Calian GNSS, a leader in high-precision antenna technology, has introduced the Accutenna 4 (AC4) antenna family for increased accuracy, reliability and performance across the full GNSS spectrum.
Based on a novel stacked composite patch antenna element, the AC4 element combines a robust and compact, full band quad-feed design, in half the weight of current patch antennas on the market. Its highly efficient radiating element and precise phase pattern associated with Calian’s proven eXtended Filtering (XF) technology will deliver clean and accurate signals, even in today’s crowded RF environment.
Whether it’s surveying, autonomous systems, precision agriculture or defense, the AC4 ensures users can rely on GNSS data when it matters most.
Designed with precision applications in mind:
Full GNSS band coverage. Supports GPS, Galileo, BeiDou, GLONASS, SBAS and correction services in one antenna, making it a versatile, future-proof solution.
Accutenna 4 technology. Four-feed compact stacked composite patch antenna minimizes multipath interference and keeps the phase centre stable, ensuring centimetre-level accuracy.
Lightweight, rugged options. Available as embedded (85 g) and in multiple mounting styles for diverse applications, from embedded systems to demanding field use.
Noise rejection. Integrated Extended Filtering (XF) technology blocks interference from new LTE and other signals that can disrupt GNSS performance.
With the Accutenna 4, Calian GNSS expands its portfolio, reinforcing its role as a partner for organizations that depend on precision GNSS antenna innovation.
Read a roundup of recent products in the GNSS and inertial positioning industry from the June 2025 issue of GPS World magazine.
MOBILE
Mobile Clock Generators With an integrated MEMS resonator
SiTime’s Symphonic is a mobile clock generator built around the SiT30100, which integrates a MEMS resonator and a temperature sensor in a compact 2.22 mm² chip. Designed for 5G and GNSS chipsets, Symphonic delivers precise, resilient clock signals while supporting efficient power consumption in mobile and IoT devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and asset trackers.
The integrated temperature sensor feeds data to compensation algorithms, providing frequency stability as low as ±0.5 parts per million to enhance GPS accuracy and shorten lock times, which is critical for reliable performance in challenging environments. The device operates across a -30°C to 90°C temperature range and is engineered for dynamic stability and power optimization, helping to mitigate electromagnetic interference. Symphonic features four configurable clock outputs, each capable of delivering 76.8 MHz, 38.4 MHz or 19.2 MHz, suitable for baseband, radio frequency and GNSS applications. The single-chip design eliminates the need for external resonators.
Dual-Band L1/L5 Antenna For critical positioning and timing applications
The TW3885TL is a dual-band GNSS antenna engineered to deliver reliable, interference-free signal reception for critical positioning and timing applications. Supporting both L1 and L5 frequency bands, the antenna is compatible with a wide range of global navigation satellite systems, including GPS, QZSS, Galileo, BeiDou, GLONASS and NavIC, as well as regional satellite-based augmentation systems. The TW3885TL incorporates advanced filtering technology designed to reduce interference from crowded radio frequency environments. It features a low-noise preamplifier, with a typical noise figure of less than 2.5 dB, and offers high gain, typically around 40 dB. The antenna maintains a low axial ratio, under 2.0 dB, and exhibits tight phase center variation, which contributes to precise timing and superior signal quality. Constructed with a weatherproof enclosure rated to IP69K, the TW3885TL is suitable for permanent outdoor installations and can be mounted through-hole, with optional accessories available to support various mounting configurations.
Software Upgrades Enable positioning in GNSS-denied environments
eBee VISION application software now includes a suite of updates for UAV navigation in environments where GNSS signals are compromised or unavailable. The latest software enables autonomous position updates with map referencing, allowing for precise navigation even when satellite signals are jammed, spoofed or blocked. This product is suitable for defense personnel, public safety agencies, and industrial teams working in high-stakes environments where GNSS signals are unavailable (densely populated urban areas, near critical infrastructure, or in contested zones with active interference). The update introduces optical flow stabilization for target lock, which uses visual cues to keep the camera centered on a point of interest during zoom-ins or drone movement. The software allows for adaptive behavior after GNSS recovery or visual repositioning. Additional enhancements include real-time mission duration and return-to-home estimates, optimized cruise speed in windy conditions, high-precision landings using lidar-based altitude calibration, a gimbal auto-recovery mechanism to clear obstructions mid-flight, and smart motor speed reduction to prevent overheating during extreme conditions.
