All Mini-RX beacons have 6D IMU (3D gyro + 3D accelerometer) onboard.
The Mini-RX beacon differs from regular Beacon HW v4.9 in several ways:
The Mini-RX is an RX-only beacon, i.e. it can receive, but it cannot transmit ultrasonic signal
The fact that it is RX-only makes it far more sensitive, i.e. you will get a longer range between Beacon HW v4.9 and the Mini-RX than between Beacon HW v4.9 and Beacon HW v4.9
The Mini-RX beacon can receive any ultrasonic frequency from the bands: 19kHz, 25kHz, 31kHz, 37kHz, 45kHz, 56kHz. The filter can be simply selected in the Dashboard. At the same time, the ultrasonic frequency of Beacon HW v4.9 is HW-defined by ultrasonic sensors and can’t be changed
The Mini-RX beacon can receive several ultrasonic frequencies at once. That is used in Inverse Architecture. See the comparison
The Mini-RX Beacon is significantly smaller, than Beacon HW v4.9 in volume and weight. See the Beacons Comparison table
The Mini-RX Beacon can work with regular Beacons HW v4.9 in any combination as a part of a Starter Set or as a part of navigation systems and it is a superior RX-only replacement to HW v4.9. At the same time, since it is RX-only beacon, the Beacons HW v4.9 are here to stay as universal dual-use beacons. In all cases, beacons shall use the same radio band
Distance between beacons
Reaches up to 50 meters in lab conditions – signal strength limited. Practical limitation is 25m now – memory limited and may be fixed in upcoming SW releases
Recommended distance is up to 30 meters (Transducer4 of Beacon HW v4.9 looking straight at Beacon DSP HW v5.xx) – signal strength limited. But see the memory limitation above
Range of stable tracking of DSP beacon + Beacon HW v4.9 is 20-50% bigger, than the range of Beacon HW v4.9 + Beacon HW v4.9 in the same conditions
Coverage area
Reaches up to 1000 m2 with the Starter Set configurations
Coverage for larger territories is similar to cellular networks
Location precision
Absolute: 1–3% of the distance to the beacons
Differential precision: ±2 cm
Differential precision is on par or better than in the Beacon HW v4.9, partially, because the sensor is a point – not as spread sensors of HW v4.9; and, partially, because of higher processing power and more advanced algorithms of the DSP beacon
Location update rate
Non-Inverse Architecture:
0.05–25Hz
Can be set manually or in automatic mode
Depends on the distance between the mobile and stationary beacons (shorter distance — higher update rate)
Depends on the number of mobile beacons: for example, update rate of 25Hz for 1 mobile beacon will result in update rate of 25Hz/2 for 2 mobile beacons, and 25Hz/3 – for 3 mobile beacons, etc. – TDMA approach
Depends on the radio interface profile (500kbps vs. 38kbps)
Inverse Architecture:
0.05–25Hz. Future SW releases are planned to support IMU fusion that will enabled update rate of up to 100Hz
Can be set manually or in automatic mode
Depends on the distance between the mobile and stationary beacons (shorter distance — higher update rate)
Doesn’t depend on the number of mobile beacons – all of them are receiving
Depends on the radio interface profile (500kbps vs. 38kbps)
Power supply and battery lifetime
Internal:
LiPol battery 750mAh
Battery lifetime totally depends on usage
Stationary beacon with 8Hz update rate => up to 30h
Stationary beacon with 1Hz update rate => 1 week
Future power saving features may increase battery life to 1year and more (with very slow update rate or location update on demand)