I'm researching techniques for a project which involves tracking AUVs/Robots in a rugged envrionment where differential GPS (GPS/RTK) coverage is not availabe and laser tracking might not be possible due to line of sight, limitations.
While I know what the requirements are for my project, I'm curious to find out what requirement would be needed for a general purpose tracking system for ground based (for now) vehicles/robots.
- what kind of tracking areas are useful (10x10m 100x100m, etc...) ? How many beacons per area is acceptable.
- what accuracy over range (e.g. 1% is 0.1m in 10m) ? horizontal ? what about vertical ?
- cost - here I'm looking for unit costs of the base stations, and on the mobile system. could be in cost per area covered.
- readout interface
does the robot need a readout from the mobile unit, readout from base station/beacon stations. also, rs-232 vs. usb, pwm, etc... E.g. a mobile unit could look like a GPS receiver and output NMEA strings.
- power requirements (12VDC, 5VDC, watts ?)
- envrionment (temperature, dusty, wet, lot's noise(rf/acoustic) ?
- update rate (1hz, 10hz ?) does it need to be realtime, or can it be post processing.
- max. number of vehicles to track.
I realize that different folks have different requirements, however, I'm trying to find out if there is a set of features/specs would would satisfy 80% of the applications for a given cost.
Thanks, -ingo