IMU For unmanned commercial and defense applications
The IMU-H100 is a micro-electromechanical systems inertial measurement unit (IMU) designed to improve tactical guidance and navigation for UAVs, short-range missiles, precision-guided munitions, and a range of commercial applications. The tactical-grade unit features accelerometers and gyroscopes on all three axes. It offers a gyro bias of 1° per hour and an accelerometer bias of 1 mg. The unit measures 5 in³ and weighs 160 g. The IMU-H100 surpasses comparable products in data rate, measurement range, stability and repeatability, even under challenging conditions such as vibration, shock, high acceleration, spinning, temperature changes and acoustic noise.
Calian GNSS has released its next-generation anti-jamming controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA), the CR8894SXF+.
The CR8894SXF+ is an advanced CRPA, engineered to provide efficient interference protection and real-time situational awareness across critical infrastructure, marine, and defense environments where GNSS continuity is mission critical. The CRPA is specifically-designed to provide a low-power and lightweight solution in a compact size.
It features advanced in-band null forming to protect GPS L1/L2 and Galileo E1/E5b signals, helping ensure resilient positioning, navigation and timing in environments with contested, congested or degraded radio frequency conditions. The antenna incorporates Calian’s eXtended Filtering interference mitigation technology to maintain performance and reliability when RF threats are present.
The CRPA supports in-band null-forming of 20 dB to 40 dB and out-of-band rejection up to 80 dB across 700 MHz to 2,500 MHz. It includes two independent low-noise amplifier channels, allowing continued operation if one signal band is compromised.
The antenna forms nulls in both upper (L1/E1) and lower (L2/E5b) GNSS bands to actively suppress jamming sources. A serial output interface provides real-time feedback, enabling users to monitor RF conditions and system status. Outputs include:
CRPA state: open (no jamming), protected (jamming mitigated), or closed (jammed but protected)
Jammer characterization: azimuth and elevation angles of detected interference sources
Summary of threat signals, offering rapid threat assessment for command and control
The CRPA series aims to set a new benchmark in operational resilience, offering advanced protection and intelligence for mission-critical GNSS applications.
The AJ977XF+ is a Fixed Reception Pattern Antenna (FRPA) designed to enhance GNSS resilience in interference-prone environments.
LEANA technology creates a 20 dB null over all azimuths, from ground level to an elevation angle of ~15°.
XF+ technology provides additional protection by filtering out-of-band signals.
The “+” technology supports two independent RF channels — if the L1 channel is jammed, the L2/L5 channel will continue to provide a usable signal (and vice versa).
Key takeaway: LEANA technology enables your GNSS receiver to function when it’s 10 times closer to a jammer or interference source compared to a standard antenna and receiver pair.
An early 1900s Italian folk song tells of a farmer walking into his fields at dawn to spread wheat seeds with his hand from a small bag.1 Farming has changed quite a bit since then. After remaining essentially unchanged for about 12 millennia, in the past century, it has been transformed by such innovations as tractors, electrification, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In the 1990s, precision agriculture (PA) emerged. (This magazine produced a few supplements on the subject around 1999. If you still have any of them, please let me know.)
PA reduces inputs of water, fertilizer, seeds, pesticides and fuel and increases harvests by mapping variations in soil characteristics and plant health and then using those maps to adjust the inputs using variable rate technology on sprayers. It also ensures that no part of a field is sprayed twice or missed and greatly reduces overlap in seeding and tilling. Double spraying is costly and wasteful; missing a row when spraying pesticide can cause pests to concentrate there and then spread, nullifying a whole spraying operation.
The data for the maps are gathered from sensors on tractors and other farm machinery in the fields, as well as by aerial platforms — nowadays, mostly UAVs. GNSS receivers are essential in guiding the farm machinery. The required accuracy depends on the crop but is typically at the centimeter to decimeter level.
Increasingly, farm machinery also incorporates a variety of other sensors, both to compensate for GNSS outages and to minimize the risk of collisions, such as when a cow crosses the path of a tractor. To maintain navigation during GNSS outages, inertial navigation is used. For obstacle avoidance lidar, radar and stereo vision cameras are used to measure the distance to the object. (Both challenges — navigation in GNSS-denied areas and obstacle avoidance — and their solutions are very similar to those encountered with autonomous vehicles on roads.)
In-cab displays enable growers to monitor their progress in real time. They often also download the data and maps to a laptop to better identify missed spots or areas with special issues and to plan their next task.
