The Base Station is designed to communicate with and provide the FarmDroid FD20 with a real-time corrected RTK-GNSS signal. The Base Station is a prerequisite for high precision navigation and therefore necessary for operation i.e. seeding and in-row weeding.
A Base Station is considered accurate within a 10 km radius. Above this, the accuracy is impaired by interference, hence FarmDroid does not support or recommend use beyond this distance.
If the robot is connected to another Base Station, the virtual reference point moves significantly. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that each field uses the same specific Base Station dedicated to that specific field for an entire season. A change between Base Stations will cause a deviation that cannot be compensated for; thus, the precision and accuracy of the operation will be significantly impaired.
Equally, if the GNSS-antenna for the Base Station is moved during the season, intentionally or unintentionally, the Robot’s reference point and run pattern is moved equally.
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Scenarios |
Prerequisite |
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A farmer has multiple fields within a radius of 10km. |
The farmer needs a single Base Station as this can cover all his fields. When moving the Robot from one field to another, the only requirement is to select the current field in the HMI on the robot prior to activating the robot. |
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A farmer has fields spread over a geographical area of 25km and wants to be able to run the robot on all his fields. |
The farmer needs a minimum of two Base Stations distributed over the area to cover all the fields. When moving from one field to another, the farmer has to select the current field in the HMI but also ensure that the robot is connected to the correct Base Station, which is the Base Station that was used to set up the specific field. If there is an overlap in covered area of the Base Stations, the farmer must always select the nearest Base Station before setting up the field. The robot does not know which Base Station it is connected to; it only knows whether it has an RTK signal or not. |
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A farmer has two fields with a distance between them of more than 25km. |
The farmer needs two Base Stations, one dedicated to each field. When moving from one field to another, the farmer has to select the current field in the HMI but also ensure that the Robot is connected to the correct Base Station, which is the Base Station that was used to set up the specific field. The robot does not know which Base Station it is connected to; it only knows whether it has an RTK signal or not. |