EYE ON NPI - u-blox C099-F9P Application Board for ZED-F9P GNSS RTK Module
165This weeks' EYE on NPI is more like EYE to the SKY, as we feature u-blox's low cost GNSS RTK eval/application boards. Digi-Key has plenty of stock of u-blox ZED-F9P eval boards (https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/u/u-blox/c099-f9p-application-board), which are a fully-featured RTK application boards with a GNSS RTK module, WiFi module, Arduino-compatible headers, multiple power options including LiPoly charging, and easy-to-use configuration software. The price is under $250, bringing a multi-node RTK setup within many engineer's budgets. (https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/u-blox/C099-F9P-2/672-1110-ND/9817935)
RTK is a pretty interesting technology that has developed over the last few years, but even we had to do some research to understand it. GNSS stands for Global Navigation Satelite System, which for most people is synonymous with GPS - the American GNSS. There are some other, newer, GNSS's like GLONASS (Russian) and Galileo (EU).
Now, GPS and GNSS receivers are super common and inexpensive, you can pick up a fully-integrated GPS module like the SAM-M8Q (https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/u-blox/SAM-M8Q-0-10/672-1054-2-ND/7393574) for about $13, it even comes with an tuned path antenna. These little receivers work very well for outdoor location identification, and they work anywhere in the world. There is one drawback that folks bump into when using GNSS - and that is the precision of location. Even if you are in the middle of a field, and you've got a perfect view of the clear sky, GNSS accuracy is around 3 meters / 10 feet. Which is pretty good for a $13 module, and for general navigation and asset tracking, 10 feet is a fair tradeoff.
For some applications, like autonomous cars or agricultural equipment, surveying, or drones - 10 feet won't cut it. If the location is jumping around, it could cause the machinery to veer off course, smashing into a building or cliff or human! For these high-tech use cases, we need to boost the GPS accuracy and precision, which we can do by adding RTK.
RTK stands for Real Time Kinematics, a way of precisely determining location and orientation ... in real time! How it works is pretty amazing. We already know how GNSS works - by getting timecoded signals from 3 or more satellites that circle the globe and comparing the time code deltas, we can triangulate where were are approximately on earth. Now say we have two GNSS receivers somewhat close to each other, say within a mile. Each one is going to receive pretty similar signals, and will see the same satellites. The receivers can then perform calculations on the phase of the same signal they received, and compare the differences between them. The differences will be incredibly slight, and the measurement requires good quality sensing, because we're measuring the signal of a 1.5GHz transmission from literally space. That precision sensing is why the price of RTK has historically been in the thousands of $ to get a setup, especially since you need one base station and one+ rovers. Thanks to u-blox's engineering and market skill, they've gotten a full development kit that can be used as a standalone base station or rover for under $250! (https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/u-blox/C099-F9P-2/672-1110-ND/9817935)
But, if you're aware of how to best use RTK, there's some amazing use cases that have been waiting for this kind of precision orientation and tracking capability. So, if you've ever wanted to play with RTK, there's no better application board to start with, and you can pick one up today at Digi-Key, just search for 672-1110-ND on digikey.com
Don't forget you'll need two boards (unless there happens to be a public RTK base station somewhere nearby you). Then, once you're ready to integrate the ZED-F9P into your development platform, you can pick modules up at Digi-Key as well! (https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/u-blox/ZED-F9P-00B-02/672-1212-1-ND/9990023)
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