Manufacturers of PA equipment compete in a global market. Some challenges are the same everywhere, while some are specific — such as strong ionospheric scintillations in Brazil or antiquated agricultural practices in Japan’s Furano region. For this year’s cover story on PA, I discussed these challenges and the latest generation of farming hardware, software and services with
■Kirstin Schauble, director of systems engineering, ANELLO Photonics
■ Joey Koebelen, founder and CEO, Deep Sand Technology
■ Chad Huedepohl, PA portfolio manager, autonomy and positioning division, Hexagon
■ Ken MacLeod, director of product management and Gordon Echlin, director of business development, Calian GNSS.
This article contains a few excerpts from those interviews. I also received case studies from AgLeader Technology, ComNav Technology and Harxon Corporation.
ANELLO Photonics makes silicon photonics optical gyroscopes, which enable accurate dead reckoning without GNSS and are targeted mostly at the autonomy market. (Anello means ring in Italian, which reflects the nature of the company’s technology and the Italian-American background of its CEO, Mario Paniccia.) Because ANELLO specializes in high precision in situations with obstructed GNSS signals, orchard cultivation is one of the agricultural practices in which it specializes. “Orchards have high-value crops, such as almonds or walnuts, and you’re driving your tractor between very narrow rows with trees completely covering the sky above you,” Schauble said. “Our job is to replace that GNSS input with our inertial navigation system (INS) input.”
Deep Sand Technology — in partnership with GEODNET, the largest real-time kinematic (RTK) network in the world — sells affordable RTK corrections to farmers. It also maintains and troubleshoots the system, compensated by the network’s cryptocurrency. “We handle the blockchain and use it for maintenance,” said Koebelen. “We have someone that checks every day and makes sure that the bases are up. We do the support on it. Instead of charging for that, we take the tokens; that’s just our part of the program, and they get free RTK.” Koebelen, who is also a peanut farmer, adds: “You can trust anything that we sell because it has been tested and used by a farmer and is supported by a farmer.”
Hexagon, a very large company, makes a wide range of sensors that capture and display data about physical reality. Its latest contributions to PA include the TerraStar-C PRO and the TerraStar-X Corn Belt corrections services, which incorporate improvements in ionospheric resiliency. “Especially in the Brazil market, some growers were often experiencing hours of downtime due to ionospheric scintillation,” said Huedepohl. “With the ionospheric enhancements that we’ve added, that downtime now is down to just a few minutes here and there.” He also cites safety enhancements for the autonomy market, such as dual antenna solutions and geofencing.
Calian GNSS is a global supplier of technical solutions, services and products to the space communications, defense, wired and terrestrial wireless, manufacturing, GNSS, agricultural technology and nuclear industries. The company’s recent entries in the PA market include GNSS antennas with lower elevation gain and extended filtering. “Our GNSS agriculture antennas support centimeter level precision, have best in class lower elevation angle gain enabling L-Band correction reception (at northern and southern latitudes), and have eXtended Filtering (XF), which creates very deep attenuation of nearby out of band radio frequency signals,” said Echlin. “Having a digital signal from the antenna to the smart ag controller simplifies and reduces the cost of the installation,” said MacLeod.
Ag Leader, founded in 1992 and focused exclusively on precision farming technology, offers a complete line of systems that integrate with existing farm machinery. In February, it introduced the RightPath passive implement steering solution to alleviate the problem of trailed implements drifting off the guidance line by up to 10 inches or more, even when farmers utilize auto steer and on flat ground. RightPath keeps implements centered on the guidance line, ensuring precise input placement and increasing operational efficiency throughout the growing season while minimizing crop damage, yield loss and operator challenges, Ag Leader said. To utilize RightPath, both the vehicle and the implement require Ag Leader’s GPS 7500, but only the vehicle needs to be equipped with TerraStar-C, TerraStar-X, or RTK. RightPath will be available in late fall 2025 through a single purchase unlock and without any recurring subscription fee.
ComNav Technology is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that develops and manufactures GNSS OEM boards, receivers and solutions for high-precision positioning applications worldwide. Japan’s Furano region is renowned for its vast farmland and abundant agricultural resources. Still, it is challenged by traditional manual driving methods that provide insufficient accuracy, low efficiency, and operator fatigue during prolonged tasks. To address these issues, ComNav introduced the AG502 autosteer system, which integrates satellite reception, positioning, navigation and autonomous driving. It is compatible with a variety of mainstream tractors on the market and is suitable for a wide range of agricultural tasks such as ridging, seeding, spraying and harvesting, ComNav said. In the Furano project, the AG502 demonstrated its versatility through its successful deployment on a transplanting machine.
