location; UWB signals do not interfere with each other and other radio frequency carriers, which allows you to create jam-resistant solutions.
UWB is widely used for people positioning in industrial enterprises, for access control to restricted areas, real-time monitoring of personnel movements. Positioning accuracy is determined by TDoA algorithms up to 30 cm and ToF algorithms up to 10 cm. Each algorithm imposes restrictions on power consumption and tag density.
The graph shows dependency on speed and distance for UWB, BLE, ZigBee
RTLS Solutions Opportunities with UWB Technology:
We are developing RTLS applications using UWB technologies on Merusoft Tracking platform. For developing IPS (Indoor Positioning System) we apply Dmatek: UWB Anchors, UWB Tags equipment. The software can be installed on the client’s infrastructure without an Internet connection, which is very important for industrial enterprises. It is usually used the positioning algorithm TWR (Two-way ranging), position calculation on the trilateration basis. It measures the time of delay between the receiver (Anchor) and tracker (tag). Thus, 4 timestamps (2 trackers and 2 receivers) are used and the distance of the signal transmitted is calculated according to them.
For installing the equipment we recommend two mounting methods of Anchors:
(a) mounting of 3 anchors each in a square of 30 x 30 meters
(b) mounting of 5 anchors each in 60 x 30 meters
The fields of applying UWB technology:
- Chemical industry
- Food industry
- Exhibitions
- Robotic production with conveyor lines
- Warehouse complexes
- Mobile complexes for monitoring the movement of fire teams.
Movement control by time and restricted zones
Movement route tracking
Tag motion or idle state detection
Pulse determination
Algorithms and triggers for alerting while tracking personnel or equipment movements
The electronic invisible barrier for movement restriction
Special equipment is required to control the locker reservation management module
