Middlesex County, Ontario | How do we get around this cost prohibitive issue?
Simple. There is no such thing as an RTK unlocked antenna. RTK uses a regular GPS antenna. The cost isn't in the hardware or software, the cost is there because people will pay it.
You could do a single cell modem setup like a router, the drones connect like wifi while in the same field as the router.
The price will be set at what people are willing to pay.
RTK isn't complicated. The base station thinks "I'm programmed to know I'm actually at this location, but the GPS antenna says I'm actually at this location. Therefore the GPS antenna is out by 3' North." The base station then broadcasts "hey rover, the GPS antenna is out by 3' North." The rover then makes that correction. You can broadcast using whatever media you want. No parts of that are very difficult to implement or program. We pay $10k in unlocks because that's what we're willing to pay for it.
You can do open source RTK for $500 plus GPS antenna.
Edited by WildBuckwheat 7/4/2016 14:37
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a GPS RTK engineer for precision farming & drones
