I have a Topcon Gr3 base and rover. Just wondering... When are the Galileo satellites gonna be usable? I have SURVCE 3.0 and they never show up. All that shows up are GPS and GLONASS. I paid extra for the Galileo and it appears it doesnt even work?
Because of the different signal I think you need a minimum of three to solve the clock ambiguity. Since this hasn't even been possible for the most part I doubt the receiver firmware even has them turned on. Since you're paying for it you should be entitled to a firmware upgrade from Topcon soon.
Just a guess.
A few weeks ago Topcon released latest receiver firmware 4.5. The release notes mentioned support for BeiDou.
They also release an OAF update to enable BeiDou, at a cost of $1000 for the GR-5.
I uploaded the firmware 4.5 on my Hiper V's. It does NOT pick up Galileo or BeiDou, because no OAF available yet.
But it does work a lot better now on the NYSNET. It used to take me 15 minutes a times to connect the NYSNET. Now is takes about 1 minutes.
I get a tweat each day on current status, and it shown no Galileo usable at this time.
GNSS Status:
GPS
SV's:32
OK: 30
GLONASS:
SV's:24
OK: 24
BeiDou:
SV's:13
OK: 13
Galileo:
SV's:6
OK: 0
QZSS:
SV's:1
OK: 0
Do you see an advantage in adding Beidou soon, or do you think it would be like the early version of GLONASS in receivers? Early GLONASS meant more birds, but more noise too - and less precise fixes.
Newer receivers addressed GLONASS on the RTK engine side, making them as good as GPS. I wonder if Beidou will be good as-is or if there is some learning curve on the manufacturer's part, because of the 13 your system says it sees, most of those are old ones.
I would add Beidou now. Have seen good results with GR-5.
More is better, and we can always turn them off.
In next 24 months we should see Beidou and Galileo at near full constellation.
Topcon has prepared their Magnet software for GNSS solutions.
Here is a screen shot from Magnet Field 3.0 in GPS simulation mode.
Galileo uses the same time as GPS (as I understand it) and a single L1 Galileo could be used with GPS right now. Galileo L5 (or E5) would require more than one to be useful. I suspect the addition of a single L1 satellite or even two doesn't offer much benefit.
Man, 26 birds in one solution. I don't think SBAS really contribute to survey quality fix...
The times they are a changin'.
Most, if not all Beidou are geosynchronous over China. Occasionally I see two or three Beidou satellites from Texas. My receiver currently tracks them, but doesn't use them in the solution. It probably wouldn't help much currently, but as the global constellation becomes more complete I'm sure it'll make a huge difference.
About half of the Beidou birds will be geosynchronous. The rest will have regular orbits.
> About half of the Beidou birds will be geosynchronous. The rest will have regular orbits.
Right. I was referring to those currently in orbit. It will only get better from here I think. Thanks for clarifying that.
Anyone have a best guess of when Galileo will actually be usable and beneficial on my Topcon GR3s?
When the two that just launch complete testing, and start sending a signal - you should see enough of them in the sky to add the to solution (at times).
The other component to note, though, it that they still haven't initiated the modern signal on any of their satellites. I think it still isn't clear how it will be presented to the public: paid service, free, etc.
Just an idea, you should see them during Cinderella Days to test out.
If it is turned on, you should get full receiver functionality for that day.
> Anyone have a best guess of when Galileo will actually be usable and beneficial on my Topcon GR3s?
Topcon might.
I don't see an updated firmware 4.5 on the Topcon website.
I logged in... the latest is still 4.0 for GR3 and 3.5 for Hiper.
GNSS firmware update 4.5 is available at www.topcontotalcare.com
Supported Products
Systems
Topcon HiPer SR, HiPer V, GR-5 with Vanguard technology, GR-5, HiPer II, GRS-1, Net-G3A and MR-1
Sokkia GSX2, GRX2, GRX1, and GHX2 (Mesa RTK)
Features and Changes
GR-5
BeiDou B1/B2 signal tracking and RTK positioning support. This support is only available for GR-5 receivers with Vanguard technology.
All Supported Products
QZSS L5 and L1-SAIF signal tracking
QZSS signal support in positioning solutions
Addition of RTCM3 MSM message support: 1071-1077, 1081-1087,1111-1117,1121-1127
Addition of RTCM3 1230 message support
Improvements selecting GLONASS biases to improve RTK performance in non-Topcon Networks
GLONASS support in network MAC mode
Updated antenna database from NGS 2.2.4 (NGS: 07/01/14, 473 antennas)
PPS accuracy increased to support up to 5 ns (PIII based boards)
Improved reliability of velocity computations when satellite constellations change.
HD2 improvements for known distance, heading and pitch filters, and attitude output
Phase alignment between GPS P2 and L2C signals corrected.
NMEA2000 updates to support setting output period
BINEX messages updated to support BeiDou, SBAS and QZSS
New command to deal with sources of information about GLONASS biases are implemented
Extended commands, parameters and messages to support BeiDou and QZSS signals
Compatibility Notes
For BeiDou capable receivers, the command par/pos/rtk/sol has been extended to 3 parameters to support BeiDou. For those boards which do not support BDS this command continues to use 2 parameters only (for GPS and GLONASS respectively).
Default value of the parameter par/pos/pd/maxsat was changed to 64; also the maximum value.
The [rS] message has been modified and now uses reserved fields to store signal ID and number of SV information. See Messages section for additional information.
Default value of the parameter pos/dion/localif is set to "on".
Default message set has been expanded to include BeiDou, QZSS, and SBAS ephemeris and almanac messages.