Reach RTK vs Piksi?

Hello,

I've been reading lots of forums and posts out there about RTK, affordable equipment like Reach RTK and Piksi, but Piksi seems it requires lots of configuration and according to some posts lots of things could go wrong, and as for the Reach RTK, and I haven't found much, in fact I haven't found any videos of people using them, they both claim to integrate with Pixhawk, but has anyone test them?, similar? or cheaper?, and specially on Rovers?

http://store.swiftnav.com/s.nl/it.A/id.4216/.f

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/affordable-new-rtk-gps-designed-for-pixhawk-apm

https://emlid.com/shop/reach-rtk-kit/

I'm sorry if this question was already answered but I'm researching before buying anything.

Thanks.

Replies

Tom October 4, 2016 at 9:13am

as for the link i suggest to use this openLRS

Varonis
kiki boy October 3, 2016 at 7:04am

I use telemetry with drotek smartnav. If there is not good link (quality data over radio), I don't have fix, that's why I purpose to upgrade your antenna.

Vehicule positionning is not in my interest at this time, I use it for GCP so telemetry is not needed in my case.

Thank you for your feedback also
Juan Diaz October 3, 2016 at 7:01am
I use it for vehicle positioning. In fact, I obtain the position of the drone in real-time for a software application that makes calculations with that positioning. It is not a matter of range when using telemetry radios, because those dropouts are experienced on the ground also before take-off, even when testing inside the office.

Thank you for your feedback.

kiki boy said:
You use it for photogrammetry or vehicule positionning ?

If it's for photogrammetry, try using ppk configuration and camera feedback : it does not require telemetry. For photogrammetry, the most important is position of camera not vehicule.

If you use it for vehicule positionning, you should upgrade your antenna : dipole antenna on vehicule and big long range antenna on the ground (like tv antenna but more specific to your telemetry specification : 433 or 915 or other

Juan Diaz said:

I bought an EMLID Reach Kit. Here is my experience so far.

Integration with Pixhawk is good. It does require some configuration and understanding how the system and differential positioning works. It took me a lot of reading through the forum and around a week.

Antenna positioning and the use of correct ground planes is key! Test it many times until you find the set-up with best coverage.

After that, it seems that connection through telemetry radio is not very reliable (the corrections have dropouts, which does not permit to obtain a stable RTK FIX). I have experienced this, and read about a lot of people with the same issue. Nobody found a definitive answer to this.

Correction link through Wifi works great, I am using this approach currently (because the project in which I am working allows it). Since the drone does not fly very far away from the GCS, I can establish a wifi network.

In my current set-up, I am not able to obtain a stable fix every time. Most of the time it is lost after take-off and never recovered. I am working on it, might be an issue with the wifi network (too long distance between base, router and rover.

The Forum is fairly active, so doubts and problems can be solved by other users or Emlid workers.

The developers seem to be still improving the solution, because I have gone through at least 3 updates of the SW. So I guess there is still margin for improvement.

In conclusion, the technology looks great. When it works, its impressive (centimetre level accuracy). But there are many difficulties along the way. I still have not been able to solve all of them at the same time to have a reliable and stable solution every time. I am using it professionally, and still cannot rely on it. I am working on it though, I have hope!

I would love to hear the experience from other users of Reach or Piksi!
kiki boy October 3, 2016 at 6:54am
You use it for photogrammetry or vehicule positionning ?

If it's for photogrammetry, try using ppk configuration and camera feedback : it does not require telemetry. For photogrammetry, the most important is position of camera not vehicule.

If you use it for vehicule positionning, you should upgrade your antenna : dipole antenna on vehicule and big long range antenna on the ground (like tv antenna but more specific to your telemetry specification : 433 or 915 or other

Juan Diaz said:
I bought an EMLID Reach Kit. Here is my experience so far.

Integration with Pixhawk is good. It does require some configuration and understanding how the system and differential positioning works. It took me a lot of reading through the forum and around a week.

Antenna positioning and the use of correct ground planes is key! Test it many times until you find the set-up with best coverage.

After that, it seems that connection through telemetry radio is not very reliable (the corrections have dropouts, which does not permit to obtain a stable RTK FIX). I have experienced this, and read about a lot of people with the same issue. Nobody found a definitive answer to this.

Correction link through Wifi works great, I am using this approach currently (because the project in which I am working allows it). Since the drone does not fly very far away from the GCS, I can establish a wifi network.

In my current set-up, I am not able to obtain a stable fix every time. Most of the time it is lost after take-off and never recovered. I am working on it, might be an issue with the wifi network (too long distance between base, router and rover.

The Forum is fairly active, so doubts and problems can be solved by other users or Emlid workers.

The developers seem to be still improving the solution, because I have gone through at least 3 updates of the SW. So I guess there is still margin for improvement.

In conclusion, the technology looks great. When it works, its impressive (centimetre level accuracy). But there are many difficulties along the way. I still have not been able to solve all of them at the same time to have a reliable and stable solution every time. I am using it professionally, and still cannot rely on it. I am working on it though, I have hope!

I would love to hear the experience from other users of Reach or Piksi!
Juan Diaz October 3, 2016 at 4:53am
I bought an EMLID Reach Kit. Here is my experience so far.
- Integration with Pixhawk is good. It does require some configuration and understanding how the system and differential positioning works. It took me a lot of reading through the forum and around a week.
- Antenna positioning and the use of correct ground planes is key! Test it many times until you find the set-up with best coverage.
- After that, it seems that connection through telemetry radio is not very reliable (the corrections have dropouts, which does not permit to obtain a stable RTK FIX). I have experienced this, and read about a lot of people with the same issue. Nobody found a definitive answer to this.
- Correction link through Wifi works great, I am using this approach currently (because the project in which I am working allows it). Since the drone does not fly very far away from the GCS, I can establish a wifi network.
- In my current set-up, I am not able to obtain a stable fix every time. Most of the time it is lost after take-off and never recovered. I am working on it, might be an issue with the wifi network (too long distance between base, router and rover.
- The Forum is fairly active, so doubts and problems can be solved by other users or Emlid workers.
- The developers seem to be still improving the solution, because I have gone through at least 3 updates of the SW. So I guess there is still margin for improvement.
In conclusion, the technology looks great. When it works, its impressive (centimetre level accuracy). But there are many difficulties along the way. I still have not been able to solve all of them at the same time to have a reliable and stable solution every time. I am using it professionally, and still cannot rely on it. I am working on it though, I have hope!

I would love to hear the experience from other users of Reach or Piksi!
Blake McCollum August 30, 2016 at 7:03am

I am particularly interested in this as well.
AJ152 August 10, 2016 at 12:32pm

Or the SMARTNAV L1 RTK GNSS?

Thanks for your input.

AJ152 said:

Thanks Chris, any chance you tried the NEO-M8P?, with the C94-M8P boards?

Chris Anderson said:

I've got both and haven't really got either working with Pixhawk yet reliably. I'm sure the problem is on my end, but they're definitely not plug-and-play.

Perhaps someone else has had more success than me?
AJ152 August 10, 2016 at 11:11am

Thanks Chris, any chance you tried the NEO-M8P?, with the C94-M8P boards?

Chris Anderson said:

I've got both and haven't really got either working with Pixhawk yet reliably. I'm sure the problem is on my end, but they're definitely not plug-and-play.

Perhaps someone else has had more success than me?
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson August 10, 2016 at 9:40am

I've got both and haven't really got either working with Pixhawk yet reliably. I'm sure the problem is on my end, but they're definitely not plug-and-play.

Perhaps someone else has had more success than me?

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