SparkFun's RTK Reference Station Is Its "Most Capable" GNSS Receiver and Logger Yet

SparkFun has announced another entry in its high-accuracy surveying ecosystem, the RTK Reference Station — designed to act as a Networked Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol (NTRIP) server for the company's Real-Time Kinematics (RTK) location products.

"It should come as no surprise that we love surveying tools and we put a lot of pride and effort into those we create here at SparkFun Electronics," says SparkFun's Chris McCarty of the launch. "Because of all of you who use our RTK Surveyors, Expresses, or Facets, we've been shown a direction and drive to create more options for you to use. Today, we announce our newest product to join this line based on your feedback. Meet the SparkFun RTK Reference Station!"

The SparkFun RTK Reference Station is designed to do exactly what it sounds like: serve as a fixed-position reference point for mobile RTK devices. Inside its SparkFun-red housing is an Espressif ESP32-WROOM module and a u-blox ZED-F9P multi-band Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. There's a 10/100 Ethernet port with Power-over-Ethernet support, a microSD slot, and a Microchip ATECC608A cryptographic co-processor.

"This device can be used in multiple modes," McCarty adds, "including: GNSS Base Station with NTRIP [where] RTCM [differential GPS] corrections are sent to a Caster over Ethernet; Network Time Protocol (NTP) server, providing high-accuracy timing data to other machines via an Ethernet network; GNSS Positioning Receiver (~30cm accuracy), also known as 'Rover'; GNSS Positioning with RTK (1.4cm accuracy), also known as 'Rover with RTK Fix', using NTRIP RTCM correction data over Ethernet or from your phone via Bluetooth; [and] GNSS NMEA/UBX TCP Client, sending NMEA and/or UBX navigation data to a remote server using TCP over Ethernet."

The company claims that the RTK Reference Station is built with speed in mind: the microSD storage is connected to the ESP32 over a four-bit Secure Digital Input/Output (SDIO) interface "providing an order of magnitude improvement in read and write speed," McCarty says, while the u-blox GNSS module uses a high-speed SPI interface capable. "Want to log RAWX and SFRBX from all constellations at 20Hz," McCarty asks. "With this product, you can!"

The SparkFun RTK Reference Station is now available on the company's store at $699.95 before volume discounts, with more information available in the company's hookup guide.