Hi y’all. I have a question regarding the use of the Emlid Reach RS2 as a base station for the DJI P4RTK. In an ideal situation when I have network connectivity from a close-by network base station, I hope to fly the P4RTK using a network connection only. However, there will likely be times where I am ~30km away from the closest station and I was wondering as to what the process would be to use the RS2 as a relay for network RTK corrections.
From what I understand, the RS2 can link to the P4RTK using an NTRIP broadcast that the drone connects to. Can the RS2 simultaneously broadcast that connection to the drone while receiving RTK corrections from a farway network base station? The goal would be to reduce baseline and increase accuracy of the RTK corrections going to the drone. If this is possible, are there any extra steps or equipment that would be necessary other than connecting to the internet via mobile hotspot from my phone?
It would rather be that you resolve the base position first, then use that position as the only reference that gets sent to the drone. You wouldn’t need to keep your base connected to the network.
Maybe you could just use the NTRIP provider without the RS2 when you are in good coverage? Pretty much everyone knows my beef with RTK on a drone and the D-RTK 2 is garbage in comparison. I am actually very interested in seeing how casting the RS2 or pulling directly from the provider would work particularly if we had some official tests with the data PPK’d for comparison to the RTK. Then I might consider a P4RTK.
Yeah my intention would be to use the RS2 as an NTRIP caster only when a network base station is far enough away to justify using a site base station to reduce baseline. I’m admittedly a little nervous going forward with this considering the lack of solid documentation around using the RS2 with the P4RTK but based on Emlid’s blog post and the fact that the P4RTK can get corrections off an NTRIP broadcast it seems like they should work together fine.
I can imagine a case, where your base station is constantly moving and you need a RTK connection with the CORS (for example, when your RS2 is on the moving car and you are driving behind your UAV). Highly unbelievable case.
I just want to confirm that we’ve tested that Reach RS2 works fine as a base for DJI Phantom 4 RTK. You may explore the guide that Christian shared to learn more about the integration process.
Reach RS2 can get corrections from an NTRIP service and transmit corrections to a drone simultaneously. However, I’d recommend saving the base position, as Gabriel suggested.
