Polaris – Top RTK Correction Network in California

Private RTK networks are set up by individual companies or organizations for their specific use. They offer greater control over network infrastructure and potentially higher accuracy due to tailored base station placement. However, access is restricted to authorized users.

Public RTK Networks are typically operated by government agencies or surveying organizations and offer open access to anyone within the network’s coverage area. They often require a subscription or pay-per-use fee. The benefit is wide availability, but accuracy might vary depending on the network density and your location. California has a public RTK network called the California Real-Time Network (CRTN).

While public RTK networks can be free of charge, they come with different sort of costs: including a higher chance of downtime, lower accuracy, and slower convergence times.

However, with professional RTK networks like Polaris, users can access unparalleled GNSS accuracy and reliability, 99.99% uptime, cm-accurate positioning, and lightning-fast convergence times of less than five seconds.

This network is designed for exceptional accuracy, reliability, and rapid location fixing. It’s compatible with RTK receivers that support RTCM v3 and is supported by an extensive network of over 1,400 owned base stations across regions, including the US, Canada, and Europe.

Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) is a satellite navigation technique that significantly enhances the precision of position data derived from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). By using a fixed base station that knows its exact location, RTK can correct the position data obtained from GNSS, achieving centimeter-level accuracy.

An RTK Network, or Network RTK, builds on this by utilizing a system of multiple reference stations to monitor satellite signals and provide corrections. This network approach optimizes precision by offering real-time corrections, ensuring GNSS devices achieve centimeter-level accuracy. This enhanced precision is crucial in applications requiring precise location information.

Yes, traditionally, RTK requires a base station for centimeter-level accuracy. However, you don’t need to build your own.
Fortunately, RTK services like Point One Polaris offer a simpler approach. You can achieve centimeter-level accuracy with just your existing RTK rover and a connection to the Point One Polaris network–no need to set up and maintain your own base stations.

With Point One Polaris, you can:

Ditch the Setup: Forget spending time deploying and maintaining a base station. Point One Polaris gets you up and running in minutes, with RTK corrections anywhere in the world – no base station required.

Focus on Your Rover: Leave the bulky base station behind. Point One Polaris simplifies your equipment needs, allowing you to connect once to a single mount point – anywhere in California or anywhere else for that matter.

Network Advantage: A network of over 1,400 owned base stations across the US (including California), Canada, EU, and beyond. This translates to faster setup times, less equipment to manage, and all the benefits of RTK wherever your work takes you.

GPS, established by the US Department of Defence, is a satellite-based navigation system that allows a receiver to determine its location on Earth by timing signals from a constellation of satellites orbiting the planet. Standard GPS provides location accuracy within several meters, which is used for car navigation, basic surveying, and mobile mapping.

GPS (Global Positioning System) is a specific constellation within the GNSS framework. There are inaccuracies in GNSS technology that arise from several factors such as signal delays caused by the Earth’s atmosphere, imprecision in satellite orbital data, and the limitations of satellite clock synchronization. These factors can cause unacceptable positional errors in areas where precision is important.

RTK addresses these issues by providing real-time corrections to GNSS data. It uses a network of fixed base stations that have a known, precise location. These stations monitor the errors in GNSS signals and broadcast correction information to the RTK receivers. This process significantly reduces GNSS errors, achieving positional accuracy down to the centimeter level.

Integrating RTK with GPS technology has a profound impact across various industries. In agriculture, it facilitates precision farming techniques, leading to more effective resource utilization. For construction and surveying projects, it guarantees high measurement and layout precision, significantly reducing expensive errors.

In the realms of autonomous vehicles and robotics, the combination of RTK and GPS is crucial for ensuring dependable navigation and safety in operations.

RTK networks serve to significantly enhance the real-time location accuracy for GNSS devices through a network of reference stations. These stations monitor satellite signals and correct any deviations, ensuring that users receive real-time corrections and achieve centimeter-level accuracy. This level of precision is crucial in various fields where exact location information is essential.

The technology operates by facilitating communication between the user’s rover (a mobile GNSS receiver) and the network’s base stations. These base stations are meticulously surveyed to establish their positions with extreme accuracy, generally within one to two centimeters. They then broadcast their observations to the rover receiver in real time.

The rover uses these observations to adjust its own measurements, effectively neutralizing the primary sources of error it encounters. This adjustment process results in measurements that are up to a hundred times more precise than those made without RTK corrections.

Services like Point One Polaris streamline the use of RTK technology by eliminating the need for individual users to manage base stations or directly handle RTK corrections. Instead, users can connect to a network using a single NTRIP (Networked Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol) mount point, which can be set up quickly.

This approach provides centimeter-level accuracy and exceptionally high reliability, making advanced positioning technology accessible without requiring deep technical expertise or significant setup time.

GNSS is a broad term that encompasses all satellite navigation systems providing geo-spatial positioning with global coverage. This includes systems like GPS (United States), GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (European Union), and BeiDou (China). GNSS receivers calculate their position by timing the signals sent by satellites in the system. Standard GNSS services offer location accuracy within a few meters, which is sufficient for many general applications, such as navigation for cars and smartphones.

RTK is used to enhance the precision of position data derived from GNSS. It involves a fixed base station that knows its exact location; RTK can correct the position data obtained from GNSS, achieving centimeter-level accuracy.

GNSS provides the foundational satellite data for positioning. RTK refines this data, offering significantly improved accuracy by correcting systematic errors in real time.

NTRIP and RTK are integral to high-precision GNSS technologies, yet they fulfill distinct roles. RTK is a method aimed at refining GNSS signals to reach centimeter-level precision, utilizing a base station alongside a mobile receiver. This approach can be further refined by integrating it with Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) to boost its precision.

NTRIP is an online protocol specifically designed for streaming Differential GNSS (DGNSS) or Real-Time Kinematic correction data. It facilitates the transfer of RTK correction data from the base station directly to the rover or mobile receiver.

RTK is a technique for enhancing positioning accuracy, while NTRIP transmits the necessary correction data for RTK systems.