What is RTK and how does it reach centimeter accuracy?
2026-10-08 09:35:38
mei
What is RTK and how does it reach centimeter accuracy?
RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) is the technology that turns a GNSS receiver from meter-level to centimeter-level accuracy. Instead of measuring the satellite code (~3–5 m), an RTK module measures the carrier phase of the signal (~19 cm wavelength for L1). A fixed base station computes atmospheric and orbital errors and streams them as RTCM corrections to the rover over NTRIP or cellular; once the integer ambiguity is resolved, you get about 1 cm + 1 ppm horizontal accuracy.