Led by the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI), the system integrates GNSS, stereo and infrared cameras, and inertial measurement units (IMUs). The system aims to address challenges in precision agriculture, offering reduced costs and greater efficiency.

Precision agriculture minimizes harmful pesticide and fertilizer use, mitigates soil depletion and erosion, conserves water, and lowers energy and labor costs. However, equipping with current GNSS-RTK-based solutions whole collections of individual farm tools such as trailing tillers, box blades and mowers, can be prohibitively expensive.

To overcome this, the PAALI project developed a unique coupling unit that mounts between a tractor and its trailing tool. This system uses multiple sensors and sensor fusion algorithms to determine both the relative positions of the tractor and tool and the absolute positions of tool components.

FGI Research Group Manager Tuomo Malkamäki explained the objective: “We wanted to be able to estimate the pose of the trailed vehicle with minimal or no components placed directly on that vehicle.” The result is a cost-efficient, adaptable prototype for various agricultural applications. The Precision Agriculture Demonstrator (PAD) was successfully tested in a number of real farming scenarios.

Design choices

Among other components, the PAD prototype includes:

• Septentrio SBi3 Pro+ with IMU: A high-precision GNSS/INS receiver with RTK positioning and robust anti-jamming.
• Flir Grasshopper cameras: Monochrome cameras with onboard image processing capabilities.
• Flir thermal camera: Captures infrared radiation to display temperatures and temperature changes.
• Sick Visionary B stereo camera: Provides 3D vision for complete scene capture in outdoor environments.

Tests demonstrated high accuracy in absolute orientation and real-time performance at 20–30Hz frame rates, with 80Hz available for recording. Visualization output matched trailer movements seamlessly, with no noticeable latency. The PAD withstood mechanical stress and vibrations, delivering precise, low-noise camera-based pose estimations. Some weaknesses were also identified, particularly with regard to calibration-related errors.

Malkamäki noted the broader potential of this technology: “The system has significant applications within the agricultural field, but going beyond agriculture as well, in logistics, things like trailer hitching, also marine approaches and docking, and in many other autonomous operations.”

The PAALI project was funded under ESA’s NAVISP program, aimed at supporting new, commercial developments in the European PNT sector.

The post FGI Develops Multi-Sensor Agricultural Positioning Solution appeared first on Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design.

Martijn van Alphen, founder and head developer at BB Leap explains: “The ability to deliver crop protection and nutrients precisely where, and in the quantity, they are needed results in less waste, lower costs, reduced environmental impact – and a stronger and more resilient crop. This is good for the plant, for the farmer and for the planet.”

In this role the precise, sustained measurement of motion is critical. The accuracy, and especially the low drift, of the trailed sprayer will ensure the effective performance of all the functions of each machine. 

Mr van Alphen continues: “When selecting a suitable IMU we tested a whole range of options, from low cost to high end. The DMU11 was the only one providing us with accurate and stable measurements over the whole temperature range of our application.”

A Silicon Sensing DMU11 is installed in each LeapBox where its output is used to: 

• Precisely determine the turning speed of the sprayer. Based on the forward and turning speeds the correct delivery rate of each individual spraying position is calculated.  In each broadacre sprayer there are up to 250 spraying positions and each spraying position can be between one and four nozzles.  
• Ensure accurate calculation of the heading of the sprayer behind the tractor. Each tractor has its own heading from its GPS system, whilst the sprayer has a separate heading calculated based on the output of the DMU11. This is calibrated to an absolute heading when the machine is directly behind the tractor. 

On OEM broadacre sprayers with boom-levelling technology a second DMU11 is also installed. BBLeap uses the difference between the outputs of each to measure the centre frame position of the sprayer in relation to the position of the chassis. The gyro from the DMU11 is also used to determine the rotational speed of the boom, which is critical to boom-levelling. 

