RTK GNSS modules
for UAV mapping

Positioning with centimetre accuracy in RTK and PPK.
For precise UAV mapping with less GCPs

REACH M+

Single-band
Baseline up to 20 km in PPK

REACH M2

Multi-band
Baseline up to 100 km in PPK

PPK mapping with centimetre accuracy.
User fewer GCPs

Why camera synchronization is so important

Usually autopilot triggers the camera and records the coordinate it has at that moment. When the drone is flying at 20 m/s and GPS works at 5 Hz, that means your autopilot will have position readings only each 4 m, which is not suitable for precise geo-referencing. In addition, there is always a delay between the trigger and the actual moment the photo is taken.

Reach eliminates the delay

Reach solves the problem of positioning by connecting directly to the camera hot shoe port, which is synced with the shutter. The time and coordinates of each photo are logged with a resolution of less than a microsecond. This method allows GCPs to be used only to check your accuracy.

1. Connect Reach to a hot shoe port on a camera

Every time a photo is taken camera produces a pulse on a flash hot-shoe connector which is synced to a shutter opening.

2. Fly a drone, Reach will record photo events

Reach captures flash sync pulses with sub-microsecond resolution and stores them in a raw data RINEX log in the internal memory.

3. Download logs from Reach and base station

After the flight, get the RINEX logs from your airborne Reach module and a base station (Reach RS, CORS or another receiver).

4. Process logs and get a file with geotags of photos

Process RINEX files using free RTKLIB software. The produced file with precise coordinates of the photos can be used for georeferencing.

NTRIP or another Reach as a base station

To calculate centimetre-precise coordinates in PPK and RTK, Reach needs corrections from a base station. It could be either another Reach receiver or an NTRIP service. VRS is also supported.

Compatibility

Reach M2 and M+ work seamlessly with other Reach receivers over any link and are compatible with any other receiver that supports RTCM3 and NTRIP.

Choosing between
Reach M+ and Reach M2

Reach M+
and Reach RS+

If you work within short baselines, then Reach M+ is an optimal choice.

RTK
Up to 10 km

PPK
Up to 20 km

Time to fix
1-2 min

Frequency bands
Single-band

RINEX logging update rate
Up to 14 Hz

Reach M2
and Reach RS2

Provides robust performance and quick initialization, allowing work on long baselines.

RTK
Up to 60 km

PPK
Up to 100 km

Time to fix
5 sec

Frequency bands
Multi-band

RINEX logging update rate
Up to 20 Hz

Comes
with ReachView 3 app

The most user-friendly software for data collection that is available both for Android and iOS. Supports thousands of coordinate systems and is translated into multiple languages. With ReachView 3, you can control all the features of Reach receivers, such as setting up a base station, logging RINEX data, and configuring NMEA output.

Camera
control

Reach can trigger cameras as well as register events. The event mark feature is a must for aerial mapping as it allows the precise time when the shutter was activated to be registered.