Harxon Corporation makes GNSS positioning antenna solutions. The company has been collaborating with Brazilian agricultural navigation solutions and systems developer Agres to integrate Harxon’s Smart Antenna into the AgresAutopilot System. This secure and robust agricultural navigation solution has been widely adopted by Brazilian agribusinesses to provide automatic steering on straight or curved parallel lines to assist with such field operations as preparing the soil, planting seeds, cultivating the plantation and harvesting the crops. These systems are suitable for various brands and tractor/vehicle models such as Kuhn, John Deere, Valtra, Massey Ferguson, New Holland, LS, Landini, Jacto and others.
To maximize an operator’s turning accuracy and efficiency, Ag Leader introduced TurnPath, hands-free steering for automatic, repeatable end-of-row turns. (Photo: Ag Leader)
Challenges
The key technical challenges faced by PA systems include minimizing multipath and RF interference and monitoring the positions of implements relative to the tractor. “Agriculture requires positional accuracy, so mounting an antenna on a farm machine is not a trivial matter,” said MacLeod. “On metallic machinery, radio frequency surface currents and reflections (multipath) will degrade the antenna radiation pattern, and RF noise coming from other electronics on the machine can interfere with GNSS.” Additionally, because most GNSS applications now are full band, “the challenge is designing antennas that are small and full band, and which also reduce local multipath on the machine.”
Regarding the position of the implements, MacLeod said: “Many agricultural applications use the moving base technique to estimate a precise heading which can be used to monitor pass to pass overlap. Calian GNSS have smart antennas that support the moving base application.”
Accuracy and Reliability
Nearly all PA practices require RTK, which gives repeatable accuracy of 1 cm to 2 cm. “I have this conversation daily with farmers,” Koebelen said. “All crops or farm practices benefit from RTK, even if you’re just doing hay work — whether you’re planting or harvesting. We can’t control the weather, commodity prices, or fuel prices but we can reduce input costs. So even if you’re just tilling, GEODNET RTK will pay for itself and is better than using traditional autosteer, because you’re eliminating all overlap.”
Additionally, farmers need reliable repeatability, even from one season to the next, to be able to return to the same spot to harvest what they planted. “Peanut farmers may plant with RTX or SF3, but satellite-based corrections, even higher precision ones, didn’t provide them enough repeatability to come back to harvest,” said Koebelen. “So, they still had to adjust their lines or hand-drive them. If the spacing between passes are off by even two to three inches, you’re going to lose peanuts. That’s why peanut farmers — as well as growers of potatoes, cucumbers, and other crops — need RTK.”
Once they enter a GNSS-denied area, such as an orchard, farm machines will need a dead reckoning capability that can keep them within a 20 cm to 30 cm error, said Schauble. “This is typically posed as a cross-track error. Errors in the direction of the distance traveled are slightly less important, because you can tell based on visuals when you exit a row.”
Growers think of reliability, accuracy and repeatability in terms of whether they can count on a system to do what they are asking it to do, Huedepohl explained. “They think about all those things. They do not necessarily focus on one thing versus another.”
Retrofitting
While many agricultural systems are proprietary, there is also a lot of mixing-and-matching and retrofitting going on. More than 90% of new tractors come with factory-installed guidance, but some growers want to retrofit new receivers on their machines, either because they did not have them or to upgrade. On some machines, it is possible to feed better positioning data — for example, integrating GNSS and inertial navigation — into the port that previously took in only GNSS data, using a standard NMEA format.
“It’s a simple plug-and-play to exchange someone’s GNSS receiver with our INS solution. Obviously, they need to do some testing to optimize placement, installation and stuff like that,” said Schauble. “Many companies are retrofitting existing tractors with an autonomy stack. They take commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems, such as ours, or a lidar or a camera, and retrofit a tractor. That’s their business model.”
The AG502 autosteer system being tested and calibrated on a transplanter in Japan’s Furano region, which is renowned for its vast farmland. (Photo: ComNav Technology)
Additional Sensors
Among the additional sensors often used are wheel odometers. “Without the wheel speed, you’re relying heavily on accelerometers,” said Schauble. “Growers cannot afford to pay $100,000 for a reference-grade system. The navigation systems for these applications use MEMS accelerometers, as we do. So, wheel speed aiding is extremely important to maintain that distance traveled.”
