Precision Ag and Repeatable Accuracy | How correction services improve accuracy on your farm

January 24, 2022

Precision agriculture and repeatable, pass-to-pass accuracy go hand in hand, and there’s no better technology to support both than Trimble RTX® correction services. Utilizing more data for better accuracy, it makes use of not just GPS, but a global network of satellite constellations. Let’s look at precisely what Trimble RTX is, and how its superior technology can help you get the job done.

Understanding GNSS

In order to understand the workings of Trimble RTX correction services, it’s essential first to understand how they operate: by using GNSS, or Global Navigation Satellite System. GNSS, much like GPS (Global Positioning System), uses satellites for location positioning. However, unlike GPS, GNSS provides more.

GPS (Global Positioning System) refers to the  GNSS built by the United States. On the other hand, GNSS refers to a  multi-constellation satellite system made up of multiple individual “constellations” operated by various international players. Instead of simply utilizing North America’s satellite positioning system, it can access additional data from other satellite positioning systems, like the Russian Federation’s GLONASS, Europe’s GALILEO, China’s Bei-Dou, India’s IRNSS, and Japan’s QZSS.  

Combined together, these systems can provide timing, navigation, and positioning signals from more than 100 satellites. GNSS is useful in aviation, space stations, mass transit, and an ever-increasing range of products. It’s also become an excellent complement to many precision agriculture applications. 

What are Trimble RTX Correction Services?

A correction is used to make standalone, broadly accurate (meters) GNSS positions accurate to the centimeter level, so they are useful in precision applications. Trimble RTX, or Real-Time eXtended, correction services use this high-accuracy GNSS technology to deliver repeatable centimeter level positions. In accessing all available satellites for accurate global positioning, it can provide greater positioning availability, even in challenging environments.  

Trimble RTX technology is primarily used in agriculture, given its usefulness in improving pass-to-pass accuracy.

Trimble RTX Correction to Improve Repeatable Accuracy

Trimble RTX optimizes both time and satellite-delivered corrections to ensure repeatable accuracy in auto-guided machines used in precision farming. Trimble correction services enable an efficient coverage of swaths or rows to distribute water, seeds, or crop inputs exactly where they’re needed. By harnessing an abundance of data from global satellite positioning systems, you achieve minimal overlap and optimum spacing between rows.  

Benefits of Trimble Correction Services

Stand-alone GNSS positioning without corrections provides horizontal accuracies that are typically more than one meter. With Trimble, horizontal accuracies better than two centimeters are possible. The advanced technology is delivered worldwide with total accuracy and initialization times ranging from 2-20 minutes. There’s no other satellite-delivered correction service that performs better when it comes to centimeter-level accuracy.

Standard CenterPoint® RTX coverage with Trimble ProPoint™ GNSS technology features a reduced initialization time of just 5 minutes, while the regionally available Trimble RTX Fast can initialize in as quickly as two minutes. Trimble’s reliable uptime means that dropped signals and disruption can be left with previous seasons. Trimble’s correction services also provide the best precision solution in global areas where infrastructure is limited, or in challenging environments, like along tree lines or gullies.  

Simply put, Trimble’s RTX correction services provide precise positioning anywhere on the farm and without limitations such as radio and cellular coverage. When it comes to farmers, this makes accuracy easier, thereby making work easier—especially when precision is essential and time is of the essence, like during planting, spraying and harvesting.

Get Started with Trimble Correction Services Today

Trimble provides a wide range of easy-to-use accuracy positioning services—without the complexity and cost. Because local base stations and VRS networks aren’t required, Trimble RTX can work wherever you are, and you’ll never need to worry about losing radio signal connectivity.

Adding Trimble correction services to a guidance or steering system can make repeatable accuracy down to the sub-inch possible, year-over-year, covering every corner of your farm. 

Now with CenterPoint RTX, achieving RTK-level horizontal performance is possible without requiring a local base station. In Fast coverage regions, less than two minutes is all it takes to provide horizontal accuracy down to one inch (<2.5 centimeters). Whether you’re strip-tilling, planting, seeding, spreading, or spraying, CenterPoint RTX can help you achieve the quality standards you need in less time.

For lower accuracy broad-acre applications Trimble offers specific services. Both ViewPoint RTX™ and RangePoint® RTX provide affordable, entry-level GNSS corrections. Compatible with a range of Trimble’s precision agriculture devices, these technologies can offer horizontal accuracy down to 12-inch or even six-inch pass-to-pass—all in less than five minutes. 

Understanding that farmers especially are stretched thin with current resource and environmental constraints, Trimble’s mission is to make precision agriculture easier and help you achieve better pass-to-pass accuracy. Talk to your local Trimble reseller about bringing this cutting-edge Trimble RTX technology on your farm today.