David Somerville General Manager, Silicon Sensing comments: “Our DMU11 has a strong track record for its performance and reliability across many market sectors including precision agriculture and we are particularly proud to see it playing such a key role at the heart of important sustainable farming developments such as this landmark BBLeap LeapBox.”  

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Researchers used a specially equipped Safire ATR-42 aircraft to record GNSS signals over a variety of sites in France, including agricultural areas, forests and selected bodies of water. Onboard the aircraft were three GNSS recorders, based on the Stella Record and Playback (Stella RP) solution from M3 Systems combined with CESBIO’s Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry Instrument (GLORI).

Hardware was selected and configured to achieve the highest high-quality recording. The setup included two antennas provided by CNES and CESBIO, one pointing towards zenith and the other towards nadir. GNSS signals were recorded simultaneously on four channels: one channel for direct, i.e. zenith, L1/E1 signals with RHCP polarization, a second channel for direct L5/E5a signals with RHCP polarization, a third channel for reflected, i.e. nadir, L5/E5a signals with RHCP polarization, and a fourth channel for reflected L5/E5a signals with LHCP polarization. Partners employed 8-bit quantization and an OCXO clock for maximum precision.

Onboard the ATR-42 during data acquisition were CESBIO’s Pascal Fanise, Carlos Davis of M3 Systems and Robin Quinart from CNES. Coincident ground-truth tests were also carried out, including determination of in-situ soil moisture levels, leaf area indices and other measures, to confirm airborne reflectometry measurements and the results of data post-processing.

Environmental applications

In addition to providing valuable insights into forest biomass and soil moisture, the study has delivered data collected over bodies of water and at sea that can potentially serve altimetric applications. Altimetric information, including wave height, can be obtained by analyzing time difference and phase difference between direct and reflected GNSS signals, a technique that has been employed successfully in a number of other environmental studies.

Over the past decade, CNES has carried out several GNSS reflectometry-based projects, highlighting the growing use of GNSS in scientific applications and particularly in environmental studies. CNES has also collaborated with M3 Systems on numerous projects since 2016. Notably, M3 Systems has developed a GNSS software receiver with specific reflectometry capabilities for CNES. Closing the circle, CESBIO has had occasion to deploy said M3 Systems GNSS software receiver through its collaboration with CNES.

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Previously, the PointPerfect GNSS correction service in the country was only available via cellular connectivity, which was limited by insufficient national network coverage. Users in Brazil can now access PointPerfect through L-band satellite and accelerate time-to-market using Nordian’s Precision OEM Board. This expanded delivery allows customers to access GNSS correction data streams reliably and cost-effectively also in regions without cellular coverage, enabling advanced navigation applications that require centimeter-level positioning accuracy. 

PointPerfect is a PPP-RTK GNSS correction service that delivers 3-6cm accuracy and convergence in seconds on a continental scale with a 99.9% uptime reliability. This performance makes it a solution for autonomous farming activities such as operating automated machinery, field mapping and monitoring, or in navigating autonomous mobile robotics.

The post u-blox and Nordian expand PointPerfect GNSS with L-band Satellite Delivery appeared first on Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design.

The iCON 120 is an advanced GNSS antenna intended for integration within the existing Leica MC1 platform, extending the company’s machine control solution offering to cover more applications and machine types.

With today’s increasingly stringent project budget and specification requirements, it is more essential than ever to incorporate intelligent solutions at every stage in major construction operations. Rationalized and connected hardware and software are being used to increase productivity, efficiency and safety, responding to the rising demand for adaptable, easily accessible, and customizable machine control systems.

Many construction machines, like compaction rollers, generally operate at only sub-meter accuracy, without heading. Now, with the new iCON 120, operators of these and other machines can benefit from a tailor-made, Leica MC1-based machine control, enabling them to carry out more streamlined operations and consistent workflows with a variety of heavy construction equipment and application requirements.

