As a leading European UAV manufacturer and RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems) integrator, AltiGator has selected the Septentrio’s AsteRx-m UAS technology to provide centimeter-level RTK positioning.
When carrying out inspections of wind-turbines, high-power lines, industrial buildings, for example, RTK can provide not only the necessary levels of precision, but also reliability and safety.
Such system allow fixed-position and attitude hovering to increase the resolution and granularity of information on a particular feature. Additionally, it enables a reliable navigation even near high-voltage power lines and metal structures which have traditionally been problematic for magnetic compasses. The GNSS receiver should also be robust against interference from both intentional and non-intentional sources.
Piloting UAVs makes use of real-time high-precision information however, offline RPK (ReProcessed Kinematics) can be used to combine the AsteRx-m UAS data with that from local reference station to achieve centimeter-level positioning using Septentrio’s GeoTagZ software, especially for GIS applications like photogrammetry.
Mikrokopter electronics for multi-rotors are designed for professional use. This reliable German technology has proven its stability and robustness on the field. The modularity and backwards compatibility of the system means that integrated boards can be maintained, updated and repaired. This is why AltiGator’s team has been putting all efforts integrating Septentrio’s multi-frequency RTK technology together with the Mikrokopter Flight-Ctrl v3 allowing to get the RTK fix positioning in less than a minute after the power on.
“AsteRx-m UAS is an ultra-low power GNSS OEM solution particularly suited for high multipath environments typically encountered in drone inspections” stated Laurent Le Thuaut, Account Manager at Septentrio. He continued: “Thanks to AltiGator’s integration, any Mikrokopter UAV can now be upgraded to benefit from high grade RTK centimeter-level positioning”
