Another option to get more precise positioning is to switch from GPS to Galileo.
Galileo generally offers better civilian accuracy than GPS because it uses modern signal structures with better resistance to multipath and interference and provides dual-frequency signals (E1 + E5) to all users, which mitigates ionospheric errors.
5G has fairly sophisticated positioning support, especially in the latest releases. Base stations generally are in precisely known locations and have good timebases. Urban locations which are challenging for gnss usually have good 5G coverage
Nothing in this article is new, and the problem with RTK has always been the (unpaid) availability of reference stations. Good on them for trying to make a package of it, but maybe this "news" site could've used a bit less unchecked enthusiasm.
Also, RTK is the opposite of "regular" GPS, it's generally considered a "special" usage mode of GPS.
And discussing urban canyons with no mention of QZSS?
Precision GPS is useful for a lot of things, but not for safety. Until we equip every deer, child, and pavement heave with a GPS saying exactly where it is cars will need "something" else to detect hazards. That GPS needs to be 100% reliable, even though we cannot predict when a child will attempt to run outside naked (without their GPS position transmitter), or the pavement will decide to fail (presumably without updating the GPS).
Prevision GPS is useful for a lot of things, but it isn't needed for car navigation. If you know within 100 meters of where you are you can figure out the exact lane you are in by other clues - clues that you need to look for anyway because road/utility crews will sometimes direct you to do things that are not on your updated maps.
I couldn't read the rest of the article because that navigation bugged me too much.
Even back in 1999 prior to Selective Availability (SA) zeroing[0], fixed base station-assisted (pre-WAAS DGPS RTK) could achieve 10 mm horizontal accuracy and 1 m vertical accuracy. It was good enough that farming, mining (above ground), and earth-moving equipment could combine 2 receivers to determine tool angle and cut depth.
0. SA was an injected random error for security reasons that was constant for a local area, so it was weak security because it could be easily defeated if a fixed base station's position was known by subtracting it in the RTK receiver via DGPS update.
I had some experience with RTK and sensor fusion about 13 years ago on a college project. At the time the only people that were using RTK in real world applications were tractor companies because it kind of matters that you're precise when seed drilling. I'm not sure how far RTK has come but it had pit falls back then like base station drift when the set of satellites it saw changed due to them going over the horizon.
Tractors don't go _that_ fast but I'm not sure I'd rely on it in an actual car for anything but slightly better GPS.
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[ 20.6 ms ] story [ 61.7 ms ] threadGalileo generally offers better civilian accuracy than GPS because it uses modern signal structures with better resistance to multipath and interference and provides dual-frequency signals (E1 + E5) to all users, which mitigates ionospheric errors.
Much cheaper than satellites and would be guaranteed to see heavy use
https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2024/11/5g-advanced-positio...
Edit: not affiliated with the company
Also, RTK is the opposite of "regular" GPS, it's generally considered a "special" usage mode of GPS.
And discussing urban canyons with no mention of QZSS?
For free.
Receivers slowly hitting the market now - a year ago this was only receivable by SDR-driven devices.
Prevision GPS is useful for a lot of things, but it isn't needed for car navigation. If you know within 100 meters of where you are you can figure out the exact lane you are in by other clues - clues that you need to look for anyway because road/utility crews will sometimes direct you to do things that are not on your updated maps.
I couldn't read the rest of the article because that navigation bugged me too much.
Even back in 1999 prior to Selective Availability (SA) zeroing[0], fixed base station-assisted (pre-WAAS DGPS RTK) could achieve 10 mm horizontal accuracy and 1 m vertical accuracy. It was good enough that farming, mining (above ground), and earth-moving equipment could combine 2 receivers to determine tool angle and cut depth.
0. SA was an injected random error for security reasons that was constant for a local area, so it was weak security because it could be easily defeated if a fixed base station's position was known by subtracting it in the RTK receiver via DGPS update.
Tractors don't go _that_ fast but I'm not sure I'd rely on it in an actual car for anything but slightly better GPS.