TY - THES

T1 - A Positioning System for Mobile Equipment based on Ultra Wideband Radio

AU - Plessing, Lea

N1 - embargoed until null

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - This thesis investigates the use of Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology as both position- and orientation measurement system of dynamically reconfigurable equipment. The results of implementing the UWB based system and the design of its middleware are presented. No installation of stationary infrastructure is required for the architecture that has been developed. Standard automation protocols have been selected and implemented to establish the connections from the middleware to the plant network and to eight UWB sensors, in order to communicate the range settings and measurements. An application has been programmed that manages the bidirectional data flow and executes the algorithm that yields the relative position and orientation. As part of the algorithm, a Least-Squares computation is performed on an overdetermined system of four range measurements. Furthermore, a running average computation is applied to reduce the noise of the incoming and out coming data. The developed system has been tested, both on a test setup and on the real plant. The results have been analyzed, the causes of uncertainty determined and proposals made on how to further improve the complete system. In five of the ten possible constellations of the mobile equipment, the measurement system achieves accuracies below 200mm. As documented by the tests, the current middleware for the UWB based positioning system, fulfills both the accuracy and real-time requirements for the positioning of mobile processing equipment in outdoor locations. This is achieved without requiring the installation of stationary infrastructure.

AB - This thesis investigates the use of Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology as both position- and orientation measurement system of dynamically reconfigurable equipment. The results of implementing the UWB based system and the design of its middleware are presented. No installation of stationary infrastructure is required for the architecture that has been developed. Standard automation protocols have been selected and implemented to establish the connections from the middleware to the plant network and to eight UWB sensors, in order to communicate the range settings and measurements. An application has been programmed that manages the bidirectional data flow and executes the algorithm that yields the relative position and orientation. As part of the algorithm, a Least-Squares computation is performed on an overdetermined system of four range measurements. Furthermore, a running average computation is applied to reduce the noise of the incoming and out coming data. The developed system has been tested, both on a test setup and on the real plant. The results have been analyzed, the causes of uncertainty determined and proposals made on how to further improve the complete system. In five of the ten possible constellations of the mobile equipment, the measurement system achieves accuracies below 200mm. As documented by the tests, the current middleware for the UWB based positioning system, fulfills both the accuracy and real-time requirements for the positioning of mobile processing equipment in outdoor locations. This is achieved without requiring the installation of stationary infrastructure.

KW - Ultrabreitband

KW - Industrielle Middleware

KW - Anlagenautomation

KW - Positionierungssystem

KW - Outdoor Positionierung

KW - Positionierung ohne stationäre Infrastruktur

KW - Ultra Wideband

KW - Industrial Middleware

KW - Plant Automation

KW - Positioning System

KW - Outdoor Positioning

KW - Positioning without Stationary Infrastructure

M3 - Master's Thesis

ER -