SparkFun Electronics unveils surveying receiver

SparkFun Electronics has released the SparkPNT RTK Facet mosaic L-Band, a high-precision geolocation and surveying receiver. It features Septentrio’s multi-band mosaic-X5 and offers centimeter-grade measurements with 6 mm RTK fixes available in less than one minute, according to Sparkfun.

The receiver can connect to phones or tablets via Bluetooth, allowing NMEA output compatibility with most geographic information system software. It uses u-blox’s PointPerfect service for corrections, broadcast from a geosynchronous Inmarsat satellite.

The RTK Facet mosaic L-Band features an ESP32 WROOM connected to a mosaic-X5 GNSS multi-band receiver, along with peripheral hardware. It includes a surveyor-grade L1/L2/L5-Band antenna designed to receive GNSS signals and PointPerfect correction.

The device operates in various modes, including GNSS positioning, GNSS positioning with RTK L-Band, GNSS positioning with RTK, GNSS base station and GNSS base station NTRIP server. In rover mode, it can achieve 6 mm to 60 mm horizontal positional accuracy.

As an open-source hardware product, users can access and modify the electrical and mechanical design files. The kit includes the enclosed device, thread adapter, charger, data cables and carrying case.