So after the last year of updates from Emlid, I have finally been able to have a project completed, start to finish, using Emlid’s nTrip caster.
We have had our RS2 base station on the roof of our shop now for going on 3 years. Plugged into USB with a wifi access point directly beside it. Zero issues with accuracy or connectivity the entire time. In fact I haven’t even been up on the roof in over 2 years now.
While it only worked with the other RS2’s for most of that time, this year we’ve had two changes. At the start of the season, we got a DJI Mavic 3E RTK. Which has worked flawlessly with the nTrip right from the start. (it also works great with a base on site, or using CANNET).
WE also got the patches that allowed the RS2 to be more compatible with 3rd party receivers.
So. We have 3 pieces of equipment with onboard GPS.
- Komatsu D61 (single receiver)
- Komatsu D61 (dual receiver)
- John Deere 872GP (dual receiver)
And we also have a Topcon HyperVR base and rover, along with an F6000 data collector.
I would use the RS2 in the field, except that there is no stakeout from surface functionality, so we have to keep using the Topcon gear until that is added to Emlidstudio.
For the latest project I flew the site before we started work. Tied into the control points setout by the consultant with an RS2 and Emlid studio. Used those control point coordinates in office3D (topcon) to setup a job file for the Topcon dozers and the data collector (the Grader was not on this site).
Since I created that, along with setting up a painted mark on the sidewalk for the dozers to check into each day, I haven’t had a single issue with anything. This project has been going on roughly 1 month, and we’ve moved almost 80,000 m3 of topsoil and clay.
Our tolerance on the project is 3cm, however I let my operators know that if the dozers are out by more than 2cm, they need to call me. Most days they are under 1cm.
Our nTrip base is ~9km from the site.
I am extremely happy with this setup. For most of this season, I had a topcon base station setup on our major project, broadcasting over 450mhz to the machines. While that does mean the accuracy is as good as it can get, I had huge problems with getting radio over the entire site. a 10km long project just has too many hills to try a single base setup. I had to move it as the year went on. Which meant no gps on the far end after the move!
Even running with CANNET nTrip isn’t a great option, because the actual base they use would be about 30km from the site. So the accuracy just isn’t enough for that kind of site.
Also a single CANNET subscription is $2,800 PER MACHINE.
That means that at some times on this latest project, I’ve had 4 pieces of gear running off the Emlid nTrip. A HUGE savings.
