A low-cost open-source GNSS network for network real-time kinematic positioning: which future and performances?

Precise positioning is a much stricter constraint nowadays, especially after the introduction of the GNSS chipset in mobile devices. The diffusion of Continuous Operating Reference Stations (CORS) has permitted the improvement of positioning solutions even in the case of low-cost instruments. The main bottleneck of the Network Real-Time Kinematic (NRTK) positioning is the presence of CORSs, which are costly and need other subsidiary structures to guarantee the continuity of the service, such as the power supply and a stable high-speed internet connection. In this work, starting from some stations of the Centipede network, we implemented a true NRTK network based on low-cost devices as master stations, providing an open-source service to test the positioning performances using two different network products generated by this new infrastructure. The tests have considered both static and kinematic surveys, including pedestrian and vehicular applications. Two different classes of rover devices have been considered in order to generalize the results, focusing the attention not only on precisions and accuracies but also on the percentage of epochs with phase ambiguities declared as fixed, as well as on the percentage of false fix solutions. The results are really promising, and they open new frontiers for involving the open-source community to improve this infrastructure to guarantee a better diffusion of the service as well as the correlated products, like atmospheric monitoring analyses.