Increase the max range for Dwm3000

Ultra-Wideband
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1

Hello, please would you like to give me a good configuration to increase the range max ?

This is my actual config:
static dwt_config_t config = {

    5,               /* Channel number. */

    DWT_PLEN_128,    /* Preamble length. Used in TX only. */

    DWT_PAC8,        /* Preamble acquisition chunk size. Used in RX only. */

    9,               /* TX preamble code. Used in TX only. */

    9,               /* RX preamble code. Used in RX only. */

    1,               /* 0 to use standard 8 symbol SFD, 1 to use non-standard 8 symbol, 2 for non-standard 16 symbol SFD and 3 for 4z 8 symbol SDF type */

    DWT_BR_6M8,      /* Data rate. */

    DWT_PHRMODE_STD, /* PHY header mode. */

    DWT_PHRRATE_STD, /* PHY header rate. */

    (129 + 8 - 8),   /* SFD timeout (preamble length + 1 + SFD length - PAC size). Used in RX only. */

    DWT_STS_MODE_OFF, /* STS disabled */

    DWT_STS_LEN_64,   /* STS length see allowed values in Enum dwt_sts_lengths_e */

    DWT_PDOA_M0      /* PDOA mode off */
2

I have the same question. Let me know if you figure this out.

3

The main protocol changes to increase the range are:
Change the data rate to 850kb/s
Increase the preamble length and the preamble acquisition size (the manual gives typical values for PAC based on preamble length).
Change the SFD symbol type to 2 (non standard 16 symbol)

The data rate is probably the biggest single win. All of these will increase packet transmission times, you may need to increase various timeouts in your code to allow for that.

You can also look at physical changes to do with antenna placement, mostly putting them higher, angeling them slightly and keeping other things away from them.

4

Hi @joelk18 ,

You can take a look at this application note. It will help you to understand how different uwb configuration may affect the range.

Maximizing Range in DW1000-Based Systems (Application Note APS017)

The easiest thing to do is to increase the transmit power. But you may exceed the FCC regulation (< -41.3 dBm / MHz)

If you change uwb configuration, you may also need to change the timings in the TWR when your frames become longer in duration.

5

We need at least 3 anchors to trlaterate position and rarely maintain three streams at once. 4 anchors are within 20 meters of each other.

Looking for help getting the demo working well. If demo goes well they want UWB positioning on several hundred thousand street lights.

Please call if interested.
Peter
301 916-5722

6

I need to range iPhones, so am nt sure these parmeters will match those of the iPhone’s Nearby Interaction.

7

Hello @wassim thanks for you response.
I read this note but I did not see any code or very concret information to increase the transmit power.
Can you help me with that please?
Thanks.

8

Thanks for your response. I will try it to see.
Thanks.

9

If you need to be compatible with something else then there isn’t much you can do. You’re stuck using the settings they have. You can maybe increase the preamble lengths as long as you don’t hit any timeout issues but that’s about it.

Failing that you ignore the iphone system and create your own mobile reader that then talks to a phone app over bluetooth. Which for infrastructure may be a good idea anyway, you need something that can be supported long term. Who knows what features will and won’t be in phones in 5 years time.

10

This is just a site demo. It is to provide evaluation of iPhone only. The deployment will talk to not just FIRA devices but other UWB protocols. We will follow with NXP, Samsung, Google phones, car locks and custom devices for government and government licensed vehicles (ie. taxis, delivery vans, etc.).

We are adding camera assist as this is supposed to increase the field of view of the UWB sensor for some reason. For our demo we need to double the number of DWM3001CDK anchors. Sample code to do this would be nice. I search the Qorvo Apple Main example app folder but did get a hit on camera assist. Been searching the internet for hours and only found isCameraAssist function. Which I assume if inquiring if camera assist is enabled.

11

Do you have sample code to change the preamble on iPhone and dwm3001?

We will be build a data base of all callback errors and timestamps to debug the system. ie. timeouts, configuration issues, etc.