Integrating GNSS and inertial measurement units (IMUs) has long been standard. Increasingly, this integration is done inside an antenna, called a smart antenna. Calian, among others, does that. “We also have smart antennas that employ the L1-L5 observation pair rather than L1-L2, since the L5 signal is stronger and performs better under cover,” said MacLeod. “L5 uses an enhanced signal architecture with 10x faster chipping rate (10.23 MHz) offering more precise standard localization and improved multipath mitigation for reflections exceeding 29.3 m.”
Corrections
Corrections have also been key to the evolution of PA. A reference base station can provide 1-inch accuracy for up to 21 miles, degrading beyond that distance. It needs a WiFi network to communicate, so farmers often place the base station near their home and connect it to their home network. “We haven’t found an internet connection that isn’t quick enough to handle that,” said Koebelen. “From there, you can use your hotspot with a SIM card on your phone, and it’s like texting, so it will not drop like with voice calls. We haven’t run across rural areas where cell coverage is the limiting factor.”
RTK adoption is growing among farmers. “In the past, many people did not want to use RTK, because it was not very affordable nor easy,” Koebelen said. “However, now that we have these networks [such as GEODNET], you’re going to see a lot more people rely on the precision of RTK and you’re going to see many new products come out. Right now, even John Deere, Trimble and other major brands that are more expensive are trying to make the tier below RTK more affordable or easier to get — for example, RTX, SF3, the satellite-based corrections.” GEODNET’s network is growing rapidly, he said, “because our price for RTK is lower than Trimble’s or John Deere’s basic entries, which use free satellite signals that drift throughout the day.”
Huedepohl agrees that RTK has improved while prices have dropped significantly. “Earlier in my career,” he said, “RTK positioning was very expensive and satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) were not as stable. Also, RTK systems and such used a single constellation for the longest time. We started adding in GLONASS and then positioning network (Ntrip) corrections, which gave us a lot more robustness.”
Precise point positioning (PPP) has also improved. It used to have convergence times of up to 45 minutes. “Then, you would drive underneath one tree on the edge of a field, and you had to start all over,” Huedepohl recalls. “That did not sit well with farmers, so PPP corrections struggled to take off. Because of those early experiences, it took a long time for the market to start to accept the newer PPP models that we’ve seen in the past seven or eight years. Now there are farmers who enjoy the reliability of those PPP corrections.” The convergence time for one of Hexagon’s PPP services, TerraStar-C PRO, is often less than five minutes, according to Huedepohl. “We have a fast startup time. So, if the tractor was shut down, already converged and you turn it back on, most people are going to be reconverged in just a minute or two.”
Harxon enables autonomous agricultural applications with GNSS antennas, smart antennas and wireless data radios. (Photo: Harxon)
Division of Labor
The division of labor between manufacturers of PA equipment depends, in part, on whether a system is a retrofit or built from scratch. “If you are, let’s say, John Deere, and you own the entire autonomy stack within this tractor, then you can take our INS solution, add cameras, maybe add a lidar, and you can have your own fusion of those sensors,” said Schauble. “We have our own sensor fusion with IMUs and GPS. The tractor’s autonomy stack can do the sensor fusion with our output and other visual sensors, such as cameras and lidars.”
“Dealerships want their tractors to be known as having the highest tech,” said Schauble. “For a dealership to offer our state of the art, autonomy-enabling technology would be a huge benefit to them.”
Another differentiator is whether a factory-installed system is an OEM or branded. “We’ve been providing NovAtel branded receivers to AGCO for many years, through their channel, both factory-installed and aftermarket. Some of the others, such as CNH, are white labeled, so it would just say ‘Case-IH’ or ‘New Holland’ and have no Hexagon markings.”
Whether OEM or aftermarket, most manufacturers have some type of proprietary integration. “There are products that are just NEMA; they are typically at the lower end and priced much lower,” said Huedepohl. “The higher performing flagship products out of everybody’s portfolio are usually doing a more customized integration.”
Echlin has a similar perspective: “We provide products to OEMs who designed our products into their machinery. There are also system integrators and aftermarket system providers that use our smart antennas.”
According to Harxon, one reason for the success of its smart antenna in the agriculture market, especially for autonomy users, has been its ease of integration and high performance. “GNSS positioning is just one part of an autonomous system, and the autonomous integrators don’t necessarily have resources or expertise to develop an OEM component portfolio. Therefore, it’s a timesaving and cost-effective choice to directly integrate a smart antenna into an autonomous system.”
