Flying with the RTK Emlid Reach M2 about mrs_uav_system HOT 6 CLOSED

Hello, we were flying with the RTK just today, and the performance was very good.

The GPS module from pixhawk is still pretty much mandatory, for several reasons:

• The regular GPS serves as a backup
• It has a magnetometer integrated into the receiver, which is necessary for GPS/RTK flights. Pixhawk has also a magnetometer, but it is a crappy one and it is usually close to motor cables, which equals lots of interference.
• It has the arming button integrated.

The coordinates you get from the RTK correspond to the position of the antenna, so only the antenna should be in the center of the drone, then a simple Z offset will get you to the center of the drone frame. Other components can be mounted anywhere you want. The Pixhawk GPS can be put right beside the RTK antenna, it does not have to be in the center of the drone. Generally, you want to keep the antennas as far as possible from any other electronics, especially high bandwidth devices like USB3.0 cameras or 3D lidars can jam the GPS signals completely. But the antennas themselves can be mounted right next to each other.

We connect the RTK straight to the computer with a USB cable, and send NMEA messages. mrs_serial package can then read the messages out. If you want to use this method, make sure to do "git pull" in uav_core (you need this commit - ctu-mrs/mrs_uav_odometry@4b9e09a ).

Dan H

from mrs_uav_system.

Hello Dan Hert,

I am using the same configuration as above. I was wondering if you guys at MRS used the M2 antenna. In Emlid Documentation (https://docs.emlid.com/reachm2/antenna-placement/) , this one is mentioned several times but in your drones's pictures I don't see it : are your drone able to fly without it ?

Kind regards,

Frank

from mrs_uav_system.

Hello,
yes we are using the M2 antenna - https://store.emlid.com/product/multi-band-gnss-antenna/

I am attaching a photo of our drone which flew with the RTK. We are using a bit of aluminium foil for additional shielding, as the antenna is right above the computer. If you put the antenna further away, the shielding is prob. not required.

Cheers, Dan H.

from mrs_uav_system.

Thank you Dan Hert,

I see things clearer right now.

I am currently following the documentation of Emlid to bind the Reach M2 to the Reach RS2, but I would like to know : what is your routine before a flight ? Especially in order to ensure that everything is okay for these 2 components.
I have read this (https://ctu-mrs.github.io/docs/hardware/tersus_RTK_GNSS.html) but is there anything else I should be aware of for the first flight with your drone configuration ?

Have a nice week,

Kind regards,

Frank

from mrs_uav_system.

The Tersus RTK section on the wiki is outdated, we should probably remove it.
When flying with the RTK, we just set up the basestation, let it average the position for a few minutes and thats it.
Once the RTK reports L1_INT on the drone, the RTK fix is achieved.

Dan H.

from mrs_uav_system.

Thanks to all, I think the issue is resolved, I am closing it :)

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