AgriTech White Papers

Although GNSS offers ubiquitous coverage worldwide, its accuracy can be hindered in some situations – signals can be attenuated by heavy vegetation, for example, or obstructed by tall buildings in dense urban canyons. This results in signals being received indirectly or via the multipath effect, leading to inaccuracy, or even blocked entirely. Unimpeded GNSS positioning in all real world scenarios is therefore unrealistic – creating a need for supporting technologies, such as real time kinematic (RTK) positioning and dead reckoning, to enable centimeter-accuracy for newer mass-market IoT devices. RTK techniques can mitigate biases and degradations, greatly improving accuracy by communicating corrections from fixed base stations with known coordinates in the proximity of the roving device, providing position data in real time via a cellular, broadcast radio or satellite carrier. RTK uses carrier- phase differentials to compensate for errors from satellite orbit and clock inaccuracies and atmospheric conditions. Compensations are then accessed by the mobile receiver, such as a delivery robot or e-scooter, which uses them to calculate its own precise position relative to the fixed stations.