Best Solution for Integrating an External Trigger with Reach RS+?

Reach RS / RS+ Hardware integration
1

Hello Emlid Community,

I am currently working on a geo-electrical prospection project where I use the Reach RS+ as my RTK GPS device. In my workflow, I trigger measurements on my geo-electrical equipment manually via a physical switch. To streamline the process, I would like to integrate this trigger mechanism with the Reach RS+ so that each measurement also automatically records a GPS position.

Here are the key aspects of my setup and requirements:

  • The geo-electrical measurement trigger is a simple physical switch that sends a signal through a cable.
  • I would like to connect this trigger to the Reach RS+ to record a Time Mark event or log a GPS coordinate whenever the switch is pressed.
  • I’ve explored several options, such as using the SMA port or the EXT (RS232) port of the Reach RS+. I understand the EXT port could be used for Time Mark input without interfering with the external antenna on the SMA port.
  • Additionally, I’ve considered using a Bluetooth-based solution where pressing the physical switch sends a Bluetooth signal to a smartphone or tablet, which could then log the GPS position via the Reach RS+.

Given my limited experience with hardware integration, I would greatly appreciate any guidance.

The goal is to ensure that each geoelectrical measurement corresponds accurately to a GPS Time Mark or logged position with minimal manual intervention.

Thank you for your support! Any advice or examples from similar applications would be incredibly helpful.

Best regards,
Andreas

3

Hi @Archeo,

Reach RS+ has the event pin on the RS232 port, so it can record time marks for every trigger. You can then post-process them to obtain coordinates.

However, creating a custom cable may be complicated. We also haven’t tested this custom setup, so I’m afraid we can’t guide you through it and might not give you the expected results.