1 “Di buon mattino il contadino va nei suoi campi a seminare il grano. Ha un sacchettino e ci tuffa la mano.”
An exclusive interview with Ken MacLeod, Director of Product Management and Gordon Echlin, Director of Business Development at Calian GNSS. Read the full story and additional exclusive interviews here.
What are the main challenges and issues for GNSS antennas in agriculture, as opposed to, say, surveying or construction? How do your products address them?
KM: Many agricultural applications use L-band GNSS corrections, which are broadcast from a geostationary satellite (located above the equator). If you’re close to the equator, the geostationary satellite is roughly above you. However, as you move away from the equator, the look angle gets lower and lower. In Canada and northern Europe for example, the look angle is low, and the signal path is longer than at the equator. Therefore, you need an antenna that has low elevation angle gain. Calian has several antenna products that have great low elevation angle gain.
One of the other differences is antenna mounting. Agriculture requires positional accuracy, so mounting an antenna on a farm machine is not a trivial matter. On metallic machinery, radio frequency surface currents and reflections (multipath) will degrade the antenna radiation pattern, and RF noise coming from other electronics on the machine can interfere with GNSS.
Most GNSS applications now are full band. The challenge is designing antennas that are small and full band, and which also reduce local multipath on the machine.
You mentioned that these antennas are small, but on a tractor, size, weight and power (SWAP) is not a big concern. So, why is size an issue?
KM: As you mentioned, for most large farm machinery, SWAP it’s not a problem. It is, however, for UAVs, which are being used to spray crops with herbicides and pesticides where a small light weight antenna is beneficial.
Do most farm machines now use two antennas for their heading?
KM: Many agricultural applications use the moving base technique to estimate a precise heading which can be used to monitor pass to pass overlap. Calian GNSS have smart antennas that support the moving base application.
You also need to sense obstructions on the ground, but I guess that somebody else deals with integrating other sensors, such as inertial ones, with GNSS.
GE: Calian GNSS smart antennas (GNSS receiver built-in to the antenna) have built in Inertial Measurement Units (IMU). We also have smart antennas that employ the L1-L5 observation pair rather than L1-L2, since the L5 signal is stronger and performs better under cover. L5 uses an enhanced signal architecture with 10x faster chipping rate (10.23MHz) offering more precise standard localization and improved multipath mitigation for reflections exceeding 29.3m
[Shared a screen with eight antenna models.]
What are the key characteristics of your antennas regarding precision agriculture?
GE: Our GNSS agriculture antennas support centimeter level precision, have best in class lower elevation angle gain enabling L-Band correction reception (at northern and southern latitudes), and eXtended Filtering (XF), which creates very deep attenuation of nearby out of band radio frequency signals.
KM: We have deep GNSS antenna knowledge and we know how to integrate receivers into antennas. So, out of the box, you can buy from Calian GNSS a fully functional smart GNSS antenna that outputs a digital signal. Having a digital signal from the antenna to the smart ag controller simplifies and reduces the cost of the installation. Many customers, especially in the autonomy space, know software very well but are not hardware specialists. We remove the problem of integrating an antenna and a receiver into their product, and customers can start solving their PNT application.
GE:There are many startups that don’t understand RF; there are not enough GNSS and RF guys around. Let us take care of the antenna rand receiver integration. Then customers just take the RS-422 or RS-232 signals and read the receiver’s messages or NMEA data and use our ROS2 driver.
Does the installation take place at the factory or at the dealership, or do growers do it themselves?
GE: We provide products to OEMs who designed our products into their machinery. There are also system integrators and aftermarket system providers that use our smart antennas. We offer advice and consulting services to customers who design the products and do the installs and ask us to recommend where they should place the antenna to get the best performance. Let’s say that you have a large metal roof with a patch antenna. The GNSS signal can bounce off the roof or run on top of a metal surface and reach the antenna and interfere with the direct signal. To mitigate these problems, we often provide installation advice.
What are some of the GNSS receivers that you use?
GE: Calian GNSS provides smart antenna products with Septentrio, uBlox or ST-Micro receivers built in. Our ceramic patch antennas typically use a ZED-F9P, which you can use as either a base or a rover. It can take in PPP-RTK corrections through L-band signals. We can also take commercial RTK services, such as those from Point One Navigation or from Swift Navigation. Or, if you have a big farm and many different pieces of equipment that need precise positioning, you could set up your own RTK base, which provide precise positioning for a radius of up to ~20 kilometers from the base station. The point is that we support correction services and are not bound to one service provider.
