Support

User Guide for the Neo-Luna Navigation System

Welcome Neo-Luna Navigation & Game System Users! We hope you enjoy discovering the unlimited possibilities that The Neo-Luna Navigation System offers to its users and beyond. We certainly enjoyed creating this system and new world of navigation and control possibilities for you.

Using Neo-Luna

Casual Mode Sport Mode Tactical Mode

The three images above show iPhones and Neo Controllers being used in three modes: 1) Casual Mode, with iPhone SE clipped onto hip. 2) Sport Mode, with iPhone 11 clipped to harness. 3) Tactical Mode, with iPhone 13 Pro Max clipped to harness and Neo Controller clipped to side for quick access and release.

Your iPhone with the App Suite (Vernier, Neo Compass, & Luna Navigator) can be clipped to your belt, body-worn, or hand-held interchangeably. The App Suite can also be used with an iPhone fixed or mounted to a vehicle or vessel. The Neo Controller can be attached to a belt, shoulder harness, etc., for quick access and release by the preferred operating hand. Plus, the Neo Controller can be fixed or mounted onto a vehicle, vessel, or other location for on-demand visual and/or tactile reference.

My favorite is using the navigation app suite in Casual Mode with an iPhone on my right hip, with a Neo Controller in my left jacket- or pant-pocket, with the carry strap looped through my belt. I can leave the navigation software running on my hip, because it uses hardly any power, and I can sense vibration on point with a bit of iPhone or body rotation. For a discreet and robust tactile performance boost, I can switch on Neo and use it without the need to take Neo out of pocket or the iPhone off clip. I don’t even have to take off my gloves or expose any skin or equipment to the elements. A flip of the switch turns the Neo Controller on, “on-demand”, giving immediate and persistently-updated directions. I’ve used it in public places and nobody else notices that I’m operating a wearable when it’s in my pocket. I’ve tested the system mapping and walking through cities and parks, through the woods and on lakes — on cross-country skis, paddling canoes, sailing, and motor boating, navigating hospitals, churches, and other public and private buildings.

Discreet, powerful, and reliable — Use like a reliable tool or self-defense weapon — The Neo Luna Navigation & Game System shines light on darkness — always pointing the way.

Quick-Start User Guide for the Vernier App

coming soon

Quick-Start User Guide for the Neo Compass App

coming soon

Quick-Start User Guide for the Luna Navigator App

Build a map and test Luna Navigator performance in your area.

For best performance, use the following settings on your iPhone:
- Turn On — Precise Location
- Turn On — Use True North
- Turn Off — Orientation Lock
- Turn Off — Auto Lock

Not essential, but highly recommended for maximum battery conservation and tactical performance:
- Turn Off — Auto-Brightness

When you launch Luna, it will initially point to Global Tactile. Selecting one of the 5 routes points to Global Tactile, and 0.01 degrees North, South, East, and West of Global Tactile.

For a quick navigation tool for an unmapped location you wish to command, you can start by creating a 5-point cross map to scout the area. A set of cardinal points placed, for example, 0.01 degrees North, South, East, and West of “home base” will render a very powerful tactical navigation tool. With a simple set of distant or on-location waypoints, you can travel to-and-from home base along geodesics (straight lines), plus you can travel off-point or in curves around waypoints. Tactically. Superior.

To use Luna, you must first create or obtain a map. In the absence of map information for a new location, the crosshair method described above works great. The following is a typical Luna map, which is a text file called “dog_park_ghostball.json”, which is a formatted “json” file type, and looks like this:

https://kallie.org/press/dog_park_ghostball.json

You can download/copy/paste and change/add/subtract the values and routes. Just make sure to format the “json” text file correctly, otherwise Luna will shut down, and you’ll just have to remake the file and try again until you get the formatting right.

There are 4 fields for each route: “id” (an integer), “route” (a string), “waypoints” [a matrix of waypoints], and “labels” [a matrix of “strings”]. The route and labels are not currently used by Luna but are necessary for forward compatibility with future hardware and software releases.

Make a .json text file with one or more routes, each having one or more waypoints. Share by any means (you can use AirDrop and/or Messaging), save to wherever you like on your iPhone or iCloud, and load file using the Map button on Luna. Then, using the Route field selector, choose your desired route by selecting the correct id.

Once you make a choice, Luna is pointing to the next waypoint. You can use Luna in any one of 5 iPhone orientations, but each orientation has a specific function: In Sport or Tactical mode (e.g., using a harness or hand-held vertically), the iPhone is vertical with the main camera pointing forward and screen pointing backward. In this orientation, a special bio-filter accounts for tilt and roll. You can use Luna without the bio-filter, but it is not recommended: simply navigate with the iPhone oriented upside down — keeping in mind that the lack of tilt/roll compensation will greatly affect Luna’s current orientation estimate, and will cause you to walk in arcs from one point to the next. Alternatively, when used face-up (or face-down), Luna points like a traditional compass. Luna also points like a traditional compass in Casual Mode, when your iPhone is on either left or right edge.

If using Luna with iPhone face-up, when switching back to Luna after using another App, you may have to briefly flip the phone from horizontal to vertical, and back, in order to disengage the energy-efficient bio-filter and continue navigating. There are a number of energy-saving features in the Neo-Luna Navigation System, which eliminate accidental battery drain. The phone flip just described and switching Neo off and back on again are the only two reactivation tasks that may be required when switching between apps. The advantage is excellent battery conservation on both devices.

Once a map is loaded and a route selected, Luna is pointing to the next waypoint, and you can start navigating on-point (or off-point) at any desired place/time. Luna only shows you the essential information for the navigation task at hand, and vibrates on point. Once you get close to the first waypoint (currently set to within 3 meters by default) Luna will point to the next waypoint, until all waypoints have been passed.

Tips for maintaining accurate calibration: Start Luna a few minutes and several meters before you need to navigate with it. Checking calibration on your iPhone’s left and right edges gives a good indication about the current sensor accuracy. Also, sticking to one orientation during travel yields the best performance accuracy.

Quick-Start User Guide for the patent-pending Neo Controller featuring Visual-Tactile Reticle Technology

If you have a patent-pending Neo Controller, you can turn it on near the iPhone while Luna is running. Luna will immediately pair with Neo, and you can travel with tactical precision and speed using Neo’s Visual-Tactile Reticle technology. Neo and Luna pair when they are within a few meters of one another, such as when Luna is running on a body-worn, hand-held, or console-mounted iPhone, and Neo is tethered to the user for intermittent handheld use. The Neo Controller may also be sensibly mounted and/or handheld to be used as a multi-modal navigation indicator for sight, touch, and/or sound.

Caution: Although it may be tempting, avoid sandwiching Neo and Luna together while in use: the Bluetooth signal will interfere with the magnetometer, causing temporarily uncalibrated magnetic sensors, and you will veer off course. If this happens, you can simply restart the iPhone, or recalibrate the iPhone’s compass by standard means.

Technical Specifications

See Vernier App, Neo Compass, Luna Navigator and Neo Controller Technical Specifications Here.

Questions

Check-in at the Neo-Luna Forum for general information, technical questions, training, and use.

If you’re still stuck, you can email support@globaltactile.com