When it comes to utilizing L-Band correction services to achieve optimal results for your airborne application, deciding on the best solution can be a tricky endeavor as there are a variety of options available.

Understanding exactly what constitutes success in your specific application will help you with settling on the right one. Start by asking yourself these questions:

• What’s the level of accuracy I’d like to achieve?
• Do I need a solution without a convergence period?
• Will it be working in harsh or benign environmental conditions (e.g. heavy precipitation)?
• What is the range that I will be working with?

These are only a few of the factors that should be considered. At Canal Geomatics, not only do we offer superior GPS/GNSS products, but we also strive to make it as easy as possible for you to make intelligent decisions.

Airborne Applications Utilizing GNSS and L-Band Correction Services

• Clear-air turbulence (CAT) studies
• Aircraft surveillance to communicate an aircraft’s position to ground control centers and other aircraft for traffic information and avoidance (for military, private, and commercial aircraft).
• Autonomous flying of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for a wide array of different activities that include, but are not limited to, security (e.g. border patrol), infrastructure surveillance (e.g. power lines), and agriculture (e.g. crop spraying).
• Aerial surveying to collect geographical information, such as sea levels and vegetation, using airborne vehicles.
• Airborne remote sensing to capture high-quality images of the Earth’s surface.

Positioning Solutions

• Real Time Kinematic (RTK) 
  • If your aim is to achieve the highest level of accuracy (up to centimeter-level positioning) in the fastest time, RTK is the best correction service for your application. It requires a rover and a base station and/or a communication link to a base station.
• Precise Point Positioning (PPP)
  • This method has global availability and will allow you to calculate decimeter-level positioning using only a rover receiver; no other hardware is necessary for its use. It uses a carrier-phase method to make corrections.
• Differential GNSS (DGNSS)
  • The differential GNSS technique is an enhancement to a primary GNSS system that consists of the determination of the GNSS position for an accurately surveyed position known as a reference or base station.
• Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS)
  • SBAS is useful for improving accuracy in situations where rover stations are spread out over a large area. These systems broadcast correction signals from geostationary satellites.

Correction Services

OmniSTAR

With four different DGNSS solutions, OmniSTAR offers plenty of options for coverage:

• OmniSTAR HP
  • Requires a dual frequency receiver
  • 10 cm at 2-sigma (95%)
  • No need for local base stations

• OmniSTAR G2
  • Short-term accuracy of 3 cm to 5 cm
  • Long-term repeatability of 10 cm or better, 95% CEP
  • Includes GLONASS satellites and correction data, useful in situations with limited satellite visibility (terrain, buildings, and vegetation)

• OmniSTAR XP
  • Requires a dual frequency receiver
  • Short-term accuracy of 3 cm to 5 cm
  • Long-term repeatability of 10 cm or better, 95% CEP
  • Slightly less accurate than OmniSTAR HP but has global availability

• OmniSTAR VBS
  • L1 only, code phase pseudo-range solution
  • Typical 24-hour sample will show a 2-sigma (95%) of significantly less than 1m horizontal position error
  • 3-sigma (99%) horizontal error will be close to 1 m
  • Ideal in situations where repeatability and accuracy are not the primary concerns

NovAtel CORRECT

NovAtel has also specialized in all three services.

• NovAtel’s RTK solution provides accuracy of 1 cm + 1 ppm horizontal and 1 cm vertical (baseline range ≤ 40 km).
• Novatel’s DGNSS service provides 40 cm accuracy at ≤ 100 km of range.
• Two Novatel PPP solutions:
  • TerraStar-C has an accuracy of 4 cm RMS horizontal and 6.5 cm RMS vertical with a 20 to 40-minute convergence time
  • TerraStar-L has an accuracy to 40 cm RMS horizontal and 50 cm RMS vertical with a convergence time of < 5 minutes.

Hemisphere Atlas

Atlas provides three PPP solutions:

• H10: 8cm 95%, 4 cm RMS horizontal accuracy, 12 to 20-minute convergence time
• H30: 30 cm 95%, 15 cm RMS horizontal accuracy, 4 to 5-minute convergence times
• H100: 1m 95%, 50 cm RMS horizontal accuracy, close to instantaneous convergence

Trimble RangePoint RTX

Trimble offers an RTK solution that provides expansive global satellite coverage and cellular coverage everywhere in the world.

• Repeatable accuracy of < 50 cm (20 in)
• Initialization takes 1-5 minutes
• Working through signal interruptions for up to 200 seconds
• No base station necessary