New technology coming down the pike
05-02-2013, 04:36 PM
#1
New technology coming down the pike
I read the other day about a new radio technology currently being developed called "Impulse Radio Ultra-Wide Band" (IR-UWB). It will consist of single chip transceivers that can transmitt and receive signals, with one of the possible applications of this technology to be position measurement, accurate to about 1.5 inches. One company that has been developing one of the chipsets has proved it to have a range of up to 880 meters (roughly a half mile). At this point information is kind of sketchy, but it is projected to enter the market in two or three quarters, so it hopefully will be available for commercial development in early 2014.
The number of people that it takes to operate a race course has long been a problem that limits contests. In addition, since most of the course workers have moved to remote off course locations for safety reasons, we no longer call hooks and slices at pylon one so precise flying has been removed from the equation of three pole pylon. If a automated system could be developed using IR-UWB transceivers, all these problems could be overcome.
One of the problems with using RF links to measure distance has been multi-path of the RF signals that create timing errors. The IR-UWB chip spreads the pulse over a very wide band of frequencies, and ignores those that arrive late due to multi-path reflections.
The number of people that it takes to operate a race course has long been a problem that limits contests. In addition, since most of the course workers have moved to remote off course locations for safety reasons, we no longer call hooks and slices at pylon one so precise flying has been removed from the equation of three pole pylon. If a automated system could be developed using IR-UWB transceivers, all these problems could be overcome.
One of the problems with using RF links to measure distance has been multi-path of the RF signals that create timing errors. The IR-UWB chip spreads the pulse over a very wide band of frequencies, and ignores those that arrive late due to multi-path reflections.
05-20-2013, 10:13 AM
#3
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RE: New technology coming down the pike
Ijust finished reading a "layman's" article on the subject; http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/e..._id=222916600#
Very interesting. With accuracy of a few inches and triangularization from a master on each pylon, along with some clever programming, I can see how it would be possible to develop a system that would track position and time and relay that information to the timers stand wherein it would be processed and cuts, time, etc could be automatically entered and displayed. Hopefully this will work and some smart modeler will figure out how to use it.
Very interesting. With accuracy of a few inches and triangularization from a master on each pylon, along with some clever programming, I can see how it would be possible to develop a system that would track position and time and relay that information to the timers stand wherein it would be processed and cuts, time, etc could be automatically entered and displayed. Hopefully this will work and some smart modeler will figure out how to use it.
05-20-2013, 12:40 PM
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RE: New technology coming down the pike
ORIGINAL: vicman
Gary,
If I read it right this would be pretty good for Q25 and C40 speed models right now.
Gary,
If I read it right this would be pretty good for Q25 and C40 speed models right now.
05-22-2013, 11:37 PM
#6
RE: New technology coming down the pike
I received an email from the CEO of the company developing the transceiver chip set. At present evaluation kits are only allocated to their stratigic partners, but he expects that a second batch will be available later this year.
As far as update rates required, I don't think we need anything as fast as you are suggesting Gary. Human reaction time is in the 150-200 mSec range, which doesn't matter so much to the pilot, but is pretty tough on a flagger. Anybody that ever spent much time at pylon one (back in the old days of setting at the pylon) will tell of airplanes that looked like they would round the pylon so the signal would be sent but a sudden unexpected tightening of the turn caused a cut.
Since RF signals travel at about 1 foot every nanosecond, a round trip signal for 600 feet is only 1.2 micro-seconds plus processing time of the transceivers. In that brief time, a Q40 will only travel about 0.004 inches. So a system might have a transceiver in each model, and three transceivers on the ground to pinpoint each airplane in 3 diamentional space, assuming that each transceiver can be tasked to measure the distance to multiple transceivers in rapid succession. At this point I have no information on how fast they really are, though having a GHz bandwidth involved, they might be fairly fast if enough power is available. Anyway, we should know more in the next six months.
Besides running an automated course, it should be able to keep a detailed plot of the track of each airplane, as well as ground speeds, altitudes, and airspace boundary violations. Of course, it all boils down to software if the hardware pans out.
As far as update rates required, I don't think we need anything as fast as you are suggesting Gary. Human reaction time is in the 150-200 mSec range, which doesn't matter so much to the pilot, but is pretty tough on a flagger. Anybody that ever spent much time at pylon one (back in the old days of setting at the pylon) will tell of airplanes that looked like they would round the pylon so the signal would be sent but a sudden unexpected tightening of the turn caused a cut.
Since RF signals travel at about 1 foot every nanosecond, a round trip signal for 600 feet is only 1.2 micro-seconds plus processing time of the transceivers. In that brief time, a Q40 will only travel about 0.004 inches. So a system might have a transceiver in each model, and three transceivers on the ground to pinpoint each airplane in 3 diamentional space, assuming that each transceiver can be tasked to measure the distance to multiple transceivers in rapid succession. At this point I have no information on how fast they really are, though having a GHz bandwidth involved, they might be fairly fast if enough power is available. Anyway, we should know more in the next six months.
Besides running an automated course, it should be able to keep a detailed plot of the track of each airplane, as well as ground speeds, altitudes, and airspace boundary violations. Of course, it all boils down to software if the hardware pans out.
05-29-2013, 01:30 PM
#9
RE: New technology coming down the pike
The latest update from BeSpoon (it's a French company, maybe it doesn't translate well) is that the 2nd batch of development kits will be available in January 2014. They will start taking orders in July, and a comprehensive documentation pack will be available under NDA at pre-order time.
So 6 to 8 weeks I might have a better idea if this meets our requirements.
NDA means Non-Disclosure Agreement
So 6 to 8 weeks I might have a better idea if this meets our requirements.
NDA means Non-Disclosure Agreement
08-01-2013, 11:24 AM
#11
RE: New technology coming down the pike
I received word from Bespoon that they are currently running behind schedule on their development program. More information should be available in September, or about 6 weeks. Looks like a good winter project which was always my goal.
11-17-2014, 03:05 PM
#12
Well it's been a little over a year now since I last looked into Bespoon's chip for distance measurement. They have a small module that will be available on 12/1/14 that includes a microprocessor, the IR-UWB and support hardware on a half inch square circuit board. In essence, just add power, antenna, and software and you have distance measure solution.
A quick cursory look at the control set looks like these can be programed to operate over one of four channels (or band of frequencies), though perhaps more are available. Nevertheless, four would be enough. Hopefully a pair or three could jump between each 4 bands quick enough to operate a course with a high enough resolution to maintain about a 1 foot accuracy for 4 planes simultaneously. While three ground units would be required to do a true 3 dimensional position, it may not really be needed since the fast guys fly so low to the ground anyway, so the altitude information might not be required if the ground units are at a enough distance away from the course.
A quick cursory look at the control set looks like these can be programed to operate over one of four channels (or band of frequencies), though perhaps more are available. Nevertheless, four would be enough. Hopefully a pair or three could jump between each 4 bands quick enough to operate a course with a high enough resolution to maintain about a 1 foot accuracy for 4 planes simultaneously. While three ground units would be required to do a true 3 dimensional position, it may not really be needed since the fast guys fly so low to the ground anyway, so the altitude information might not be required if the ground units are at a enough distance away from the course.