A roundup of recent products in the GNSS and inertial positioning industry from the December 2024 issue of GPS World magazine.
Mapping
Photo: SPH Engineering
GPR System For terrestrial and airborne applications
The Zond Aero 500 NG is a versatile ground penetrating radar (GPR) system designed for both terrestrial and drone-mounted surveys, suitable for applications such as utility scanning, sinkhole detection, glaciology and geological studies. It operates in dual mode, allowing for ground-based and airborne surveys, enhancing data collection flexibility. Key specifications include a center frequency of 500 MHz, an operating bandwidth of 200 MHz – 900 MHz, a sampling rate of 25,600 samples per second and a scan rate of 50 scans per second, with depth penetration up to 4 meters in average soil conditions. The system features advanced electronics for real-time data collection, which can significantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio. It is compatible with DJI Matrice 300/350 UAVs for airborne applications.
Streamlined Lidar Mapping YellowScan’s Surveyor Ultra integrated with DeltaQuad Evo
Integrating YellowScan’s Surveyor Ultra with the DeltaQuad Evo platform allows users to collect high-precision, high-density data across 1,200 hectares in a single flight while simultaneously capturing lidar and RGB data.
DeltaQuad Evo’s long-range flight capabilities and efficient vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) design, paired with the Surveyor Ultra’s lidar technology, allow users to streamline their workflows to reduce time spent in the air and on post-processing tasks, making it particularly beneficial for large infrastructure projects, forestry analysis and environmental monitoring. The system can be used for surveying, construction, forestry and environmental research.
Airborne Mapping System With a ‘cross-fire’ scan pattern
The VQ-1560 III-S is a dual-channel laser scanning system designed for airborne mapping applications. Its “cross-fire” scan pattern allows for simultaneous forward and backward viewing at the edges of the swath, along with a nadir view in the center. This configuration optimizes point distribution for effective target sampling. With pulse repetition rates reaching up to 4.4 MHz, the VQ-1560 III-S can operate at altitudes of up to 1,600 m above ground level (AGL). At a lower pulse repetition rate of 560 kHz, it can function at altitudes as high as 3,900 m AGL.
The system features inertial measurement unit (IMU) and GNSS integration, with the option to include one or two high-resolution RGB/NIR cameras. It is ideal for professionals in fields such as urban planning, forestry and environmental monitoring.
This bathymetric lidar system is designed for coastal and inland water mapping. It combines high-resolution topographic and bathymetric capabilities, allowing for seamless data collection across land and sea. It can be used for coastal zone management, environmental monitoring, infrastructure planning and more.
Fathom delivers data quickly by leveraging real-time quality control with Onboard and scalable processing with a CARIS workflow. It also includes a built-in topographic lidar and a multispectral camera for coastal surveys at a coverage of 50 km2/hour.
The Geode Grip is a mounting accessory featuring a specialized bracket. It allows users to securely attach smartphones directly to Juniper’s Geode GNSS receivers, offering an integrated and streamlined data collection solution.
The Geode Grip is a tool designed for professionals in surveying, mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) to enhance mobile data collection. It replaces the traditional survey pole with a handheld setup that aims to improve ergonomics. It is ideal for field projects that require precise location data and mobile data collection, such as environmental research, land surveying, agriculture and infrastructure engineering.
New Product Bundle For high-accuracy GNSS applications
Quectel Wireless Solutions has unveiled a new product bundle designed to facilitate the development of high-accuracy GNSS applications. The bundle includes the LG290P GNSS module, which is a quad-band, multi-constellation device capable of receiving signals from various satellite systems, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BDS, QZSS and NavIC. The LG290P is engineered for high precision and supports RTK positioning, allowing for centimeter-level accuracy even in challenging environments. It can be used in diverse applications, such as autonomous vehicles, precision agriculture and surveying.
In addition to the LG290P module, the bundle includes options for either the YEGN103W8A geodetic antenna or the YEGD006U1A patch antenna. Both antennas are designed to operate within the same frequency bands as the GNSS module and are compliant with environmental regulations such as RoHS. This pre-integrated solution simplifies developers’ procurement and integration process by providing a one-stop solution that combines antennas with GNSS modules and RTK correction services.
