New feature eliminates the need for a self-hosted NTRIP caster and delivers enterprise-grade correction data to up to three devices simultaneously at no additional cost to the operator
Onocoy, a decentralized GNSS reference station network, is launching Loop Back, a new platform feature that routes quality-assured RTK correction data back to each station operator’s own devices free of charge. More than 7,800 active reference stations contribute to the onocoy network.
Operators who also needed precision positioning for their own drones, survey rovers, precision agriculture equipment, or autonomous machinery face a common friction point: the reference station they owned and operated produces valuable correction data, but routing that data back to their own field equipment requires either a separately maintained NTRIP caster or an additional subscription. Loop Back eliminates both.
Loop Back is immediately available to all onocoy station operators as a standard platform feature. Full documentation and setup guides are available at docs.onocoy.com.
How Loop Back works
When a GNSS reference station is connected to onocoy, raw observation data flows from the operator’s hardware into onocoy’s quality validation pipeline. The platform continuously checks position stability, multi-constellation health (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou), uptime and other parameters before producing a quality-assured RTCM 3 correction stream.
That validated stream has two destinations simultaneously: enterprise data clients who purchase GNSS reference station data through onocoy’s pay-per-use model, and the station operator’s own devices via Loop Back. The operator receives the same production-grade correction stream used by commercial clients, free of charge and with no data credits consumed.
Key capabilities at launch:
- Up to three simultaneous active connections from an operator’s own devices to their own station’s corrections, with unlimited devices configurable
- Compatible with any NTRIP-capable station regardless of hardware brand or model
- Quality monitoring identical to that applied to enterprise client streams
- No separate NTRIP caster required; onocoy manages the infrastructure
- Free of charge: No data credits consumed for the operator’s own station data.
Who benefits
Loop Back is designed for the growing segment of professionals who both operate a reference station and rely on precision positioning in their daily work. Target use cases include:
- Precision agriculture: Farmers running auto-steered machinery, UAV-based crop monitoring, and variable-rate application systems
- Geomatics and surveying: Professionals running a base station and multiple rover units across a site, eliminating the overhead of a local base-rover setup
- Autonomous systems, robotics and drones: Operators deploying multiple vehicles or aircraft requiring cm-accurate positioning for mapping, inspection, or delivery workflows
- Research: Academic and scientific teams running parallel measurement campaigns from a shared base station.
Economics of station operation
Most professionals who deploy a GNSS reference station do so because their business in precision agriculture, surveying, drone operations and construction demands one. By connecting that station to onocoy, operators put the same hardware to work a second time: contributing data to onocoy’s global network and earning rewards worth several hundreds of U.S. dollars per year.
That additional income is enough to amortize the station in under two years before accounting for potential savings on subscriptions. Because onocoy applies continuous quality monitoring to every stream, operators also safeguard the positioning accuracy their business depends on.
