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{{Article Infobox2
|Category=Fundamentals
|Category=Fundamentals
|Authors=See ''Credits'' section
|Editors=GMV
|Level=Basic
|Level=Basic
|YearOfPublication=2011
|YearOfPublication=2011
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Real Time Kinematics (RTK) satellite navigation is a DGNSS technique that uses the carrier phase measurements of GNSS signals. RTK is commonly used in land and hydrographic survey. The positioning accuracy obtained is of the order of centimeter-level. When only GPS signals are used, the RTK system is named Carrier-Phase Enhancement, CPGPS.<ref name="RTK_WIKI"/>
With origin dating back to the mid-1990s, Real Time Kinematics (RTK) is a [[Differential GNSS|differential GNSS]] technique which provides high positioning performance in the vicinity of a base station. The technique is based on the use of carrier measurements and the transmission of corrections from the base station, whose location is well known, to the rover, so that the main errors that drive the stand-alone positioning cancel out. A RTK base station covers a service area spreading about 10 or 20 kilometres, and a real time communication channel is needed connecting base and rover. RTK, which achieves performances in the range of a few centimetres, is a technique commonly used in surveying applications.<ref name="RTKIAG">[http://www.wasoft.de/e/iagwg451/ International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Working Group 4.5.1: Network RTK ] </ref><ref name="RTK_WIKI">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Time_Kinematic RTK in Wikipedia]</ref><ref name="RTKWPNC06">[http://www.wpnc.net/fileadmin/WPNC06/Proceedings/34_Precise_Positioning_in_Real-Time_using_Navigation_Satellites_and.pdf Remote Sensing 2009, A. Rietdorf et al., ''Precise Positioning in Real-Time using Navigation Satellites and Telecommunication'', Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Positioning, Navigation and Communication (WPNC’06) ]</ref>
 
No->Real Time Kinematic (RTK) satellite navigation is a DGNSS technique used in land survey and in hydrographic survey based on the use of carrier phase measurements of the GPS, GLONASS and/or Galileo signals where a single reference station provides the real-time corrections, providing up to centimeter-level accuracy. When referring to GPS in particular, the system is also commonly referred to as Carrier-Phase Enhancement, CPGPS.<ref name="RTK_WIKI"/>


==Introduction RTK==
==Introduction RTK==
Real Time Kinematics (RTK) is a [[Differential GNSS|differential GNSS]] technique originated in the mid-1990s that provides high performance positioning in the vicinity of a base station.<ref name="RTKIAG"/>


The RTK technique follows the same general principle as [[DGNSS Fundamentals|classical DGNSS]], but instead of using corrections to C/A code pseudoranges, it uses the carrier phase as its signal.<ref name="RTK_WIKI"/>
From an architectural point of view, RTK consists of a base station, one or several rover users, and a communication channel with which the base broadcasts information to the users at real time.


[[File:Summit_rtk_survey.jpg|300px|thumb|RTK Support Polar Survey]]
[[File:Summit_rtk_survey.jpg|300px|thumb|RTK Support Polar Survey]]


The RTK technique consists on a rover user that applies real-time corrections provided by a base station. In the classical [[DGNSS Fundamentals|DGNSS Technique]], there are also 2 receivers, one at a known location (base station) and one at an unknown position, that see the same GNSS satellites in common. By fixing the location of the base station, the other location may be found either by computing corrections to the position of the unknown receiver or by computing corrections to the pseudoranges. In the classical DGNSS technology, only corrections to C/A code pseudoranges are being transmitted, which brings rover positional errors down to values about 1 m for distances between rover and base station of a few tens of kilometers.<ref name="RTK_WIKI"/>
The technique is based on the following high-level principles:
*In the neighbourhood of a clean-sky location, the main errors in the GNSS signal processing are constant, and hence they cancel out when differential processing is used. This includes the error in the satellite clock bias, the satellite orbital error, the ionospheric delay and the tropospheric delay.
*The noise of carrier measurements is much smaller than the one of the pseudo-code measurements. However, the processing of carrier measurements is subject to the so-called carrier phase ambiguity, an unknown integer number of times the carrier wave length, that needs to be fixed in order to rebuild full range measurements from carrier ones.
*The phase ambiguity can be [[RTK Fundamentals|fixed]] for dual-frequency differential measurements for two close receivers.


