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Application

Precision Agriculture GNSS: RTK for Tractors and Farm Robots

RTK GNSS for precision agriculture gives auto-steering, implement control, spraying drones and field robots centimetre positioning and true heading. Eview supplies the HB6 Pro and HB56H dual-antenna receivers, the HBEV11 smart antenna, the HB62 farm base station and rugged EV288 and EV226 antennas, powered by Septentrio modules with AIM+ anti-jamming.

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0.6 cm
RTK accuracy + 0.5 ppm
0.15°
Dual-antenna heading at 1 m
100 Hz
Raw measurements (mosaic-H)
IP67
HB62 base and EV288 antenna
What farms need

What precision agriculture needs from GNSS

Pass-to-pass accuracy
Auto-steering and controlled traffic farming need repeatable rows season after season. RTK accuracy of 0.6 cm + 0.5 ppm with about 7 s initialisation keeps passes straight and overlaps small. See RTK positioning.
Heading and attitude
Steering controllers need heading from standstill and must correct for slope. The HB6 Pro gives 0.15° heading and 0.25° pitch and roll at 1 m antenna spacing. See moving-base attitude.
Rugged installation
Tractors and sprayers bring vibration, dust, rain and fertiliser. The HB56H uses a flange-mount metal housing, and the EV288 antenna is IP67 and tested for vibration and salt spray.
Your own farm base
Where mobile coverage or CORS is limited, a farm base gives independent corrections. The HB62 is IP67, logs to 64 GB, runs on 9–36 V and serves NTRIP over Ethernet. See base receivers.
Tracking near trees and sheds
Hedgerows, tree lines and farm buildings cause multipath and short outages. APME+ and LOCK+ help hold the fix, and IONO+ protects RTK during ionospheric scintillation. See IONO+ after sunset.
Resistance to interference
Radios, LTE modems and electrical equipment in and around the cab can disturb GNSS. Septentrio AIM+ detects and suppresses interference to keep RTK available. See anti-jamming receivers.
Recommended products

Eview receivers, antennas and bases for agriculture

ProductBest forKey specs
HB6 ProAuto-steering retrofits and spraying dronesmosaic-H dual antenna, 0.15° heading / 0.25° pitch-roll at 1 m, 100 Hz measurements, 45 g
HB56HTractors, sprayers and implementsmosaic-H, flange-mount metal housing, dual-antenna heading, SD logging, RTK and heading at 20 Hz
HBEV11 smart antennaField robots and portable rover or base set-upsReceiver plus full-band antenna, mosaic-G5, base or rover, one M12 cable, Galileo HAS
HB62 basePermanent farm RTK basemosaic-X5, NTRIP, Ethernet, 64 GB logging, IP67, 9–36 V
EV288 antennaRoof-mounted antenna on tractors and basesFull-band (L5, E6, L-band), 5/8-inch mount, IP67, vibration and salt-spray tested
EV226 antennaQuick fitting on vehicles and robotsMagnetic mount, 3 m cable, IP67

All products are quote-based. For a complete datasheet, email sales@gnss-solutions.com. Browse all box receivers, smart antennas, rugged base receivers and GNSS antennas.

Key facts

Precision agriculture GNSS: key facts

Precision agriculture GNSS uses RTK corrections to position tractors, implements and farm robots to about 2 cm, repeatable from season to season, for guidance, auto steer and autonomous field work.

  • Accuracy: about 2 cm with RTK; sub-metre is enough only for broadacre spreading
  • Heading: dual-antenna heading for tractors and robots at standstill
  • Signals: multi-band GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou
  • Corrections: farm base station, NTRIP network or PPP
  • Integration: standard NMEA to guidance displays and steering controllers
  • Retrofit: roof-mounted smart antenna or box receiver

Related: NTRIP and RTCM setup guide and machine control GNSS. Further reading: Galileo High Accuracy Service (EUSPA), RTCM correction standards.