Answering a diversity of needs

Leica iCON 120 users can start with a single GNSS solution using a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), such as WAAS or EGNOS, or they can choose a HxGN SmartNet service. The HxGN SmartNet family offers Network RTK with RTK bridging and Precise Point Positioning (PPP) services that work exclusively with Leica Geosystems GS sensors. The new smart antenna can also be easily switched, with quick mounting and dismounting, between Leica MC1 prepared machines.

Customers can optionally upgrade their basic-level machine-control solution with the Leica CR50 communication unit to receive RTK correction data via radio or modem. This makes for more flexibility and freedom to adapt the machine-control solution to different projects and site requirements. The CR50 features a web interface, automotive Ethernet communication, worldwide cellular modem and integrated dual-frequency UHF radio.

With its HxGN AgrO platform, Hexagon is already providing advanced machine control solutions for a variety of agriculture applications. With the Leica iCON 120, the company continues to broaden its offer of customizable hardware and software machine control solutions for the construction sector.

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“We are actively engaged with customers who need robust, high-precision optical gyro-based solutions for their autonomous applications,” said Dr. Mario Paniccia, CEO of Anello Photonics.

Anello was co-founded by Paniccia and CTO Mike Horton, pioneers in the field of silicon photonics, sensors, and navigation, with the early support of Catapult Ventures and high-volume fab Tower Semiconductor. Coming out of stealth at CES 2023, Anello displayed the low-noise and -drift SiPhOG™ sensor, which it says is the first silicon photonics optical gyroscope and the smallest optical gyroscope in the world.

“It was a very ambitious thing we took on—creating a fiber gyro on a chip,” Paniccia to Inside GNSS. “We’re measuring a very tiny signal and putting it all into a standard process that’s fabricated in a high-volume fab. To our knowledge, no one’s building or has anything working at this level, let alone full INS systems, with integrated photonics.”

According to Anello, the silicon photonics optical gyroscope technology can be board-mounted and is made with integrated photonics components so it can be processed in high volume just like other integrated circuits. Another key advantage is a low unaided heading drift of less than 0.5°/h.

“This is the sweet spot,” said Paniccia. The MEMS in mobile phones and AirPods—which range from 2.0°/h, with high temperatures pushing that to hundreds and potentially a thousand degrees per hour—are not accurate enough for the autonomy safety case, he added. Typical fiber gyros, “the gold standard” for accuracy, are too big, bulky, and expensive.

“The idea is to bring the performance of high-precision optical gyros from guided missiles and other high-end applications into a form factor and price point that you can put it into the volume market in the autonomous landscape,” he said.

For the new GNSS INS system, the company launched an evaluation kit about a year ago for customer trials.

“It’s the smallest in this case, [with] not only the smallest gyro that we’ve developed and announced but now we have the smallest inertial navigation system that can be put into real solutions and real applications,” said Paniccia.

The near-term markets for Anello’s technology are in construction and farming “where they can pay a little bit of a premium.” An upcoming robotics product uses basically the same core fundamental platform without GPS.

In the future, the company is working to deliver to the high-volume auto market, and that means not only ASIL-D specs but also immunity to temperature and vibration with lower power consumption.

“We’re trying to gear towards ADAS (L2 plus, L3) over time,” concluded Paniccia.

The post Anello Reveals GNSS INS System with ‘World-first’ Optical Gyro appeared first on Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design.

Legislation that nudges the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to do more to make satellite communication and PNT services available to rural America, particularly farmers, has sailed through the House and is awaiting committee action in the Senate.

The bipartisan legislation—something of a rarity these days—is House Resolution 1339, the Precision Agriculture Satellite Connectivity Act, sponsored by Rep. Robert E. Latta (R-Ohio) and cosponsored by Reps. Robin L. Kelly (D-Illinois), Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), Susie Lee (D-Nevada) and Rich W. Allen (R-Georgia).

