u-blox, a global provider of leading positioning and wireless communication technologies and services, and ArduSimple, a Spanish company seeking to facilitate the adoption of centimeter-level global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology for mass-market applications, have announced their partnership in the development of the SimpleRTK2B single-board computer (SBC). The device, which is built around up to three u-blox ZED-F9P high precision GNSS receivers, simplifies the development of centimeter-level positioning solutions supporting real time kinematics (RTK), making the technology accessible to broader audiences.
Marc Castillo, Senior GNSS Consultant at ArduSimple, said that with the release of ZED-F9P, u-blox revolutionized the high precision positioning market by slashing the technology's cost of ownership. Since then, its use in applications such as precision farming and autonomous robots has increased strongly. Still, the technology's adoption continues to be held back by one key factor: its increased complexity compared to standard-precision positioning.
The SimpleRTK2B-SBC was developed to address this challenge by making RTK technology as close to “plug-and-play” as possible. In addition to working as a stand-alone solution, customers can program their own applications with the company’s user-friendly microPython API.
“The SimpleRTK2B-SBC uniquely delivers easy mechanical integration with centimeter position on three axes (heading, pitch, and roll), outputting on NMEA, RTCM, RS232, and CANBus interfaces, via Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 2G/3G/4G communication, and offers configurable I/O, and an IMU. If your application uses any of these features and you want to reduce development time from two years to a few months, the SBC is your product,” says Castillo.
Alex Candela, Area Sales Manager for France at u-blox, stated ArduSimple is a perfect partner for u-blox. Their solutions help overcome barriers to access RTK technology, accelerating adoption by end-users, and stimulating the entire ecosystem – service providers, municipal authorities, and national agencies – to develop infrastructure such as networks of GNSS base stations that are required to expand service coverage and enable true mainstream adoption.
The SimpleRTK2B-SBC is now available online for purchase, with global delivery in 2-4 days.
Click here for more details on the SimpleRTK2B-SBC.
Click here to learn more about the GNSS Solution from u-blox.
