Unable to achieve RTK Fix using RTK Surveyor as BASE

Hi,

This is regarding an issue I had faced using RTK Surveyor as BASE.

I had followed the instructions on SparkFun RTK Product Manual to configure the device as BASE via WiFi, and enabled NTRIP server with the correct WiFi SSID, WiFi PW, Caster Host, Caster Port and Mount ID. However, when I connected to an RTK rover, I did not receive “Fixed” or “Float” solutions. The accuracy achieved was only around 20 cms.

Note: The base coordinates used here were from a known GPS Pillar which was observed for more than 24 hrs.

Kindly help me resolve this issue.

It sounds like corrections aren’t being received; can you see the ‘bytes sent to caster’ running @ the serial terminal? https://docs.sparkfun.com/SparkFun_RTK_ … rip-server

What happens when you try survey-in mode?

Hi Russell,

Thank you for your reply. We tried to the connection on Tera Term by using both Fixed coordinates and also Survey-in mode for Sparkfun BASE.

We noticed that the NTRIP connects to the Caster but it does not show any bytes being sent. Please refer the attached file.

NTRIP Test.pdf (221 KB)

Ok, it looks like it is connecting and then disconnecting from WiFi…I found a somewhat similar case here https://github.com/sparkfun/SparkFun_RT … issues/317 where the server address was wrong…double-check that? Or do you have a different network you can try?

Otherwise, can you check what firmware version is running? v2.5 and later now have verbose output option for networking which might help, if you need to update here are the steps https://docs.sparkfun.com/SparkFun_RTK_ … -from-wifi

Hi Russell,

We have now updated the firmware to v2.5. We had also set the NMEA and RTCM messages to 1 as shown in Fig 2 and Fig 3 in the attached pdf.

The Sparkfun device as BASE now connects to the NTRIP Server and also begins casting as shown in Fig 1. This is the output received on Tera Term when the device was connected via Serial from Config ESP32 Port. However, the RTK rover was still unable to achieve RTK Fix accuracy.

Upon checking the messages sent from Sparkfun Base by connecting via Serial from Config Ublox port, the Tera Term output shows only NMEA messages as output and no RTCM corrections. Please help me resolve this issue.

Thanks,

Krish

Sparkfun Screenshots.pdf (968 KB)

Hi Russell,

We configured the device in U-center software by enabling RTCM messages in output. Now, Sparkfun works perfectly well as a BASE and we are able to achieve RTK FIX in the rover as well.

However, when we tried to configure the same via WiFi in Sparkfun RTK WiFi Setup webpage (http://192.168.4.1/) by setting RTCM messages to 1, we are unable to receive RTCM corrections in rover and thus unable to achieve RTK FIX. Could this indicate an issue with ESP32 ? How do I fix this issue?

Hi krishsankar7, Sorry for the late reply.

Thank you for the screenshots of the terminal output! That is very helpful.

Configuring using u-center is ok, but not recommended. The ESP32 will reconfigure the GNSS receiver at every power on and will often overwrite or conflict with settings you may set using u-center.

For base mode, in default mode, the device enables 6 RTCM messages needed for RTK on a rover:

  • 1005

  • 1074

  • 1084

  • 1094

  • 1124

  • 1230 (sent at a reduced rate of 1 report every 10 fixes)

You are ok to turn on more RTCM messages but, I am curious, why do you need them?

I recommend starting from a factory reset (https://docs.sparkfun.com/SparkFun_RTK_ … em_status/). This will reset all the settings on the Facet and the ZED-F9x receiver.

In your post containing “NTRIP Test.pdf”, the device successfully completes a survey in after 120 seconds, connects to WiFi, then a caster, then the caster disconnects. I suspect RTK2Go automatically disconnected because no RTCM data was being transmitted. I cannot explain why RTCM was not enabled. Perhaps it was firmware related (if you know the original firmware being used during this phase, that would be interesting), perhaps there were settings that we disabled via u-center. I do not recommend using u-center to configure the device.

In your post containing “SparkFun Screenshots.pdf”, you’ve update to v2.5 of the firmware which is good. Your base is running for 60s, you’ve got good accuracy and SIV. The caster is connected. Everything looks good. But you report you are not able to get RTCM corrections at the rover?

What I recommend:

  • Configure your base RTK Facet with default settings. No need to modify with u-center. Enter the necessary WiFi and RTK2Go credentials to get the base connected to RTK2Go and verify that you can see the 6 messages on your base on the 2101 page (http://rtk2go.com:2101/)

  • Once your base is visible on RTK2Go, setup your Rover to connect to that base. It’s not clear to me what type of Rover you are using. Is it an SparkFun RTK product or something else? Be sure your rover is able to connect to the NTRIP server (RTK2Go).

Please report back if you continue to have problems.

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. I had reset the Sparkfun RTK device to factory setting and I configured it using WiFi (192.168.4.1). The message rates were reset to Surveying Defaults and only RTCM Messages 1005, 1074, 1084, 1094, 1124 were set to 1 and 1230 was set to 10.

Now, the following issue is faced:

  • The device initially connects to WiFi

  • Then, NTRIP Server also connects to rtk2go.com

  • Soon after which, WiFi gets disconnected and NTRIP server timeout messages popup (Please see attached image)

The RTCM corrections are being sent from ZED F9P board (this was also checked earlier when we tried to config using u-center and checked the data stream in strsvr from RTKLIB), however WiFi disconnects immediately due to which it does not get sent to Caster.

Please note that the base also did not appear in http://rtk2go.com:2101/.

Kindly support me on the next steps.

Sparkfun Tera Term Messages (18.11.2022).pdf (132 KB)

Hi,

We are yet to receive a reply to resolve this issue with Sparkfun base. Kindly support us.

We would need to use this device in our project immediately.

Hi ,

We still have not received any reply from the Sparkfun Tech Support Team. Kindly prioritize and reply at the earliest as we are yet to resolve this BASE issue.

Hi Krishscankary - I’ve asked to have your topic moved to GPS so we can monitor it more closely. I did not know you were still having problems.

Please turn on timestamps in TeraTerm so we can see when events happen: https://ttssh2.osdn.jp/manual/4/en/menu … ional.html

It is not clear why the device disconnected from RTK2Go and then closed WiFi. I will add additional debug statements to aid with future firmware.

I suspect there is still a problem with firmware v2.5. We have version 2.6 available and a new v3.0 coming soon that will certainly fix the problem. Please keep an eye on the release page: https://github.com/sparkfun/SparkFun_RT … e/releases

I recommend trying v2.7 firmware (it is a release candidate) as well.

Topic moved to GPS forum so we can monitor this as well.