Reach RS3 with tilt compensation allows you to collect data faster, easier, and with greater precision without having to constantly look at the bubble level and adjust the survey pole, saving you time and energy.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s behind the tilt compensation feature and how to get the most out of it.
Get started right away
To help you get started with tilt compensation without effort, we’ve reduced the number of steps to a minimum. Each Reach RS3 unit is individually calibrated at the factory to determine the installation offsets for the IMU sensor that is at the heart of tilt compensation, and is shipped with the sensor already enabled.
All you need to do is establish the RTK connection, get FIX, and orient the IMU sensors in space by rotating the receiver for a few seconds or simply walking with it.
To make the whole process even easier, Emlid Flow provides the onboarding series when connecting to the receiver and gives you hints in the status bar. You can learn more about the tilt initialization procedure and measuring data with enabled tilt compensation in Docs.
Achieve precise results at large angles
Like all the previous models, Reach RS3 continues delivering precise results in the field, but this time at large tilt angles. If you check the specification, you will see the tilt compensation precision that equals to “RTK + 2 mm + 0.3 mm/°”. For example, if you work on a 1 km baseline and tilt the receiver to 30º, the precision will be less than 2 cm assuming good satellite geometry, stable corrections from your base station, and a clear view of the sky.
Note that the tilt compensation precision is calculated for the industry standard pole height of 1.8 m, otherwise the tilt-related error will be much higher. See for yourself: using a 2.5 m pole will increase the error by 30%.
Forget about electromagnetic interference
We also equipped the receiver with the IMU sensor, which is immune to electromagnetic interference. It simply doesn’t have a magnetometer, which usually accumulates errors from being affected by metallic objects, electronic devices, vehicles, etc. You no longer need to worry about possible sources of interference to get precise results.
Optimize your workflow
With tilt compensation, we tried to make things as simple as possible and support the workflow you always had with minimal effort on your part. Here are some recommendations to help you get the best results when working with tilt compensation:
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Pay attention to your survey pole:
- Make sure it is designed for GNSS receivers and has a proper scale, otherwise the real height may be different as in the case of a prism pole.
- Check its condition: any deformation will reduce the precision of the measured data.
- Be sure to specify the correct height of your survey pole. Unlike typical data measurements, those using tilt compensation will result in not only a height error but also a position error.
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Watch the stability of your RTK connection. Any RTK-related errors will have a direct effect on the tilt compensation.
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Do instantaneous measurements or average for less than 5 seconds instead of averaging points for longer periods with a help of a bipod. Motion helps the IMU to deliver the highest precision, otherwise, it might result in lower precision.
Have you had a chance to try tilt compensation on Reach RS3? Please share your experiences and comments below. Still got questions? Don’t hesitate to ask. You can also contact us directly at support@emlid.com.