DWM1001 On-Board User App: Localization via Button Push

Hi all!

I just went through the “DWM1001 FIRMWARE APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE (API) GUIDE” and did some initial tests with the “dwm-simple” FW example. Everything works as described but I couldn’t find any API function call for my desired application.
My question: is it possible to disable the timer based periodic execution of the location engine (100 ms to 2 min period) and instead start it aperiodically with an external button push?

Thanks in advance for your response and best regards from Germany,
Markus

Hi Markus,

no, that is not possible in PANS and I do not see a work-around which might help you. May I ask how would it work in your use case? Maybe if you could describe how should it work to serve your application.

We might consider adding a such feature in LEAPS (a more advanced modular system under development and can be considered a successor of PANS).

Thanks,
TDK

Hi TDK,

thank you very much for your quick response!

In our use case, we want to track trolleys in a production hall. Due to size restrictions at the transponder side, we have a limited battery capacity of around 300 mAh. On the other hand, the customer demands a battery lifetime of at least one year. In average, the trolleys move every 15 min. The idea was to stop the localization engine until the trolley is moved. This could either be sensed by the motion sensor or the engine could be started manually by the employee by pushing a button on the transponder. The goal is to keep the power consumption as low as possible The other think is that we generate a lot of unused and irrelevant localization data with a 1 min interval in this quite static scenario

I have tried some things for a workaround but couldn’t find any solution. The API manual says that the maximum localization interval is 2 min but the api function in the source code is limited to 1 min. There is no possibility for improving the battery lifetime here, I think.

I thought about deactivating UWB (through writing the tag configuration) and then activate it with the pushbutton but maybe the latency will be too high (time needed for receiving first localization message).

Another question: is it possible to register and generate a GPIO external interrupt for the push button?

Hi Markus,

apologies for the late response. Currently there is no way to do measurement on demand using PANS. One of the option is to have a carrier board that would cut the power to the DWM1001 module when unused. We will consider adding this feature in LEAPS or future PANS.

The API document is probably incorrect. The longest update rate is 60s.

This should not help to reduce the power consumption since only in Tag Low Power mode (with UWB active) the module goes to deep sleep. This happens automatically.

This should be possible using User Application with PANS library. Look for dwm-simple example discussed many times on this forums.

Cheers,
TDK

Hi TDK,

thanks for your response! It would be nice to see that feature in future releases!

Best regards from Germany,
Markus