After passing the House of Representatives in late April by a vote of 409-11, H.R. 1339 landed in the Senate in early May, where it awaits action by the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Latta has been down this row before: In 2018, he was successful in getting wording included in the Farm Bill to create the Task Force for Meeting the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture in the United States, operating under the FCC in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture.

As with the standalone legislation, it’s devoted to spurring deployment of broadband internet, with the goal of achieving reliable service on 95% of agricultural land by 2025. The task force, which includes agricultural producers, internet service providers, the satellite industry, precision agriculture equipment manufacturers and local and state government representatives, has been holding regular virtual meetings since its creation.

“I’ve talked with farmers throughout Ohio’s 5th congressional district that are utilizing advanced technologies to improve farm productivity and sustainability, and it’s making a big difference,” Latta said in 2018. “However, it’s clear that the agricultural community is at a disadvantage compared to other sectors because they are in rural areas that often have limited access to high-speed internet. It’s critical that we close the ‘digital divide’ to ensure that the agricultural community can fully utilize this cutting-edge technology.”

FCC Directions

Latta’s latest legislation isn’t controversial because it’s short, and essentially just directs the FCC to “review its rules regarding certain satellite communications services to determine if changes to its rules could promote precision agriculture.”

If the FCC determines there are rule changes that could be made to promote precision ag, “the FCC must develop recommendations and submit them to Congress within 15 months of enactment,” according to the bill.

And that’s pretty much it, which probably explains its easy path through Congress. Underlying the bill, however, are a host of issues that lawmakers, particularly those who represent rural areas, want to address, namely the “digital divide” that separates areas well served with broadband connections and those without access; the need for satellite data to make farming more efficient; and regulation and federal approvals said to be slowing the roll of an industry that’s raring to go.

A House report on the bill describes it this way:

“Precision agriculture allows for the optimization of crop yield, water usage and soil sustainability. Unfortunately, many rural communities have little or no connectivity, thereby reducing the ability for many farmers to utilize precision agriculture. Additionally, there are Earth exploration and observation services authorized by the FCC that could promote precision agriculture. These satellite technologies offer the opportunity to expand the use of precision agriculture throughout the United States, and this legislation would require the FCC to evaluate its rules to see if there are changes that can be made to promote this deployment.”

Latta is interested in the legislation because his district is one of the largest agriculture regions in the state. While some farmers are using satellite connections and precision agriculture, others aren’t but would like to.

Two hearings were held in the House related to the issue, by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology (chaired by Latta), although neither was specifically about the bill. The first, held in early February, was titled “Launching into the State of the Satellite Marketplace.” The second, held less than a week later, was “Liftoff: Unleashing Innovation in Satellite Communications Technologies.”

Transforming Industries, Including Ag

Tom Stroup, president of the Satellite Industry Association, testified at the first hearing on the importance of the satellite industry.

“We are at a time of explosive innovation in the space industry, with over 7,000 active satellites on orbit today and plans for tens of thousands more through the end of the decade,” he said.

“Satellites today provide anytime, anywhere global connectivity to consumers, utilities, supply chain logistics providers, the IoT [internet of things] community, cruise and other ships, airlines, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Soon, we will be living in a world where an autonomous car can update its operating system while driving anywhere in the world via a satellite link, spectators at a football game will be able to connect to satellite and use augmented reality to revisit plays on smart glasses in real-time, and connected sensors on infrastructure will be able to determine potential failures as well as directly deploy satellite-connected UAVs to inspect even the most remote sites.

“Geospatial satellite data has not only transformed environmental monitoring, but also provides essential business analytics from monitoring remote infrastructure to analyzing supply chain performance. When integrated with geolocation data provided by Global Positioning System, AI can be used in real time to redirect resources and optimize output.”

Stroup also said satellites are critical for disaster response as they aren’t susceptible to damage, can communicate with terminals and networks on the ground, and can employ synthetic aperture radar that can see through clouds and map damaged regions while storms are still under way.

And, as the title of Latta’s bill would suggest, satellites can aid farmers practicing precision agriculture.