The military-only P(Y) signal sent by the same satellites is clocked ten times as fast, so with similar techniques the receiver will be accurate to about 30 cm. Therefore, in RTK system using the satellite's carrier as its signal, the improvement possible using this signal is potentially very high if one continues to assume a 1% accuracy in locking. For instance, the GPS coarse-acquisition (C/A) code broadcast in the L1 signal changes phase at 1.023 MHz, but the L1 carrier itself is 1575.42 MHz, over a thousand times as fast. This frequency corresponds to a wavelength of 19 cm for the L1 signal. Thus a ±1% error in L1 carrier phase measurement corresponds to a ±1.9 mm error in baseline estimation.<ref name="RTK_WIKI">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Time_Kinematic RTK in Wikipedia]</ref>
The base station broadcasts its well-known location together with the code and carrier measurements at frequencies L1 and L2 for all in-view satellites. With this information, the rover equipment is able to fix the phase ambiguities and determine its location relative to the base with high precision. By adding up the location of the base, the rover is positioned in a global coordinate framework.


The difficulty of the use of carrier phase data comes at a cost in terms of overall system complexity because the measurements are ambiguous (i.e. every cycle of the carrier is similar to every other). This makes it extremely difficult to know if you have properly aligned the signals or if they are "off by one" and are thus introducing an error of 20 cm, or a larger multiple of 20 cm. Solving this problem requires that ambiguity resolution (AR) algorithms must be incorporated as an integral part of the data processing. This integer ambiguity problem can be addressed to some degree with sophisticated statistical methods that compare the measurements from the C/A signals and by comparing the resulting ranges between multiple satellites. However, none of these methods can reduce this error to zero.<ref name="RTK_WIKI"/>
The RTK technique can be used for distances of up to 10 or 20 kilometres,<ref name="RTKIAG"/><ref name="RTKWPNC06"/> yielding accuracies of a few centimetres in the rover position. RTK is extensively used in surveying applications.


In practice, RTK systems use a single base station receiver and a number of mobile units. The base station re-broadcasts the phase of the carrier that it measured, and the mobile units compare their own phase measurements with the ones received from the base station. This allows the units to calculate their relative position to millimeters, although their absolute position is accurate only to the same accuracy as the position of the base station. The typical nominal accuracy for these dual-frequency systems is 1 centimeter ± 2 parts-per-million (ppm) horizontally and 2 centimeters ± 2 ppm vertically.
The main limitations of RTK are as follows:
*Limited range with respect to the base location.
*The need of a communication channel for real time applications.
*Some convergence time is needed to fix the phase ambiguities. This time depends on the processing algorithm and the distance between base and rover, and ranges from a few seconds to a few minutes.
*In order to avoid re-initialization of the processing, the rover has to track the GNSS signals continuously. This makes the RTK not suitable for urban applications.


Although these parameters limit the usefulness of the RTK technique in terms of general navigation, it is perfectly suited to roles like surveying. RTK has also found uses in autodrive/autopilot systems, precision farming and similar roles. The Virtual Reference Station (VRS) method extends the use of RTK to a whole area of a reference station network. Operational reliability and the accuracies to be achieved depend on the density and capabilities of the reference station network.<ref>[http://www.wasoft.de/e/iagwg451/ International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Working Group 4.5.1: Network RTK ] </ref><ref name="RTK_WIKI"/>
Recently, different approaches have been followed to improve the limitation regarding the range of the base station, namely Network RTK<ref name="RTKIAG"/><ref name="RTCM_V3">[http://www.rtcm.org/ RTCM STANDARD 10403.1, FOR DIFFERENTIAL GNSS (GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEMS) SERVICES – VERSION 3, RTCM 10403.1, RTCM Paper 177-2006-SC104-STD, 2006]</ref> and [[Wide Area RTK (WARTK)|Wide Area Real Time Kinematics (WARTK)]]. Network RTK is based on the provision of corrections from a network of base stations in such a way that the phase measurements are provided with consistent ambiguities; this has the advantage that the rover can switch from one base station to another without the need of re-initializing the ambiguity fixing filters. WARTK is further described in dedicated [[Wide Area RTK (WARTK)|articles]].