Lidar Camera Payload For surveying and mapping applications
The RESEPI Ultra LITE is a lightweight payload combining lidar and camera technology for advanced surveying and mapping applications. The system integrates the XT-32 lidar scanner to offer users advanced data accuracy and point density across various operational modes.
It has a compact design with a 5MP colorization camera, making it ideal for small unmanned aerial systems (SUAS) with strict volume constraints. It can be used for aerial and ground-based applications, including utility mapping, construction volumetrics, precision agriculture, forestry, site surveying and mining. Designed for seamless integration, the system is compatible with a wide range of platforms such as Freefly, WISPR, DJI, Sony and mobile setups. Inertial Labs’ proprietary SnapFit adapters ensure quick and secure mounting to enhance the system’s adaptability.
The Leica GS05 is a compact and lightweight GNSS smart antenna designed for surveying tasks, featuring calibration-free tilt compensation. This robust device allows for accurate measurements even when the survey pole is tilted up to 30°, enhancing data collection in challenging environments. Its integration with Leica Geosystems’ portfolio, including Leica Captivate software and total stations, seeks to maximize efficiency. The GS05 can function as both a base and an RTK rover, supporting single base stations and RTK networks such as Leica SmartNet.
Intrepid is a GNSS/INS system integrated with the SeaBat T20-ASV processor and includes a compact IMU and two GNSS antennas, ensuring reliable and precise positioning.
It can automatically stream data to third-party software. This eliminates the need for manual sensor interfacing and reduces downtime. The Intrepid GNSS/INS benefits users in marine surveying applications by providing the precise navigation necessary for operational efficiency. Its intuitive design allows for simple configuration.
Miniature MEMS Sensor-Based IMU Can withstand high shock and vibrations
The KERNEL-201 features three-axis MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes that offer ultra-low noise, high bandwidth and minimal latency. These characteristics make it ideal for applications such as pointing, stabilization and navigation in systems where performance and size are critical. Its volume of 0.38 cubic inches offers a high dynamic range.
Fully calibrated and temperature-compensated, the unit offers consistent, precise measurements even in challenging environments. It features an in-run bias stability of up to 0.7 deg/hr for gyroscopes and 0.005 mg for accelerometers, along with a low angular random walk (ARW) of 0.065°/√hr and velocity random walk (VRW) of 0.015 m/sec/√hr.
The unit is designed to withstand high shock and vibration while maintaining peak performance, making it suitable for a wide range of challenging applications. The KERNEL-201 can be integrated into various high-level systems, such as motion reference units (MRUs), GPS-aided inertial navigation systems (INS) and attitude and heading reference systems (AHRS). It offers continuous built-in testing (BIT), customizable communication protocols and flexible power options.
Smart Choke Antenna Offers comprehensive GNSS signal reception
The VCS6000XF full band smart choke antenna is engineered for CORS applications. It combines Tallysman Verachoke antenna elements with Septentrio’s Mosaic X5 full-band receiver to offer an integrated solution for OEM CORS systems.
The VCS6000XF offers comprehensive GNSS signal reception, including GPS/QZSS L1/L2/L5, GLONASS G1/G2/G3, Galileo E1/E5a/E5b/E6/E5 AltBoc, BeiDou B1/B2/B2a/B3, NavIC L5, SBAS and L-Band correction services.
The antenna features a 0.5 mm phase center variation and utilizes Calian’s eXtended filtering for near-band signal interference mitigation. The integrated Septentrio Mosaic X5 receiver provides capabilities such as anti-jamming, anti-spoofing, scintillation mitigation and receiver integrity by combining the antenna and receiver in the choke ring antenna.
Calian GNSS, formerly Tallysman Wireless, has released its TW5387 industrial-grade smart GNSS antenna. It integrates the Quectel ST TESEO V GNSS receiver chipset onto the Calian compact smart GNSS antenna platform to offer dual-band GNSS, eXtended filtering, low phase center variation, low signal-to-noise ratio and dual feed and patch for strong multi-path rejection.
The TW5387 comes with RTK rover capability and a built-in IMU for sensor fusion. It is designed to minimize RF impairments that affect the performance of the GNSS receiver and provide GNSS coordinates to the host system over a robust digital interface for noise resilience.
TW5387 is suited for automotive, UAV, robotics and defense applications that require precise location and timing. TW5387 is compatible with N-RTK correction services such as Point One Navigation’s Polaris and Swift Navigation’s Skylark.
It tracks GPS, Galileo, BeiDou and L1/L5 band operation and is housed in an industrial-grade IP69K enclosure.