“Satellite technology is transforming agriculture across America. Satellite broadband, for instance, enables remote farms with livestock sensors, soil monitors and autonomous farming equipment in rural America, far beyond where terrestrial wireless and wireline can reach or make economic sense to deploy,” Stroup said. “Precision GPS technologies allow farmers to increase crop yield by optimizing use of fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, and applying site-specific treatments to fields. Earth imaging satellites provide regular high-resolution imagery that allows farmers to determine when to plant, water or fertilize crops and can be used to provide crop yield estimates and monitor global food security. Satellite advances in weather forecasting help farmers prepare for drought, floods and other adverse weather conditions.”

Latta introduced his bill after those hearings, highlighting the need for reliable, fast internet for broad swaths of the economy.

“Farmers in rural Ohio also know that broadband connections are essential to their operations,” he said on the House floor. “After all, it helps deploy technologies that increase their productivity, produce higher yields and minimize operating costs. Today’s smart agriculture technology from autonomous tractors and distributed soil sensors rely on internet connections to share data. In fact, farmers use information in real time to make smarter decisions on how to optimize inputs in whether and when to plant and harvest. And when terrestrial or cellular networks are not available, satellite broadband steps in to make these technologies work.”

Latta noted Earth observation satellites also produce data useful for farmers, as they “help identify visual trends that need immediate attention.”

Dr. Simerjeet Virk, an assistant professor and extension precision agriculture specialist for the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at the University of Georgia-Tifton Campus, and a member of the International Society of Precision Agriculture, said connectivity continues to become more and more important for farmers.

“It’s not me taking a flash drive anymore to a tractor or sprayer or fertilizer spreader, it’s where I can sit in my office on my computer and I’m connected to all the displays in the tractor,” he said. “I can see in real-time on my phone which operator is doing what, and how much seeding they are applying.”

GPS accuracy with corrections has also improved immensely, Virk said. “We’re not working in feet and meters anymore, we’re working in sub-centimeter, sub-inch, plant-by-plant application,” he said. As those systems get more precise, farmers also need them to be repeatable, meaning they need access all the time.

“We still have a lot of areas where we don’t have connectivity,” he said. “Or, there are different ways of getting the GPS accuracy and a lot of times you have to be out there for a longer time before you can utilize the high accuracy systems. I think that’s where some of this [legislative push] is coming back to, is improving the overall connectivity between the systems.”

Possible Outcomes and Challenges

So, what are the problems and what could the FCC do about them?

Witnesses at the hearings had some ideas. Julie Zoller, head of global regulatory affairs for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, said the growth of the satellite industry is “straining the ability of regulators to process a wave of license applications under the current rules.” Kuiper is a $10 billion-plus planned constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), with the first service expected to begin in late 2024.

Zoller did praise the FCC because it has “proposed rules that would provide more spectrum for non-geostationary satellite orbit [NGSO] services and greater clarity for spectrum sharing between NGSO systems. Not only will this ensure American leadership, but it will bring the benefits of investment, innovation and choice to customers.”

And, as her title would indicate, Zoller has to keep an eye on international rules as well. “Outdated rules are also a challenge outside of the United States. Many of the International Telecommunication Union rules for NGSO satellites favor incumbent technologies,” she said. “At the World Radiocommunication Conference later this year, it is essential that the U.S. set forth key priorities to ensure that the rules for NGSO systems, and satellites more generally, support the success of this U.S.-led technology and service.”

The WRC, held every three to four years to review or revise the international treaty governing the use of radio-frequency spectrum and geostationary and NGOS satellite orbits, is scheduled for this fall in Dubai. This year’s conference will consider a range of issues aimed at facilitating new terrestrial and space-based connection technologies, “including spectrum for next-generation mobile broadband systems, satellites, maritime and aeronautical services, and scientific applications,” according to the FCC.