==RTK Related Articles==
==RTK Related Articles==
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* [[RTK Systems|RTK Systems]].
* [[RTK Systems|RTK Systems]].


==Credits==
Edited by GMV. Most of the information in this article includes text taken from Wikipedia with minor adaptation,<ref name="RTK_WIKI"/> provided under [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License].


==Notes==
==Notes==

Latest revision as of 17:14, 18 September 2014


FundamentalsFundamentals
Title Real Time Kinematics
Edited by GMV
Level Basic
Year of Publication 2011
Logo GMV.png

With origin dating back to the mid-1990s, Real Time Kinematics (RTK) is a differential GNSS technique which provides high positioning performance in the vicinity of a base station. The technique is based on the use of carrier measurements and the transmission of corrections from the base station, whose location is well known, to the rover, so that the main errors that drive the stand-alone positioning cancel out. A RTK base station covers a service area spreading about 10 or 20 kilometres, and a real time communication channel is needed connecting base and rover. RTK, which achieves performances in the range of a few centimetres, is a technique commonly used in surveying applications.[1][2][3]

Introduction RTK

Real Time Kinematics (RTK) is a differential GNSS technique originated in the mid-1990s that provides high performance positioning in the vicinity of a base station.[1]

From an architectural point of view, RTK consists of a base station, one or several rover users, and a communication channel with which the base broadcasts information to the users at real time.

RTK Support Polar Survey

The technique is based on the following high-level principles:

  • In the neighbourhood of a clean-sky location, the main errors in the GNSS signal processing are constant, and hence they cancel out when differential processing is used. This includes the error in the satellite clock bias, the satellite orbital error, the ionospheric delay and the tropospheric delay.
  • The noise of carrier measurements is much smaller than the one of the pseudo-code measurements. However, the processing of carrier measurements is subject to the so-called carrier phase ambiguity, an unknown integer number of times the carrier wave length, that needs to be fixed in order to rebuild full range measurements from carrier ones.
  • The phase ambiguity can be fixed for dual-frequency differential measurements for two close receivers.

The base station broadcasts its well-known location together with the code and carrier measurements at frequencies L1 and L2 for all in-view satellites. With this information, the rover equipment is able to fix the phase ambiguities and determine its location relative to the base with high precision. By adding up the location of the base, the rover is positioned in a global coordinate framework.

The RTK technique can be used for distances of up to 10 or 20 kilometres,[1][3] yielding accuracies of a few centimetres in the rover position. RTK is extensively used in surveying applications.

The main limitations of RTK are as follows:

  • Limited range with respect to the base location.
  • The need of a communication channel for real time applications.
  • Some convergence time is needed to fix the phase ambiguities. This time depends on the processing algorithm and the distance between base and rover, and ranges from a few seconds to a few minutes.
  • In order to avoid re-initialization of the processing, the rover has to track the GNSS signals continuously. This makes the RTK not suitable for urban applications.

Recently, different approaches have been followed to improve the limitation regarding the range of the base station, namely Network RTK[1][4] and Wide Area Real Time Kinematics (WARTK). Network RTK is based on the provision of corrections from a network of base stations in such a way that the phase measurements are provided with consistent ambiguities; this has the advantage that the rover can switch from one base station to another without the need of re-initializing the ambiguity fixing filters. WARTK is further described in dedicated articles.

RTK Related Articles

The following articles include further information about different important topics related to RTK:


Notes


References

  1. ^ a b c d International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Working Group 4.5.1: Network RTK
  2. ^ RTK in Wikipedia
  3. ^ a b Remote Sensing 2009, A. Rietdorf et al., Precise Positioning in Real-Time using Navigation Satellites and Telecommunication, Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Positioning, Navigation and Communication (WPNC’06)
  4. ^ RTCM STANDARD 10403.1, FOR DIFFERENTIAL GNSS (GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEMS) SERVICES – VERSION 3, RTCM 10403.1, RTCM Paper 177-2006-SC104-STD, 2006
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