Smart Industry MeshCube Demo Kit

It is now online the video guide of our Smart Industry MeshCube Demo Kit setup.

MeshCube

MeshCube is an IoT platform for positioning, tracking and distributed monitoring, developed by BlueUp. MeshCube uses Wirepas 2.4GHz mesh network technology as backbone for device communication. MeshCube integrates the following functionalities:

  • positioning: this is the core functionality of MeshCube. Position of the Mesh Tags is provided with a typical interval of a few minutes, and can range from a minimum value of 15 seconds to a maximum value of 18 hrs. Minimum value is to be used only in specific conditions (e.g. ALARM state) as it consumes high values of energy and drains the batteries quickly;

  • monitoring: sensor data is collected from Mesh Anchors or Mesh Tags equipped with sensors;

  • beaconing: both Mesh Anchors and Mesh Tags can be enabled to broadcast Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packets for beacon use.

The main components of MeshCube are:

  • Mesh Anchors: fixed devices, typically powered by batteries, that are used as anchors for positioning system or can include sensors;

  • Mesh Tags: mobile devices, applied to assets or worn by person, used for tracking;

  • Mesh Gateway: device that connects mesh infrastructure with LAN and to MeshCube software;

  • MeshCube software: can be installed on premises or on cloud, and can be integrated using APIs. The Demo Kit comes with MeshCube software preinstalled on a small PC (MeshCube Server).

MeshCube Architecture

Smart Industry Demo Kit

Smart Industry MeshCube Demo Kit is the optimal solution if you want to test MeshCube platform for buildings (offices, hospitals, schools, …). The Demo Kit includes devices suitable for industrial installations and allows to test both asset tracking and personnel locating applications.

Demo Kit Hardware components

In the table below are listed the Hardware Components that are included in the MeshCube Demo Kit.

Device Quantity Image
MeshCube Server with Power Supply Unit and 1-year license 1 image
TinyGateway PoE Wirepas 1 image
Wirepas Brick Anchors 10 image
Wirepas TagX Asset Tags 6 image
Wirepas SafeX Lite Wearable Tags 2 image

Prerequisites

Prerequisites for using MeshCube Demo Kit are:

  • LAN (Local Area Network). Your LAN should be provided with DHCP server to be able to retrieve the MeshCube Server IP address.
  • A PC/Laptop with LAN (or WLAN) interface and web browser (Google Chrome is suggested).

Setup

The following steps describe the complete setup of the MeshCube Demo Kit. Please follow each step as suggested.

Step 1: Setup of LAN connection

  1. Power-up MeshCube Server using provided Power Supply Unit (PSU) and connect it to your LAN.

  2. Power-up TinyGateway PoE with USB-C cable or through PoE power supply, based on the TinyGateway PoE version. Refer to the TinyGateway PoE manual for TinyGateway installation and configuration.

  3. Connect PC/Laptop to your LAN.

  4. Find the local IP address of the MeshCube Server. On your router interface MeshCube Server is listed with hostname meshcube-XXXXXX, where XXXXXX is a number.

LAN setup

Step 2: Mesh gateway setup

The following steps describe the process to connect BlueUp TinyGateway Mesh Gateway to MeshCube software.

  1. On your PC/Laptop connected to the LAN, using the web browser, open local IP of the MeshCube Server (local IP found in previous Step 5.1. point 5).

  2. Login the MeshCube web interface using default password blueup. Login

  3. Go to the section MeshCube → Gateways. The first time the Mesh Gateway should be listed in the section “Available Gateways connected on LAN”. Click on “Connect” icon (on the right) related to the Mesh Gateway. The system will start an automatic procedure for connecting with the Mesh Gateway. Available Gateways

  4. The Gateway is now listed in the section “Connected Gateways” and starts communicating with MeshCube software.

Connected Gateways

Step 3: Mesh anchors installation and setup

The following steps describe the process for installation and configuration of the Mesh Anchors for the positioning system.

To reduce energy consumption of the devices during transportation, BlueUp Wirepas Anchors are shipped in Off by position mode. This means that they are switched Off when in horizontal position and they are switched On in any other position, as shown below.

