UWB Autonomous Carrier

Overview

A UWB follow-me vehicle that works without fixed anchors. It combines an ESP32-S3 carrier, ESP32-C3 tag, 3 DWM3000 units, SPI multiplexing, trilateration, 10Hz positioning, Kalman filtering, 4-wheel differential motors, and ultrasonic avoidance.

My Work

• ▸Designed the ESP32-S3 dual-core plus shared-SPI control logic
• ▸Implemented the DWM3000 2-byte header protocol directly
• ▸Sequential TWR communication, distance measurement, and the trilateration algorithm
• ▸Kalman filter (position smoothing) plus PD control loop
• ▸4-wheel PWM motor control plus ultrasonic sensor sampling
• ▸DWA path planning plus avoidance prioritization

Features

• Real-time following of the tag (person) position
• 3-channel ultrasonic forward obstacle detection
• 12V 10Ah battery, about 2 hours of operation
• Maximum speed 1.0 m/s (safe speed)
• Maintains a 1.2m following distance via PD
• No installation required — usable in any space

Highlights

• 0 fixed anchors — a single carrier follows the user
• Shared SPI (one ESP32-S3 controls 3 DWM3000 units)
• Sequential TWR (100ms × 3 channels) → trilateration
• 10Hz position updates, ±10cm accuracy
• 4-wheel differential motors (BTS7960) plus 3-channel ultrasonic avoidance

Timeline

Tech Stack

</>ESP32-S3 + DWM3000, sequential TWR, trilateration, PD/DWA