Galileo/Beidou in Triumph-LS and Triumph-3 Update

Shawn Billings

Shawn Billings
5PLS
First Galileo and Beidou in RTK:
For several months now, the testing versions of J-Field and GNSS firmware have supported Galileo and Beidou. The GNSS board in the Triumph-LS has always supported six engines processing GNSS data simultaneously. The strategies for how each engine processes the GNSS data has changed somewhat through the years, but the combinations were limited to only C/A and P2 (L2 and L2C) GPS and Glonass signals. The added signals to the modernized GPS and Glonass constellations as well as the added constellations from Galileo and Beidou exponentially complicate the strategy combinations. Initial releases of the testing versions required the user to select for himself which signals would be used in each engine. In a consumer environment this is simply not viable. A user could select a signal that simply has few or no signals available and then be subjected to poor performance as a result. Furthermore, each engine has a limit of 13 satellites. Putting all signals in each engine is simply not possible with our current hardware and software. This isn't necessarily a liability though. Setting different engines to different signals allows for less correlation between the engines which may ultimately prove to demonstrate more confidence in common ambiguity fixes between engines. For example, a fix from an engine that is set to GPS+GLO that agrees with a fix from an engine that is set to GAL+BDU in a high multipath environment (under canopy) may prove to be a very reliable fix without the need to wait for >180 seconds as is currently the case.

The last hurdle to releasing Galileo and Beidou to release is automating the signal criteria for the engines. @Javad has been working on a process that will be transparent to the user that will issue a value of merit to each signal from each constellation that will be used to determine what signals should be used by each of the six engines. The engines will continue to have a degree of independence from one another, using different signals in different ways, but will be optimized in real time for the current conditions (satellite/signal availability and signal quality). Once this has been finished the multi-constellation RTK engines should be ready for release.

Triumph-3
I was able to attend Intergeo 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany, a couple of weeks ago. I was there to conduct some dealer training with the Triumph-LS. I used a Triumph-3 as a base station and really enjoyed the new receiver. The Triumph-LS is already programmed to communicate with the Triumph-3 in base/rover setup and the Triumph-3 proved to be an excellent companion to the LS. I'm as excited as anyone to get to use it for my next RTK base station. It's surprisingly small and lightweight. It has an identical footprint to the Triumph-LS and shares the same antenna. It is shorter than the Triumph-LS as it has no screen. Like the LS it has an external UHF antenna port, which will allow users to connect a high-gain antenna to it to maximize the potential of the internal 1-watt radio. The Bluetooth and WiFi antennas are external as well and while not as rugged when carried through brush, do offer improved range over internal antennas. External radio users may find a bit more freedom in how far they can put the radio from the base, although I have not tested this for myself yet. The internal battery is expected to have an 11-hour life when used as a base transmitting at 1-watt. Of course the user can also plug in an external power source to the charging port to extend the session duration if necessary. I can not give any details on pricing or availability at the moment, other than to say the current discussions I've heard regarding pricing will be attractive, in my opinion, and the release should be very soon. I am mostly sharing this to say that it does exist! Also to say that I believe it will not disappoint once it is available.
 

Mark Wheeler

Active Member
Shawn,
Our State RTN has GPS,GPS L5, Glonas, and Galileo. Would the Engine settings allow one to make the best fix with these available constellations, rather than using some of the slots for Beidou?
Mark
 

Darren Clemons

Well-Known Member
Thank you Shawn, that is the most detailed and thorough explanation we’ve had in a year! It’s obvious that “promises“ or “any day now” timelines were initially given that shouldn’t have been and that has left a very bad taste in a lot of our mouths. Once I saw, and tried, the first “release” of the Galileo engines, I realized us the users were a LONG way from being able to efficiently utilize them and that there was a LOT more work yet to be done. Hey - maybe we’ll have it by the time the snow melts in Texas NEXT spring!!
 

Darren Clemons

Well-Known Member
Are there any updates on the progress of getting us a release version of Jfield that can utilize both Beidou and Galileo? Every Javad add in the magazine’s the last couple of months show the “7th” engine and ALL constellations being used in the solutions. That is, of course, not at all true at the current time as all of us who are using the LS in its suggested mode of release version do not yet have that ability. I had heard that there was finally talks of maybe sending the LS in and having a new gnss chip installed. Is that going to end up being the final solution? If so, when might we be able to have that done?
 

Adam

Well-Known Member
5PLS
I think the release will be within a week or two. PreRelease has been fairly stable except for a few little bugs.
 

John Evers

Well-Known Member
5PLS
My first impressions are better than I imagined it could be. Using the new T3, all constellation, and Pre-Release.

I performed open sky for the base and rover and got this:
7 hours.png


I went to an "impossible two days ago location" and got this.
A new saying: Javad did not just raise the bar. The bar is gone.
formerly impossible.png
 

Nate The Surveyor

Well-Known Member
John,
We work in very rough places. To date, my longest observation is 2-1/2 hrs. One monument. Tall thick pines. Maybe 3-4 coords. Do I need a t3?
Nate
 
John,

This is off the main point of this thread, but, your post got me curious about the screens that you are showing so I dug around my LS and found the statistics screen. However, for all of the points that I checked, the horizontal and vertical percentiles say 'none'. The points I checked had long enough observations for a PPK solution as well. Is there a switch somewhere that has to be set to be able to look at a full report for a point?
 

John Evers

Well-Known Member
5PLS
Glen,

I will put my response to you in its own thread, which will make it easier to find for all. I have a survey to deliver right now, so it will have to be tomorrow when I respond. Tomorrow is also muzzleloader deer day in Ohio, and I hope to be out early :). It will be mid day at the soonest when I can post.
 
Thanks, Shawn: so how do you set it up to do that? I have three shots that I took separately on the same pin using the boundary-control action profile, designating them with a decimal suffix (XX.1, XX.2.....). Can I select all three of them in some way to evaluate the statistics?
 

John Evers

Well-Known Member
5PLS
Glen,

The quick answer is whatever you filter the points screen to, is what the Statistics command will reveal.
I use Pages to accomplish what I showed above. However there are many ways to achieve the filtering.
 

Mark Wheeler

Active Member
Shawn,
On October 4th of this thread I asked the question of whether the new Engine settings would allow you to eliminate Beidou when working off our State RTN, since at present they do not support Beidou, but have added Galileo and GPS L5. Does the current testing version allow this option?
Mark
 

Mark Wheeler

Active Member
Ok. I did not know whether each engine was set up to use particular consetllation corrections. Within the 6 engines I want to get the best use of what is offered by the state rtn.
 

Darren Clemons

Well-Known Member
Nate,
I do solemnly swear that a T3 base with all constellations enabled will be a very big improvement over a T2 base.
John William Evers
January 03, 2020
So John, how about over a T1M base?
What does/will the new T3 give me over the T1M?

If I’m in “one of those” spots and had two systems running, side by side, one with a T1M and the other with a T3, both with exactly the same constellations and the exact same version of Jfield in both LS’s, would the new T3 allow me to get more/better/quicker fixes than what I’ll get with my existing T1M?
 
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