This week, I focused on getting our interim demo integrated and working. Since the Raspberry Pi did not arrive in time for the demos, I used my computer as a substitute. I modified the mobile app to transmit UWB direction and distance data via UDP sockets instead of only printing to the console. I then wrote a Python listener script on my computer that received this UWB data in real time from the iPhones. This script forwarded the received data to another module responsible for communicating with the robot control system running on the Teensy. This pipeline allowed us to successfully demonstrate the system’s end-to-end functionality, showing that UWB data could be transmitted from the iPhones, through a UDP interface, and finally to the robot controller.
Obtaining direction data is an ongoing issue. I did more research this week on it, and I’ve found no real solution. I integrated ARKit for camera assistance. Sources I read stated “On iPhone, it’s possible to receive direction for nearby third-party accessories in sessions that enable isCameraAssistanceEnabled.” Unfortunately, all this did was make our distance measurements more accurate, without actually enabling direction.
At this stage, I am behind schedule because of the unresolved issue of receiving direction information from the UWB connection. This problem is software-related and tied to Apple’s Nearby Interaction framework limitations when using camera-assisted direction. To catch up, I plan to continue debugging with the assistance of the professors and TA, explore potential workarounds, and perhaps find a way to do relative device orientation estimates. Once direction data is available, I will quickly integrate it into the UDP communication pipeline and test with the Raspberry Pi.
For verifying the UWB communication and data relay subsystem, I plan to measure UDP packet latency from the iPhone to the Raspberry Pi or computer to ensure responsive data transfer. I will also validate the accuracy of the distance measurements by comparing UWB distances against physical measurements. Once direction data becomes available, I will conduct angular accuracy tests to quantify directional error. Finally, I will run repeated tests to analyze the overall stability of the system, including packet loss, jitter, and consistency across the full pipeline.
‘direction’ variable documentation: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/nearbyinteraction/ninearbyobject/direction-4qh5w