Xsens MTi-100 Series IMU Sets New Benchmark for Indoor Position Measurement Accuracy in UWB Beacon System

VIPS positioning system from Racelogic achieves industry-best ±2cm accuracy in scenarios with no access to satellite signals.

September 2, 2020 - XSENS announces that vehicle position-tracking technology pioneer Racelogic has used a highly accurate MTi-100 series inertial measurement unit (IMU) to achieve industry-best indoor accuracy in its new VBOX Indoor Positioning System (VIPS) product.

Intended for use in measuring the position of vehicles or other mobile assets when out of range of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite signals, Racelogic's VIPS technology achieves the same ±2cm accuracy indoors that its enhanced GPS/GLONASS receiver offers outdoors, and in any automotive operating conditions.

Racelogic is a long-term customer of Xsens, and has been using Xsens sensors in its products since 2005. Julian Thomas, Founder and Managing Director of Racelogic, said: "The top priority for Racelogic in developing the VIPS solution was to achieve the industry's best guaranteed accuracy indoors, in any terrain and any driving conditions – customers have relied on Racelogic for superior accuracy ever since the launch of the VBOX data acquisition system in 2001."

"That's why we chose the MTi-100 series IMU from Xsens. Our evaluation showed it provided the most accurate inertial sensor data of any module in its class, enabling our VIPS solution to maintain guaranteed accuracy across the entire measured area."

The VIPS solution consists of six or more static wireless UWB (ultra-wideband) beacons, and a "Rover' module, typically mounted on the roof of the tracked vehicle, which contains a UWB receiver and the MTi-100 series IMU. The Racelogic system achieves its extremely high accuracy by combining position data derived by trilateration of the beacons' signals with real-time 3D acceleration and rate-of-turn data provided by the MTi-100 series IMU.

The IMU is from the high-performance MTi-100 series product line of all-in-one sensor modules from Xsens. It features:

• High-frequency inertial sensor data output

• Robust gyroscopes and accelerometers – the sensors are qualified according to the MIL-STD-202-201A/204C/214A vibration test standards

• Configurable output settings to synchronize with any third-party device

The Racelogic VIPS solution is the world’s first indoor positioning system to provide a seamless transition between GPS-based and indoor position measurement systems with no loss of accuracy. The VIPS solution's ±2cm measurement accuracy enables new indoor testing use cases that were never possible before, including:

• Tyre performance testing on ice rinks

• Testing of vehicle dynamics in controlled indoor environments and on test tracks which include tunnels

• Testing of ADAS systems and autonomous driving functions in indoor test chambers

• Testing of automated parking functions in multi-storey car parks

The VIPS product is also ideal for tracking other mobile assets which cannot receive satellite positioning signals, such as underground mining, tunnelling and construction equipment, and underground railway rolling stock.

In any such application, the Racelogic VIPS product is notable for its flexibility, ease of use and scalability. The battery-powered beacons can be mounted on any fixed surface. For highest accuracy, a beacon array can be positioned with professional surveying equipment in around two hours. A fast, self-locating set-up which provides ±5cm typical accuracy can be completed in less than 30 minutes.

A VIPS array can include up to 250 beacons up to 50m apart to provide coverage of a wide area.