Smart Cone Project: development of a smart navigation system for athletes using raspberry pi and real time kinetic (rtk) gnss technology.

Abstract

The Smart cone project involved the development and implementation of cutting-edge smart navigation system designed to enhance athlete training procedures through the integration of sensors and real time kinetics global navigation satellite system (RTK GNSS) technology. The project aimed to revolutionize traditional training methodologies by providing both athletes and coaches with an intelligent training tool that will enable precise location tracking & navigation capabilities, communication, and data exchange em-powering athletes to engage in targeted and personalized training sessions.

The design of the system was divided into three working parts to include the communication part between cones and RTK GNSS technology, the identification of athletes and navigation system. The communication part uses Raspberry Pi 4B acting as hub and a bridge server to communicate between Pi Pico’s which out-puts data from attached sensors mounted inside a cone to serve as the identification part and the Rutronik System Solutions RDK3 + RAB4-RTK GNSS modules for centimetre-level precise positioning as the navigation part. The identification part comprises of the mounted Pico’s in cones that connects a PIR sensor with a 2m range allowing person identification, a LED that blinks when the PIR sensor identifies person and a buzzer that alerts when the LED starts to blink.

The results showed seamless integration of the Pico with the PIR sensor and buzzer to identify person, with communication established between each cone on the raspberry pi 4B and the rover module broadcasts real time position data with less than 5cm accuracy.