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Australia | In all the discussions on GPS accuracy and reliability I don't see anyone concerned about solar maxima? This affects accuracy, convergence time, reliability... in short the whole performance of your autosteer system will be affected.
The last solar max was in 2001. This was early days in autosteer but ask anyone who had a single frequency system back then and they will testify it was not fun. Ask the service crews of the autosteer companies and they will agree.
In mid 2007, the solar storm activity was at the lowest point of the 11 year cycle (solar minimum). From here to 2011 it will only get worse.
Solar storms disturb the ionosphere which is the single biggest determinant of GPS performance. Single frequency and dual frequency "floating" position solutions such as Omnistar XP and HP will be affected. You will see increasing convergence times (or no convergence), line jumps, poor accuracy, hyper sensitivity around treelines, and loss of satellite lock.
Given the explosion of GPS autosteer since the last solar max, many new users will be tempted to blame their GPS supplier. This will be unfair as all GNSS positioning will be affected. It is a matter of choosing the most immune setup. Put simply, dual frequnecy RTK is the most resilient technology to solar storms. If you add Glonass you make it even more resistant. Good quality antennas is another measure. Tightly integrated inertial terrain compensation will also help.
Even Dual Frequency RTK will be affected somewhat with accuracies on long baselines being affected and more sensitivity around treelines etc, but it will work.
In short, single frequency is great now but be aware you are at the low point in the solar max. Keep your upgrade options open.
John | |
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RTK vs omnistar vs RTK... continued
