A Wireless Angle and Position Tracking Concept for Live Data Control of Advanced, Semi-Automated Manufacturing Processes

Area of Science:

• Industrial Engineering
• Robotics
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Small-series production faces challenges with manual labor, worker training, and monitoring despite automation advances.
• Existing tracking methods for manual production tools often involve restrictive position encoders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a live monitoring system for semi-automated manufacturing processes, enhancing ergonomic support.
• To address the challenge of tracking hand-guided tools without physical restrictions.

Main Methods:

• A novel system integrating localization, torque control, and rotation counting for real-time production monitoring.
• Implementation of wireless wave-based sensors for close-range position tracking in industrial settings.
• A Kalman-filter-based beam-tracking approach utilizing relative phase information for localization.

Main Results:

• The proposed system achieves high accuracy in tracking hand-guided tools.
• Beam-tracking accuracy of approximately 0.58° in azimuth and 0.89° in elevation was demonstrated.
• Overall tracking accuracy reached approximately 3.18 cm.

Conclusions:

• The wireless wave-based sensor system offers a promising solution for precise, non-restrictive tracking in industrial environments.
• Offloading processing to fixed nodes reduces hardware size and power consumption for mobile units.
• The developed system can significantly improve monitoring and efficiency in semi-automated manufacturing.