Use cases

Precision agriculture applications

Auto-steering
RTK auto-steering on tractors, including retrofit kits for older machines, cuts overlap and operator fatigue. See auto-steer retrofit options.
Implement control
Dual-antenna heading plus pitch and roll for implement guidance, section control and variable-rate application on slopes and contours.
Spraying drones
Accurate swaths and heading for crop-spraying and spreading drones working close to the crop. See drones and UAVs.
Field robots
Weeding, scouting and harvesting robots follow crop rows with centimetre RTK and dual-antenna heading. See robotics.
Farm base station
One HB62 base on a barn roof serves NTRIP corrections to tractors, drones and robots across the whole farm.
Field mapping
Boundary mapping, drainage planning and soil sampling with repeatable positions from one season to the next. See survey and GIS.
Integration

Easy to integrate

Steering controllers
NMEA and Septentrio SBF output over serial interfaces for steering controllers and terminals, with heading available from standstill. See dual-antenna heading.
Corrections
RTCM v3 from an HB62 or HBEV11 base, a CORS network or an NTRIP caster. See NTRIP and RTCM.
Logging and firmware
SD logging on the HB56H and 64 GB on the HB62 for raw data and RINEX. Firmware and manuals are on firmware downloads.
Use cases

RTK GPS for tractors, sprayers and agricultural robots

Precision agriculture depends on repeatable passes: with RTK a tractor returns to the same row year after year. Eview GNSS receivers, powered by Septentrio modules, give centimetre position and heading for auto steer, implement control and autonomous farm machines.

Auto steer tractor GPS
A tractor guidance system with RTK GPS cuts overlap and missed strips when seeding, spraying and fertilising, saving inputs and operator fatigue.
Autonomous tractor GPS
An autonomous or driverless tractor needs centimetre position and true heading from standstill. A GNSS receiver for autonomous tractor guidance with two antennas provides both.
Agricultural robot GPS
Farming robot RTK GPS lets small robots follow crop rows for weeding, spraying and scouting, including row crop robot navigation and inter-row weeding robots.
Weed detection and autonomous sprayers
Weed detection robot GPS and autonomous sprayer GPS tag every plant and spray point with an exact position, so treatments can be repeated or audited.
Harvesting, fruit picking and vineyards
Harvesting robot navigation, fruit picking robot GPS and vineyard robot GPS need accurate positions between rows and under partial canopy.
Smart farming GPS technology
Smart farming links yield, soil and field mapping GPS data to exact locations so maps from different seasons line up, and lets swarm farming robots share one RTK reference.

Retrofitting a tractor? A RTK smart antenna is the fastest option. For spraying drones see RTK GNSS for drones, for field robots see GNSS for robotics and robotic mowers, and set up corrections with our NTRIP and RTCM guide. Email sales@gnss-solutions.com.

FAQ

Agriculture GNSS: frequently asked questions

What accuracy do I need for auto-steering?

Row crops, bed forming and controlled traffic farming need RTK, which gives 0.6 cm + 0.5 ppm horizontal accuracy with Eview receivers. Lower-accuracy corrections may be enough for broadacre spraying or spreading, but RTK keeps passes repeatable from one season to the next, which is what most auto-steering users want.

Why use dual-antenna heading on a tractor?

A single antenna only gives heading once the tractor moves, and it reacts slowly at low speed. Dual-antenna receivers such as the HB6 Pro and HB56H give 0.15° heading at 1 m spacing from standstill, which helps line acquisition at the start of a pass and implement control on slopes.

Should a farm run its own RTK base station?

If CORS or NTRIP coverage is patchy, or mobile data is unreliable in the fields, a farm base gives independent corrections. The HB62 is a rugged IP67 base with Ethernet, NTRIP and 64 GB logging. For a portable set-up, the HBEV11 smart antenna can work as a base on a tripod.

Can I retrofit RTK to an older tractor?

Yes. Many farmers add an RTK receiver and steering kit to existing machines. A flange-mount receiver such as the HB56H, two EV288 antennas on the cab roof and RTCM v3 corrections form the GNSS side of a retrofit. See our auto-steer retrofit guide for options.

Do Eview receivers work on spraying drones?

Yes. The HB6 Pro weighs 45 g and gives dual-antenna heading plus pitch and roll, which suits spraying drones. Receivers connect to ArduPilot and PX4 over UART and accept RTCM v3 corrections. Septentrio AIM+ helps keep RTK available near radio links and power lines.

What GNSS does an autonomous tractor need?

A multi-band RTK receiver with dual-antenna heading, so the tractor knows its position to about 2 cm and its direction even before it moves, plus interference protection and a reliable correction link.

How do agricultural robots navigate between crop rows?

Most use RTK GNSS for centimetre position along a planned path, combined with cameras or lidar for row following. RTK keeps the robot on the same lines every season.

Related reading

Auto-steer tractor GPS: RTK accuracy and retrofit optionsIonospheric scintillation: IONO+ and RTK after sunsetGalileo HAS with mosaic-G5 P3H: field results

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