What is RTK GNSS?

If you have ever used GPS on your phone, you already know the basics of GNSS positioning. Your device receives signals from satellites and calculates where you are.

But have you ever wondered why your phone can only locate you within a few meters, while some drones, robots, and surveying equipment know their position within a few centimeters? The answer is RTK GNSS.

RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) is a technique that improves GNSS positioning accuracy from meters to centimeters by using correction data from another GNSS receiver.

What is GNSS and how accurate is it?

GNSS is means Global Navigation Satellite System and includes multiple constellations, not just GPS.

Global Navigation Systems for civil use, like GPS, GLONASS, Galileo or Beidou, can reach under excellent conditions an absolute accuracy of about 1-3 meters, in a few seconds. This accuracy can be reduced to a few decimeters, only under static conditions and after a long survey time (24 hours).

But of course, we want to have good accuracy on moving applications 🙂 RTK helps correct these errors.

How does RTK GNSS work?

Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning, is a technique used to solve this limitation.

By performing measurements of the same satellites signal, from 2 nearby units, we can extract the common errors, and achieve a very high relative accuracy, that can reach 5 centimeters.

If in addition, we know the absolute position of one unit (also called “Base”), we will also have the position of the “Rover” with high absolute accuracy.

If you’d like to understand the process in more detail, check out our article RTK Explained. u-blox made an excellent 2-min video that explains it in a more visual way:

What do you need to use RTK GNSS?

At ArduSimple, we make RTK GNSS easy for engineers, developers, and companies building real-world products. These products provide a simple entry point into RTK technology.

We also recommend checking our Product Selector. By answering just a few simple questions, it will recommend the best products for your application and point you to the relevant tutorials to help you get started quickly.