Anchor Off
Anchor On

  1. After Step 2, the Mesh Anchor devices connected to the mesh network will be listed in MeshCube → Nodes → Router Nodes. It may take a few minutes before the system recognize all the mesh anchors. Wait until all the Mesh Anchors are connected. Router Nodes

  2. Install the Mesh Anchors in the place where the system will be used. For Mesh Anchor installation tips refer to the following page.

  3. In the “Maps” menu, click on “Create new map” on the top-right side. Create new map

  4. Upload the file containing the map. When uploading the map, you will be requested to specify the scale of the map (in pixels/mt). The accuracy of this value is required for maximum accuracy of the localization.
    Map upload

  5. Place all the Mesh Anchors on the map. To place a Mesh Anchor on the map click on “Place Sink/Router node on the Map”, choose the router node and place it on the map.Place Nodes on the map

  6. Each Mesh Anchor should be placed in the same position where it is physically installed: take care of Mesh Anchor S/N to uniquely identify each device through its ID. The ID of each device is composed by the Model Number and Serial Number, that is printed on the sticker of each device, as follows:

ID = XXYYYYYY
Model Number = XX
Serial Number = YYYYYY

Map with anchors

Step 4: Mesh tags setup

The Mesh Tags are shipped with an Ultra-Low-Power Configuration to avoid useless battery consumption during transportation and storage. For this reason, Mesh Tags are not immediately active and require a preliminary configuration.

Non Router Nodes

The following steps describe the process for configuration and setup of the Mesh Tags.

  1. The configuration can be set from the MeshCube web interface, from menu MeshCube → Network Configuration. Network configuration includes both Mesh Anchors and Mesh Tags. Mesh Tags can be of one of two types: Asset Tag (tags suitable for positioning and tracking of assets) or Personal Tag (tags suitable for positioning and tracking of people).
    The default device Classes are defined as follows:
    - F9 - default Anchor class
    - FA - default Asset Tag class
    - FB - default Personal Tag class
    Depending on the content of the Demo Kit, classes FA and FB can be both present or only one. Class F9 (default Anchor class) is always present in first configuration.
    The first time, the parameters of the Mesh Tags Ultra-Low-Power Configuration are displayed in the Network Configuration editor.Network Configuration

  2. Edit the Default Operating Configuration for the Mesh Tags, using the following parameters for either FA class or FB class or both (depending which is present).


    Default Positioning: Interval = 300 (5 minutes), Timeout = 1800 (30 minutes);

    Motion Positioning: Interval = 60 (1 minute), Timeout = 60 (1 minute);
    Alarm Positioning: Interval = 15 (15 seconds), Timeout = 60 (1 minute);
    Sleep Positioning: Interval = 3600 (1 hour)
    Sleep Positioning: Interval = 3600 (1 hour)
    Autoscan : disabled for all states (when interval is below 60secs, Autoscan is automatic)
    Button; enabled;
    Alerts: enabled;
    Motion threshold: 160 mG
    Motion duration: 1 sec
    Advanced accelerometer mode: shock
    Shock intensity: 1550 mG
    Beaconing: disabled.
    Mesh Anchor: Disable the Off by position parameter. Other parameters can be kept as they are.

  3. Click on Apply to send the configuration command to the mesh devices.Tag Configuration

  4. When Mesh Tags are in Ultra-Low-Power Configuration (first time you receive them) you need to wake them up in order to forward the configuration command. The wakeup procedure is the following:
    - Mesh Tags without button: shake the tag;
    - Mesh Tags with button: press the button.

  5. To check if the Mesh Tags have updated their configuration with the new one, go to MeshCube → Nodes and check the “Config” column. The Config icon can have one of four colors:

    - Grey: the system has not received the configuration for the device yet. This state is usually displayed at the startup of the system.

    - Red: the configuration of the node is different from the Network Configuration set in the interface. It can happen, for example, when the new configuration has been set and the nodes have not updated the configuration yet.

    - Yellow: the node class configuration in not present in the latest Network Configuration. This can happen since it is possible to add or remove device classes when configuring the devices in the network.

    - Green: the device is updated to the latest configuration.Non Router Nodes cnfigured

  6. Once all the devices (Mesh Anchors and Mesh Tags) are listed with Green or Yellow Config icon, the system is configured and you can start using it. Dots on map associated to each Mesh Tag are displayed on MeshCube → Maps.

Tag Positioning