When deploying a Follow-Me Track-iT system, the Anchor placement at the beginning of the install, and the Tag placement at the end of the install are crucial processes to get right. We want the orientation, location and positioning of these components to be as optimised and close to perfect as possible. This will give the UWB network the strongest ability to maintain a reliable, accurate and stable position of our XYZ data, and therefore deliver a great tracking experience. 

So, a well-planned install (temporary or otherwise) should observe our guidelines for the location of these components, considering all the criteria and factors involved.

Anchor placement – 

Get a plot / video / pictures of the venue space and look for potential obstacles and problems. But also to start looking at potential Anchor positions. 

UWB can work with a lot of normal stage materials such as wood, cloth, trussing, etc. But it doesn’t like large amounts of metal, solid concrete walls or shiny surfaces (polished floors for example). These materials cause reflections, where the UWB signal coming out of the Anchor can be reflected off these materials, meaning there are now multiple signals being picked up by the Tags. Of course the development team have created an advanced filtering system to remove the consideration of some of these reflections, but giving the system a helping hand is beneficial.

Boom Anchors up, down, out & away from obstacles – use pipes, magic arms, mic / tripod stands, drop arms, etc. Creativity is needed for placement – look at catwalks, balconies, truss ladders, etc.

Think about what isn’t on the stage yet, but is likely coming later to potentially block Anchors or compromise the signal – large set pieces with large amounts of metal, LED walls, etc.

The antenna for our Anchors is located inside the ‘nose’ don’t block it (for example with a piece of metal pipe) as that will already compromise the signal.

Make sure Anchors don’t go on trusses that can be moved, and can therefore be out of position without the designer/operator knowing it has happened. So putting them on trusses that can always be in the same position is best, so maybe cable bridge trusses are an example of a potentially bad location as they move several times a day & aren’t typically going back to exactly the same height.

Try to make as many Anchors as possible have line-of-sight (in terms of UWB) to each other, we know it isn’t possible in every case – For example with proscenium arches.

UWB doesn’t like water, it will block the signal. So, bearing in mind our bodies are generally made of water, don’t put lower Anchors in locations where people may crowd round them. An example might be low down at the sides of a festival stage, where a lot of people can be watching the performance.

Getting as much variation in X, Y and Z positions of the Anchors is crucial. Different Z heights are especially crucial for 3D. So, locating an Anchor merely a few metres away from another isn’t giving the system enough of a variance in data, so essentially the system will see those two Anchors as ‘one’ in terms of useful positioning calculations. 

Positioning Anchors directly above the tracking area is generally not the best position, imagine an Anchor installed at height directly above you – if you don’t move that much during the performance then the system doesn’t get a lot of variation in X, Y or Z. So, that Anchor isn’t contributing a lot to the overall positioning calculation.

Think as unsymmetrical as possible to position Anchors. Symmetry is nice & neat, but will not be your friend in terms of giving the system as many unique measurements to take. If it is full 3D tracking, a lower array and a higher array of Anchors will need to be achieved.

Bear in mind, positioning Anchors very high up is sometimes not the best idea too. If you have Anchors on a 25m truss, but you are only needing 3D tracking over the first 2m of Z height of the stage, then those Anchors are probably too high. However, if you are tracking an aerial performer working at 10m, then those Anchors are ideally placed.

A Follow-Me Track-iT Anchor has a range of 25 to 30 metres, you can think of this as a sphere around the device. That 25-30m is not absolute, as mentioned previously, obstacles can easily compromise that distance. So you’ll need to position them to ensure a Tag must always be in UWB contact with 4 Anchors at all times. Walk around the space and visualise this – that the Tags are ‘visible’ to Anchors. Therefore, getting a good strong, overlapping of the signal in all areas of the stage is important to maintain stable coordinate data.

This simplified diagram below shows 4 Anchors and how their location populates that area with signal. As you can see on the right hand side, putting Anchors in corners is rarely a good position. Offsetting them into the space (like in the left hand side example) is often better. Looking at the overlapping patterns you can quickly see the darker areas are offering a good signal strength or saturation.

A minimum Anchor count for a system is 8. But this would be for a fairly small tracking space with almost perfect conditions & no obstacles. Take advantage of our system having no limit or compromise on the number of Anchors, and use them to properly saturate the stage with good UWB signal.

We mentioned previously to think of the signal coming out of an Anchor as a sphere. It is worth noting this isn’t a perfect sphere, especially in the vertical plane. As you can see below, the red areas show a slightly weakened signal pattern coming out of the Anchor. Whereas the green areas show the strong signal emission pattern. Bear this in mind when positioning.

Anchor emissions pattern – 

Use all the Anchors you have, keeping two as spares in a flight case serves little purpose. The focus is on system reliability and redundancy, not component backup.

Use the Anchor matrix in the Follow-Me software to see Anchors that are clearly located badly or communicating poorly with the others. Move them & remeasure if possible, if no time is available, use the Blacklist functionality to take them out of the calculation.

Tag placement – 

Tag positioning is as crucial as Anchor placement for many of the same reasons – we want to maintain a good radio communication. Optimal placement of the Tags on a body will therefore gain the best result for UWB tracking.

Firstly and most obviously, make sure costume departments or artist management are part of the early communication process and are aware of the best practices for Tag placement. If an artist casually puts the two Tags in a jacket pocket, only to remove that jacket after 3 songs, then you already have an issue.

Two or potentially more Tags are generally needed for each performer. This builds in a redundancy for Anchor <-> Tag communication. Remember again a Tag must always be in UWB contact with 4 Anchors at all times – walk around the space and visualise this.

Tags are best located high on the body, one on each shoulder is an ideal location. In rare occasions 1 Tag perfectly located at the top of the head (under a hat, or in a wig) can be enough, but consider 2 Tags to be highly advised.

See the diagram below to help consider the realities of Tag placement and the resulting signal

If a performer is likely to be overly sweating, placing the Tags directly against the skin can often throw in a compromise to the signal capability. Remember the radio signal doesn’t like water.

Consider the materials used in the costume of the performer could cause issues, a metal weave or lamé in a jacket for example, will not help the Tags in communicating over the UWB network.

Consider the position of musical instruments, a Tag underneath a guitar may not be the best location.

The antenna in the Tag is located in such a place that orientation of the Tag can make a difference, however we realise it isn’t always possible to observe every rule. The logo side of the Tag should always face away from the body (not against the skin). 

The Tag ideally is mounted vertically on the body or with the curved top side facing upwards. 

If using the Tags on the shoulders the curved top side should face outwards.

The above pictures show examples of correct Tag orientation on the Front (and back), shoulder and hips.

Have a great install & reach out to us if you need help!

Your Follow-Me team.