Trouble getting a gateway set up so I can track tags across multiple rooms

Wireless Connectivity Ultra-Wideband
1

I got the MDEK1001 eval kit, and it works great with 4 anchors, 2 tags, and a listener streaming tag positions to a laptop all in one room. However, when I go into the next room, the tag can’t communicate back to the listener anymore because of the walls.

After reading more, it sounded like this is solved by having gateways setup in each room, so they can report tag positions over the network to a single computer, without needing LOS to it.

First question - does it sound like I’m on the right track with this approach, in theory at least?

Second question - if so, I’m stuck at getting the gateway to boot. I downloaded the Raspberry Pi image Decawave provides, and flashed it to my Raspberry Pi 4 (should it still work with a 4, or do I HAVE to use a Pi 3?). However, I don’t see it on the network to SSH into it, and I also get no video from the miniHDMI port, after powering it on. Lights are on, but I have no way of getting into it without SSH or video.

I added the ssh and wpa_supplicant.conf files to the boot directory, but it still doesn’t seem to show up on my network. I even tried turning on internet sharing from my laptop and hardwired an Ethernet cable to the Pi, but still don’t see it. Is there a problem with SSIDs that have spaces in the name? Is the Pi 4 to blame? Is there a newer image? Can I use just a regular Ubuntu install and add the Decawave software to it myself? Am I completely missing something else entirely?

I’m just kind of lost on where to go at this point and stabbing in the dark. Could anyone offer some guidance? Thanks in advance, I’d really appreciate it!

2

Hi @JonathanBowman
let me help you.

Re first question: The Listener is something like workaround for p]hones - they have some limit for concurrent opened BLE connections so the listener listens the UWB for positions and report them via single BLE connection. The bridge is officially designed for communication with UWB network. How ever its action angle is the same as listener but you can have a multiple bridges in one place and connect them together.

re Second question) The RPI image is released for Raspberry Pi 3B (not the 3B+). With the 3B+ you should be able to boot and with 4 I would guess that it would not work (at all). The only one supported is 3B because of finetuned kernel timing and newer RPi are faster but they are not able to maintain needed precise timing in kernel (too many IRQs from ethernet …).

Cheers
JK

3

Thanks for the quick and detailed response, @leapslabs!

It doesn’t look like I can still buy RPI 3s…so I may be stuck. Is there a newer chip I could use, like the 3001, for UWB tracking that is compatible with more modern chipsets?