Ghost person detection, FPS infinity, skeleton flickering and jumpy vitals with ESP32-S3 multi-node setup (edge-tier 1 & 2)

[kapilsoni2013]

Environment

• Hardware: 3x ESP32-S3-WROOM (16MB Flash, 8MB PSRAM)
• Firmware: v0.6.4-esp32
• Server: ruvnet/wifi-densepose Docker (latest)
• Host OS: macOS (MacBook Pro)
• WiFi channel: 3 (locked via --channel 3)
• Edge tier: 1 and 2 (both tested)
• TDM: enabled (--tdm-slot 0/1/2 --tdm-total 3)
• pres-thresh: 15, vital-win: 30, vital-int: 2, subk-count: 16
• Docker env: CSI_SOURCE=esp32, MAX_FPS=10, MAX_PERSONS=1

Bugs observed

Bug 1 — Ghost person: 2 persons detected with only 1 person present

Occurs with 1 ESP32 and with 3 ESP32 nodes. Persists on both edge-tier 1 and edge-tier 2. MAX_PERSONS=1 Docker env var does not resolve it. Suspected cause: subcarrier group clustering splitting single person's reflections into 2 clusters (as noted in issue #104).

Bug 2 — FPS shows "Infinity" in UI with 3 ESP32 nodes

MAX_FPS=10 Docker env var fixes it with 1 node but not with 3 nodes. With 3 nodes active the frame flood overwhelms the rate limiter and FPS counter overflows to Infinity.

Bug 3 — Pose skeleton flickering too fast

Skeleton keypoints jump rapidly between positions making it impossible to track posture. Occurs on both edge-tier 1 and 2 with 3 nodes. TDM provisioning did not resolve this.

Bug 4 — Vitals (BR, HR) readings are very jumpy

Values change erratically every second even with --vital-win 30 and --vital-int 2. Not stable enough for real use. Tested with single stationary subject within 2m of ESP32.

Steps to reproduce

1. Flash v0.6.4 firmware (8MB variant) to 3x ESP32-S3
2. Provision each node separately (one at a time, unplugged others):

   python provision.py --port /dev/cu.usbmodem1101 \
     --ssid "SSID" --password "PWD" --target-ip 192.168.1.10 \
     --edge-tier 1 --channel 3 --node-id 1 \
     --tdm-slot 0 --tdm-total 3 \
     --pres-thresh 15 --vital-win 30 --vital-int 2 --subk-count 16
   

3. Run Docker:

   docker run -e CSI_SOURCE=esp32 -e MAX_FPS=10 -e MAX_PERSONS=1 \
     -p 3000:3000 -p 3001:3001 -p 5005:5005/udp \
     ruvnet/wifi-densepose:latest
   

4. Open http://localhost:3000/ui/index.html
5. Stand alone in room with 3 ESP32s in 3 corners

Result: persons=2, FPS=Infinity, skeleton flickering, jumpy vitals

Serial log sample (1 node, edge-tier 1)

I (944120) csi_collector: CSI cb #18500: len=128 rssi=-58 ch=3
E (960790) task_wdt: Task watchdog got triggered.
E (960790) task_wdt:  - IDLE1 (CPU 1)
E (960790) task_wdt: CPU 1: edge_dsp
Backtrace: 0x4037890F:0x3FC9D6A0 0x4037746D:0x3FC9D6C0 0x4200D225:0x3FCC9F10
I (968100) csi_collector: CSI cb #18700: len=384 rssi=-52 ch=3

Questions for maintainers

1. Is MAX_PERSONS=1 env var actually implemented in the server? (had no effect)
2. Is there a server-side person deduplication setting for multi-node setups?
3. What is the correct way to rate-limit WebSocket frame delivery to the UI?
4. Is vital-win/vital-int smoothing applied server-side or only on ESP32?
5. Is the task_wdt: edge_dsp watchdog fixed in v0.6.4 for edge-tier 1?

Expected vs actual

• Expected: 1 person detected, stable ~10 FPS, smooth skeleton, stable vitals
• Actual: 2 ghost persons, FPS=Infinity (3 nodes), flickering skeleton, jumpy vitals

[kapilsoni2013]

Recording:-
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/bc44fab5-76f7-42eb-b78a-48ec0488e96e

[kapilsoni2013]

Hi @ruvnet
I flashed using latest release with below steps:
Ran below docker image in MacOS 16 Pro:-
I see this docker image is 2 months old? Could you pls push latest code to this docker image? or this older will work?

docker run -d \
  --name ruview \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -p 3001:3001 \
  -p 5005:5005/udp \
  -e CSI_SOURCE=esp32 \
  -e MAX_FPS=60 \
  ruvnet/wifi-densepose:latest

Erased and reflashed ESP32-S3:-

python -m esptool \
  --chip esp32s3 \
  --port /dev/cu.usbmodem1101 \
  erase-flash

python -m esptool \
  --chip esp32s3 \
  --port /dev/cu.usbmodem1101 \
  --baud 460800 \
  write-flash \
  0x0 firmware/esp32-csi-node/release_bins/bootloader.bin \
  0x8000 firmware/esp32-csi-node/release_bins/partition-table.bin \
  0xf000 firmware/esp32-csi-node/release_bins/ota_data_initial.bin \
  0x20000 firmware/esp32-csi-node/release_bins/esp32-csi-node.bin

python firmware/esp32-csi-node/provision.py \
  --port /dev/cu.usbmodem1101 \
  --ssid "SSID 2G 1" \
  --password "pass" \
  --target-ip 192.168.1.10 \
  --target-port 5005 \
  --edge-tier 2 \
  --channel 3 \
  --node-id 0 \
  --tdm-slot 0 \
  --tdm-total 3 \
  --pres-thresh 15 \
  --fall-thresh 8 \
  --vital-win 30 \
  --vital-int 2 \
  --subk-count 16

After that UI showing 0 person:-

Here is the logs of ESP32-S3 after flashing latest release.
At 3FCE9710 len 00005724 (21 KiB): RAM
I (28851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-68
I (29851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-71
I (30851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-64
I (31851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-69
I (32851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-64
I (33851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-68
I (34851) adaptive_ctrl: slow tick (state=8, feature_state_seq=149, role=2, epoch=2) HEALTH sent
I (34851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-66
I (35851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-63
I (36851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-67
I (37851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-70
I (38851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-62
I (39851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-68
I (40851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-65
I (41851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-61
I (42851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-67
I (43851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-61
I (44851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-70
I (45851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-67
I (46851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-56
I (47851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-65
I (48851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-62
I (49851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-61
I (50851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-64
I (51851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-65
I (52851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-63
I (53851) adaptive_ctrl: medium tick: state=8 yield=0pps motion=0.00 presence=0.00 rssi=-65