Precision performance evaluation of RTK and RTN solutions: a case study

ABSTRACT

Throughout the past few decades, advancements in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), have resulted in real-time planimetric accuracy at the centimetre level, whether achieved using Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) or Real-Time Network (RTN) approaches. This study examines and characterizes the performance of RTK and RTN solutions at three test sites in Los Angeles County, California, in the United States of America. The solutions were characterized to examine the dispersion of vertical measurements in the context of different environments. The results from this study suggest that both methods have advantages and drawbacks; in particular, the data showed that the distribution and density of the network stations, cellular network coverage and environmental dynamics have significant impacts on RTN vertical precision, where the vertical precision for the RTN measurements were observed to be 2–4 times lower in comparison to the RTK measurements.

KEYWORDS:

• Global navigation satellite system (GNSS)
• global positioning system (GPS)
• real-time kinematic (RTK)
• real-time network (RTN)
• geodetic surveys
• elevation
• precision

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Program (RSCA) at Cal Poly Pomona for funding a portion of this research effort. In addition, the authors would like to thank Ramon Rosales for helping with data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Program (RSCA) at Cal Poly Pomona funded a portion of this research effort.