Hello,
We would like to use a DJI Matrice 600 Pro with a Sony RX1RII and obtain RTK grade positioning (we’re looking for an alternative to the DJI D-RTK GNSS).
Is it possible to use a Reach M+/M2 with a Reach RS+/RS2 as base station and obtain the desired results?
If yes, how does everything communicate and how does the drone flight controller receive the RTK grade positioning while flying?
Thank you.
You sure can. Of the Reach products you will want the RS2/M2 package. These are the new multi-band receivers. The two will talk to each other like any typical gnss base and rover setup and a photo trigger is tied into the M2 to write the events. They use LoRa radio to communicate corrections.
I’m sure that someone else will be able to jump on here to give you more specifics about the camera connection.
We integrated a Reach M+ on a Gremsy gimbal to record PPK positions of images captured by a Sony A7R and a MicaSense Altum. We only used the M600 as a flight platform, and did not have the A3 trigger any photos or image capture. The Sony images were triggered by a Seagull trigger, and the Altum was self triggered via GPS from its DLS 2 sensor. The hot shoe from the Sony sent the PWM signals to the Reach M+ and precise image capture time was recorded. For the Altum we had to rig up a custom integration cable, but when the 6 band image stack was collected, a trigger went to the M+ to mark location. A RS+ was used as a base on known pre-surveyed locations. I am waiting to see how the M2 and RS2 work out as I would prefer to use the L1/L2 models for professional work.
So how did the M2 and RS2 work out? Mine is on the way.
I have not ordered or received an M2/RS2 yet…we also have 1 ft of snow on the ground, so not doing much flying recently…
Hi, were you able to get this to work? I have a DJI M600 Pro with X5 camera. Also, I have an Emlid RS2 and am thinking of buying the Emlid M2 for my drone to achieve RTK corrections. How can we get this to work?
Hi Abhi
I’m afraid Reach M2 can’t be integrated with DJI M600 Pro for RTK flights. You can find the explanation in this thread.
Hi Anastasiia,
Thanks for your response.
Hi @FIT , I have ordered the Gremsy T3 (with Seagul), an Air Commander Entire 2 from Airpixel.cz, and I have the Sony A6000 to mount on M600 pro. I don’t think the Seagul will be needed and I can simply setup everything for PPK using just the Air Commander?? but not 100% on that yet.
Are you collecting the gimbal data or just not worrying about that? I posted on Pix4D and the reply there was that by not having the gimbal data in EXIF, it could potentially add 20% processing time. Not having all the data means you can not use the accurate geolocation and orientation calibration method in step 1.
I am hoping you can share a little more about your setup and any successes, issues, or work arounds on the gimbal data. I am not using the Micasense so that is out of my equation. Thanks for any insight you can provide!
@FIT We are trying to integrate a similar setup. M600 flight platform, Sony A7 attached to a Gremsy T3 gimbal.
In our setup, the camera is to b triggered via a seagull trigger. The hotshoe would then send information back to the M+ for precise tagging. I have a few questions:
How did you power the M+?
How did you configure the M+ for triggering the camera? What duty cycle and polarity was set?
Thanks!
Thanyne,
I am working to setup my M600 Pro identical to yours.
M600 Pro | Gremsy T3V3 | Sony A6000 | Seagull MAP-X2 | Seagull IMU (on camera) | Emlid M2 | UgCS software
To power the M2, you use the GH connector from the Seagull X2 (GPS Port) to the S1 port on the Emlid M+ (or M2). That connection provides the GPS communication from M2>X2 but also provides power from the Seagull > Emlid.
I initially provided power to the Seagull via USB port that does NOT have enough power for send over to Emlid. So you must provide power to the Seagull via the Rail connector and not USB.
I have the Seagull IMU mounted on top of the A6000 so that camera IMU (angle) data will be retained in PPK data.
I split the wires on the Hotshoe harness so that it goes to both the M2 and Seagull for timing on each photo.
So the problems that exist to date are:
I can live with using an Android tablet.
The T3V3 has a 10 port connector on the Gimbal camera mount so that you can avoid dangling wires. If I get past the waypoint issue, then I am going to make a custom wire that will take:
4 wires of IMU, 3 Wires of Hotshoe, and 3 wires of Sony Multi Port connector and run them all into the GH connector. Then at the top of the gimbal, the same 10 port connection will break out into the three devices that need wiring. Should be very nice and clean once that is done.
Please let me know what type of setup you have and if you have been able to run missions without continuously stopping at each waypoint.
Tim
Th is has been a helpful thread. I’m curious if that changes with the new M300 RTK?
We’re looking at that as we likely don’t need the full payload of the M600 Pro.
I’ll also report back with our decision and how it goes. We’ll be flying it in 3 weeks.
@intenna , I was wrong about the stopping at every waypoint. That is not necessary with the Seagull X2 on M600. My only problem now is that the new firmware for the Gremsy made it unusable and they are working to get another firwmware pushed out. So after that it should be be a very nice setup with the Emlid M2 on board for PPK. The only thing left to do will be to really check the PPK accuracy which I am very anxious to know. I got a used M600 for several reasons. 1) the price was good 2) so I could carry various levels of Lidar equipment 3) be able to carrry my Insta 360 Pro to do multiple 360 aerial images on a flight 4) Safety in redundancy (props, gps, and controllers).
The M300 is no doubt a very nice bird! Look forward to hearing back what you did.
I’m curious if anyone knows if you can skip the Emlid M2 with the DJI M300 RTK? It has a receiver on it and just needs a base station. DJI has their own which isn’t as good as the RS2, but I’m curious if I can get it to connect with my RS2 or if we’re better just going with a M2 and connecting to the camera directly.
From what I have read DJI uses their own corrections stream, but it is Trimble based. I don’t believe you will be able to RTK, but you should be able to PPK.
I have heard from other people (so this is low confidence) that if you provide an NTRIP stream from the RS2 should be enough for the P4RTK at least.
I was supposed to try-out an M300RTK last week, but it didn’t arrive on time, so post-poned. Will report back when I have tried the M300 with the RS2 over NTRIP.
When you say an NTRIP from an RS2, do you mean the RS2 would be static at a fixed location and then in the field you would use another unit? I’m in the process of designing a new LiDAR system for the M600. We are using an RS2 as a base and then it feeds to an M2 for the RTK data.
We have done this with our Topcon base and I know you can do it with a Trimble base, but I have never tried with a Reach. Looking forward to your update. I would like to try it!
Yeah I think he is eondering if you can RTK the M600 native hardware from the RS2 base. Interesting if it does work as it would from the D-RTK 2?