Defense Issues

There’s more to the issue than just commercial interests, said Kari A. Bingen, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank, also testifying at the first hearing.

Bingen said building and launching satellites has gotten much cheaper and faster—satellites that were once the size of buses are now the size of “microwaves and loaves of bread” and can be produced in months or even days, not years.

These changes have drawn more interest from governments, Bingen said, as more than 85 nations are now operating in space, far beyond the longstanding space powers. China is pursuing the most expansive program, she said, aiming to take the space race lead by 2049.

“In our 2022 report, we highlighted China’s increasingly robust space capabilities, including advanced positioning, navigation and timing; satellite communications; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and missile warning; in-space logistics; and space situational awareness,” Bingen said. “China’s proficiency in areas like space-based imagery capabilities, paired with its advances in AI, means that it will be able to detect and locate U.S. forces from space in near-real time. China also has a robust arsenal of counterspace capabilities able to target U.S. space assets, ranging from cyberattacks, to reversible GPS and SATCOM jammers, to direct ascent anti-satellite missiles and co-orbital satellites that kinetically impact their targets.”

The use of those counterspace weapons isn’t hypothetical, she noted, as Russia targeted GPS, Starlink and Viasat in Ukraine with jamming and cyberattacks. “As space capabilities increasingly show their value to national security, especially in areas like imagery and communications, adversaries will seek to deny their use,” Bingen said.

On the commercial side, at least, Bingen said there are some things the FCC and other agencies could do, namely “strike the appropriate balance between burdensome regulation and market development.”

For instance, in the United States, space operators go to the FCC for spectrum, the FAA for launch, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for commercial remote sensing licenses, and the State Department and Commerce Department for issues relating to exportability.

Quoting the market analysis firm Quilty Analytics, she said, “The most difficult aspect of building a [LEO] broadband system is acquiring the spectrum, not building and launching satellites…navigating an onerous regulatory process—while also facing narrow profit margins and unforgiving business models of LEO broadband systems—can make it impossible for all but the largest, most well-resourced companies to obtain licenses.”

Pushing Forward

As for the latest legislative push, in the end, the FCC may discover it can’t do anything more to foster precision agriculture or other satellite broadband or PNT uses. Latta said he’ll keep trying.

“I’m committed to ensuring our farmers have the tools needed at their disposal to help increase productivity while minimizing costs,” he said. “This legislation is a good step forward in that mission.”

The post Washington View: FCC Again Urged to Aid Satellite Precision Agriculture appeared first on Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design.

Speaking from his company’s headquarters outside Berlin, Alberding GmbH Owner Jürgen Alberding explained the project’s rationale: “Our aim is to increase the availability of high-accuracy GNSS corrections in rural regions using DAB+ [digital audio broadcasting] transmission. This means overcoming computational and bi-directional communication limitations of network RTK as well as computing and comparing different SSR [state space representation]-based GNSS positioning solutions.”

Modern applications in precision agriculture and in the automotive and other industries all need continuous, highly accurate GNSS position information in real time. GNSS correction data required for this is typically transmitted to users via mobile internet. Due to dead spots, the corrections are often not available to users over a wide area.

“The growing demand for precise real-time corrections puts an increasing computational and bi-directional communication burden on network RTK service providers,” Alberding said. “The provision of GNSS corrections to an unlimited number of users without significant investments into the service infrastructure therefore requires a transition to a unidirectional broadcasting approach.”

Going about it in a new way

Along with project partners Fraunhofer, Geo++ and inPosition, Alberding set out to generate a broadcast-capable PPP-RTK correction data stream in an open data format with optimized bandwidth based on an existing GNSS reference station network. They established a reliable DAB+ data transmission channel and developed and adapted precise real-time PPP-RTK positioning and sensor fusion algorithms. The Alberding A10-RTK sensor served as a development and demonstration platform for extensive testing of the overall solution.

