[TriEmbed] Interesting Kickstarter open source indoor/outdoor xyz ranging modules

[Ken Boone]

I already have a lawn mowing robot test bed I built back in the 80s.  The
optical beacon navigation i designed proved to be too inaccurate. The mower
is described on kensrobots.com.

After a while when bench testing or displaying my fixed wing UAV the ground
station displays a wobbly path taken around its fixed location.

A question?    For mowing navigation could a fixed GPS receiver at my house
be used to increase mower location accuracy with an identical receiver on
the mower.

First average fixed location readings to establish the fixed receiver
location.  Then use differences to correct mower location?

I've been experimenting with the mower because I have grass and it is a
neat challenge.  Too much liability envolved in mowing to want to develop
a product.
Ken

On Jul 27, 2016 5:17 PM, "Tadd Torborg" <tadd at mac.com> wrote:
>
> Firmware has to be pretty stable and well done since the transponder end
has to turn around and answer.   Counter/timers needs to be very
good/fast/well-understood.
>
> There are other off-the shelf solutions already.  Look for Decawave
TREK1000.    I don't think Decawave is open source.
>
> Range will be like cheap Wifi stations talking to each other, i.e. no
nice antennas.  Good enough for lawn mower if you have two anchors line of
site visible to the lawn mower at all times.  Put the intelligence on the
lawn mower or in the house, and make solar powered anchors, look like
driveway-light pedestals.
>
> Tricky project.  I'm less scared of the range finding than I am of the
robotics part of running a lawn mower around, so maybe it's not so hard.
Anybody want to get together on the lawn mower?
>
>    Tadd
>
> On Jul 27, 2016, at 09:32 AM, Ken Boone via TriEmbed <
triembed at triembed.org> wrote:
>
>> Kickstart info below this comment.
>>
>> I started out experimenting/learning  with a Knight-Kit 10 in 1 vacuum
tube kit.
>>
>> It's amazing what technologies and resources are now available for
students, hobbyists and garage/basement experimenters/inventors.
>>
>> More on the ranging modules.
>>
>> The modules uses fixed location nodes for xyz ranging of moving nodes or
for your swarm distances between moving nodes.
>>
>> Wonder what's the maximum range?
>>
>> Might need to resurrect my robotic lawnmower which needed a better
ranging system.
>>
>> From site:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/subpos/subpos-ranger-indoor-positioning-system/description
>>
>> "The Ranger Boards accurately determine the distance between one and
other through phase shift/difference measurement and accurate timing
techniques in the onboard Atmel AT86RF233 chipset. This is similar to how
laser range finders work, except instead of light it uses 2.4GHz radio
frequencies. The multiple antennas on board allow for multiple out of phase
measurements to mitigate multipath effects, to best determine the distance
between the Ranger Boards."
>>
>> Create - dream, imagine, experiment - Create. .............
>>
>> Ken Boone
>>
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