RTK Network

REAL TIME KINEMATIC

John Deere RTK provides highly accurate, repeatable corrections to John Deere's suite of Precision Ag applications. RTK utilizes a local, ground-based reference station that transmits the high-accuracy corrections to a StarFire receiver on a vehicle via RTK radios.

Accuracy depends on the distance between the base station and the vehicle. At 20 kilometers (12 miles) from a base station, a vehicle has an approximate accuracy of 2.5 cm (1 in.) 68 percent of the time, but the closer the vehicle is to the base station, the more accurate the signal is.

RTK accuracy provides many benefits to the user in addition to highly accurate corrections. Vehicles utilizing this type of signal correction offer an approximate accuracy of 2.5-cm (1-in.) 20 km (12 miles) from the base station 68 percent of the time.

Other benefits include:

  • Reduced overlap: A producer running RTK can operate at 2.5-cm (1-in.) pass-to-pass accuracy. The less overlap, the fewer inputs are used, which helps drive down overall costs.
  • No satellite drift: Any satellite-based guidance system can suffer from inherent satellite drift. With RTK, satellite drift is eliminated because the stationary, local base station provides the corrections.
  • Additional functionality: RTK also enables you to use the latest John Deere products. New products like iGuide and iSteer require RTK corrections to provide the precise accuracy producers need.