“The A10-DAB prototype sensors have been successfully used in practical field tests,” Alberding said, “and we got a very clear impression of the complexity of future interoperability tests for the SSR data format standardization.” Also speaking at the project final presentation was Fraunhofer’s Christian Fiermann, who said, “The developed hardware works as expected. The overall performance of the system is comparable to state-of-the-art automotive solutions. Decoding is possible even under weak signal conditions, and we were able to reactivate application type for SSR data in the DAB+ standard.”

“We now want to continue this work, to develop a DAB+ receiver module in a smaller form factor,” Alberding said, “and we want to add more processing power, to allow us to run the DAB+ decoding and processing in parallel.”Next steps for the consortium include production of second generation hardware prototypes in higher volume, to expand testing to a larger number of participants, as well as development of a highly integrated board that can be produced in numbers and sold to end users and system integrators.

SSRoverDAB+ is funded under the ESA NAVISP program, aimed at supporting the development of innovative competitive products in satellite navigation and other areas of positioning, navigation and timing.

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“Manual measurement is still common practice in areas where specialty and permanent crops are grown,” said Michael Stone, vice president of product development at Topcon Agriculture. “Our precision GNSS-based guidance and control allows for more elaborate planting patterns, and has been proven through countless industries and applications. This now-affordable transplanting technology can help growers increase crop production by up to 15%, if not more.”

Use cases include growing Christmas trees, cherry trees, strawberries and lettuce, as well as digging post holes and conducting soil sampling, the company said.

The solution eliminates manual labor required to physically outline fields and provides streamlined setup through an easy-to-use task planning interface. Farmers can also expect reductions in fuel and other inputs through the reliability of GNSS, resulting in fewer mistakes and corrections.

“Crops placed in an optimized space maximize available resources like soil nutrients, water, sunlight; this also allows more accessible angles for maintenance, like cleaning and weeding, which will further improve output,” Stone said. “More uniform transplanting executed through GNSS generates a healthier crop for increased production and quality. This technology can even improve efficiencies with tasks like soil sampling and post hole digging.”

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The product gives access to the company’s global reference station network and L-band satellite distribution supplying corrections for GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou.

The Vega 34 board connectors have no circuitry changes and are identical for all Vector users who can now add Atlas H10 and H30 PPP in their solutions. “Vega 34 gives our integrators an easy path forward to enrich their own product offerings,” said Miles Ware, Director of Marketing at Hemisphere. “They can take advantage of other standard features like over 1100 tracking channels, Cygnus interference mitigation technology and spectral analysis.” 

The Vega 34 uses dual antenna ports to create a series of additional capabilities including fast, high-accuracy heading over short baselines, RTK positioning, onboard Atlas L band, RTK-enabled heave, low-power consumption, and precise timing.

Scalable Solutions

With the Vega 34, positioning is scalable and field upgradeable with all Hemisphere software and service options. Utilize the same centimeter-level accuracy in either single-frequency mode, or employ the full performance and fast RTK initialization times over long distances with multi-frequency multi-constellation GNSS signals. High-accuracy L-band positioning from meter to sub-decimeter levels available via Atlas correction service.

Key Features

• Extremely accurate heading with long baselines
• Available multi-frequency position, dual-frequency heading supporting GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, IRNSS, and L band (Atlas®)
• Atlas L band capable to 4 cm RMS
• Athena GNSS engine providing best-in-class RTK performance
• Excellent coasting performance
• 5 cm RMS RTK-enabled heave accuracy
• Strong multipath mitigation and interference rejection
• New multi-axis gyro and tilt sensor for reliable coverage during short GNSS outages

The introduction of the Vega 34 board brings a new firmware release. Version 6.05 extends several features and improvements and introduces NavIC (IRNSS) tracking and positioning across the Vega and Phantom product lines. Both RTK and Atlas positioning solutions are enhanced with an improved performance in challenging environments. Users of the BeiDou satellite systems and B2b PPP integrators will see significant advances in their solutions.

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