Practical difference between Flow deck and light house positioning system

Discussions related to positioning systems where the position is calculated outside the Crazyflie and sent to the device using radio, including MoCap systems
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purvisb
Beginner
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:59 am

Practical difference between Flow deck and light house positioning system

Post by purvisb »

I'm trying to figure what positioning system to use. I can't use the loco positioning system due to 802.15.4 interference with some of the equipment I'm going to use.

I want to be able to write a script that tells multiple (up to 10) crazyflie drones to fly to some position at a controlled speed. The light house positioning system seems like it would work for me. But the flow deck also seems like it would work - and it appears to be cheaper. What's the practical difference between these two positioning system?
purvisb
Beginner
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:59 am

Re: Practical difference between Flow deck and light house positioning system

Post by purvisb »

There was a nice blog post published today that explains the difference nicely.
https://www.bitcraze.io/category/loco-positioning/
jonasdn
Expert
Posts: 132
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 3:13 pm

Re: Practical difference between Flow deck and light house positioning system

Post by jonasdn »

For a less serious comparison, you can also look at this video on our Instagram where I use Flowdeck and Lighthouse to land a CF in squares :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CO-8k06rFIb/
purvisb
Beginner
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:59 am

Re: Practical difference between Flow deck and light house positioning system

Post by purvisb »

Thanks for sharing! That does clarify the precision I can expect.
kristoffer
Bitcraze
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Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:47 am

Re: Practical difference between Flow deck and light house positioning system

Post by kristoffer »

If you want to fly up to 10 CFs you need absolute positioning (that is the lighthouse system). I doubt it would be possible to do in a controlled manner with flow decks as you will get more and more errors in the positions over time. You would have to keep a long distance between drones to be sure they do not collide.
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