More and more farm equipment is being transformed into semi-autonomous smart machines that can accurately plant, fertilize, protect and harvest at centimeter (or inch) level accuracy. With increased concern about labor shortages, fully autonomous machines will emerge to help the grower continue to deliver his crop with reduced manpower.

Semi-autonomous and fully autonomous precision agriculture requires a reliable and accurate positioning system. NovAtel’s GNSS receivers and TerraStar-C correction service deliver the reliability and accuracy you need.

Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GNSS technology has traditionally provided the best position accuracy for precision guidance systems at the centimeter (or inch) level. However, RTK systems are costly to set up and require the vehicle to have a line of sight radio communication with the base station.

Interruptions in radio transmission of the RTK correction data caused by hills, obstacles and transmitter range mean the intermittent loss of RTK accuracy and loss of automatic steering control in the field. 

TerraStar-C is an advanced GNSS satellite correction service that provides a high accuracy 5 centimeter (or 2 inch) 95% position on the NovAtel GNSS receiver that is ideal for planting or seeding row crops. Guidance lines can be created during planting season and farmers can rely on using these lines for multiple jobs throughout the entire growing season.

This high accuracy service is ideal for real-time pass-to-pass applications requiring centimeter-level repeatability and for high accuracy applications when no RTK network is available. TerraStar-C corrections are transmitted using multiple satellites eliminating the range limitations and signal losses normally seen using RTK base stations and networks while providing the accuracy and reliability farmers need.

TerraStar Correction Service maintains its own worldwide network of reference stations and transmits 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year all-weather correction data over seven satellites, making it possible for the GNSS receiver to see 2 or 3 satellite beams from almost anywhere on earth for optimum global coverage.

The system provides reliable positioning even in difficult environments and fast re-initialization in challenging conditions. TerraStar-C is supported on all NovAtel’s OEM7, OEM628, SMART6-L and SPAN on OEM6 products.

Subscriptions can be purchased for various durations and locations. Contact NovAtel or your precision agricultural equipment supplier to find the TerraStar service and subscription that best fits your application needs.

Visit us at Agritechnica in Hall 15 Booth F22 or on www.novatel.com/agriculture. This is part one of a four-part sponsored content series from NovAtel leading up to Agritechnica 2017 in Hannover, Germany.