Radio based position hold for multi rotors

The clever folk at Ars Technica  Futurelab Germany are using a system developed for tracking sports players to position their quadrocopters. It offers a much higher degree of accuracy than GPS based systems and works indoors or outside.

The core of this environment is the lpm (local position measurement) of inmotiotec , a radio-based positioning system, which can be used both indoor as well as outdoor used. Until now, the Quadrocopter were so dependent on their positioning in GPS receiver and thus operate only under the open sky, with the new tracking system is a thing of the past this limitation.

The new tracking system is a quantum leap in terms of navigation of the aircraft: the positioning improves by a significant order of magnitude compared to the pure use of GPS. Instead of 5 to 6 meters accuracy to get to 5 – 15 cm. If we now also charged that a Quadrocopter has about 30 centimeters in diameter, it quickly becomes clear how accurate it can be flown from now – in other words, the creative department can now play safely.

Today, technology in sports, in the entertainment industry and, indeed, for Spaxels is used. The operation is relatively simple: At least 12 receivers are set up to provide a space and a calibrated reference transponder which must be visible from all 12 recipients. Per second to 1000 position signals are detected, you can fly as in the case of Future Labs with 50 quadrocopters, the position of each aircraft is determined by triangulation 20 times per second, enough data to allow precise trajectories. And in order to save weight divides the transponder’s battery with the respective Quadrocopter on which he sits, energy verso insurance technically is not a problem.

 http://www.aec.at/aeblog/2012/11/20/die-quadrocopter-fliegen-weiter/