drotek 3DR SOLO RTK GPS (NEO-M8P)

They have a couple base stations. I'm using the XXL base. The whole thing was easy to setup using their instructions. The only thing that caused me issue was the firmware change. I placed it in the wrong place so it didn't take. Once that was figured out life was good.
 
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They have a couple base stations. I'm using the XXL base. The whole thing was easy to setup using their instructions. The only thing that caused me issue was the firmware change. I placed it in the wrong place so it didn't take. Once that was figured out life was good.

do you have a video where solo is hovering in the air ?
would like to see, how solo holds position in the air with rtk
 
i don´t think this will work with the green cube, till someone can bake the two firmwares to one together. This is hardware from drotek, has nothing to do with Here...
 
Yikes that's more than the drone!

And don't forget you'd need to add a ~$500+ base station to that price - the airborne unit is useless without the base station to feed it corrections. Maybe it would work as a normal M8N without the base station, but then you get no value for the added price.

It's all very impressive, and for certain uses it's probably somewhere between beneficial to mandatory, but in all but the most extreme cases, I don't think aerial videography is one of them.

Give it a few years and RTK components will cost what normal GPS units do today. Until then, for me at least, the cost of being on the bleeding edge isn't justified by the capabilities.
 
but position hold is a key factor to aerial videography and rtk kicks ass:

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but position hold is a key factor to aerial videography and rtk kicks ass:

RTK kicks ass, absolutely. But that reduction in drift would make zero difference and not be remotely noticeable in shots from any moderate distance. In a close-in shot like that, even the RTK was drifting too much, and you'd probably just use a tripod or crane. If you had to do a seamless close in to long pullback shot, sure, and that's why I qualified my above statement with "in all but the most extreme cases".

I think a similar test in a more realistic video situation (~200 feet up, smooth pan or even a static shot) would be pretty revealing.
 
do you have a video where solo is hovering in the air ?
would like to see, how solo holds position in the air with rtk

I dont have any video, there is one on the Drotek forums tho. I havent really paid any attention to how it holds position honestly. Currently I have about 6 flights on it with rtk injection to work out some of the workflow. We will use it for mapping projects that require a high degree of accuracy instead of the current method of setting out ground control targets.

To answer another question if you dont hook up a base it will operate normally.

The only issue that I have found that I dont like is that if I need a high degree of accuracy the base station needs to survey-in, meaning find itself in the world (HDOP). The higher the accuracy the longer the survey takes. If I want 1 meter it takes about 45 minutes to get there. If I want 10cm it will take all day. The fortunate thing is that we also have a Trimble R10 that we use to put in the targets and I can survey the base in with that and tell it where it is. That seems to work WAY better.

As for the green cube I think it would work fine. Drotek created a special firmware version that would allow the RTK injection with the stock cube. I wouldnt know for sure but I would imagine that with green cube and the firmware being used there it would work fine.

Honestly I know just enough to be dangerous with this but we are excited to use it especially for our projects that need 3D modeling or high accuracy for the ortho.
 
I have a lot of Drotek stuff and...the only thing you'll have with Drotek is a headache and bad customer service. I stopped using their product even though the quality is ok. If you have the misfortune to ask a question, you can already imagine that they will roll their eyes to the sky ... and kindly make you look like an idiot* !

There are other options more friendly; Hex, Emlid, MRo (not RTK).
 
do you have a video where solo is hovering in the air ?
would like to see, how solo holds position in the air with rtk
Here you go. This video still shows the Drotek AC firmware. In the meantime I use Arducopter 3.5 on my Solo with even better results.
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I dont have any video, there is one on the Drotek forums tho. I havent really paid any attention to how it holds position honestly. Currently I have about 6 flights on it with rtk injection to work out some of the workflow. We will use it for mapping projects that require a high degree of accuracy instead of the current method of setting out ground control targets.

To answer another question if you dont hook up a base it will operate normally.

The only issue that I have found that I dont like is that if I need a high degree of accuracy the base station needs to survey-in, meaning find itself in the world (HDOP). The higher the accuracy the longer the survey takes. If I want 1 meter it takes about 45 minutes to get there. If I want 10cm it will take all day. The fortunate thing is that we also have a Trimble R10 that we use to put in the targets and I can survey the base in with that and tell it where it is. That seems to work WAY better.

As for the green cube I think it would work fine. Drotek created a special firmware version that would allow the RTK injection with the stock cube. I wouldnt know for sure but I would imagine that with green cube and the firmware being used there it would work fine.

Honestly I know just enough to be dangerous with this but we are excited to use it especially for our projects that need 3D modeling or high accuracy for the ortho.
I too have the setup you have.
They have a couple base stations. I'm using the XXL base. The whole thing was easy to setup using their instructions. The only thing that caused me issue was the firmware change. I placed it in the wrong place so it didn't take. Once that was figured out life was good.
I need assistance, and would appreciate if anyone has insight into my problem.

When running MP, I cannot get my Drotek XXL GPS RTK Base to communicate with my RTK NEO M8P GPS.
i.e. In MP, I am not reading the GPS:rtk Float or no GPS:rtk Fixed within the Flight Data page.

I have correctly updated the Arducopter-v2.px4 firmware to my Solo. (Party mode activated).
I have correctly connected and performed Initial setup of the Drotek XXL RTK Base in MP.
The BASE GPS is Valid indicated by green bar & multiple satellites detected.
Through RTK/GPS Inject page in MP, I used a survey coordinate position for the Survey-in method.
I have connected my Solo to MP via the MAVLink. The connection good (as test, I have written a mission into the Solo computer).

Although I proceed to the Flight Data page in MP,
and read that onboard GPS is connected (bottom right corner of screen),
But I see no RTK GPS connection (No GPS:rtk Float or no GPS:rtk Fixed)

I suspect there is no telemetry connection between my RTK Base and my RTK onboard GPS.
My question being: Do I need to synchronize the telemetry frequency on the MAVLink so the Base (XXL RTK GPS) is in communication with the on board RTK GPS (NEO M8P GPS)?
Or something else?
 
I followed the destructions very carefully and actually did it multiple times just to ensure that I got things right in the setup. With that firmware version the GPS flag in the corner of the HUD should say 3dgps.

Just to make sure you are connecting to the Solo in the upper right corner of MP using the UDP protocol.

I recently updated my Solo to Open Solo and Im hoping that will get me the rtk float and rtk fixed messages. Just need to go test it and see how it goes. I have been less than trilled with the RTK stuff as a whole in that yes it does improve accuracy but not to the point that I often need done.
 
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I too have the setup you have.

I need assistance, and would appreciate if anyone has insight into my problem.

When running MP, I cannot get my Drotek XXL GPS RTK Base to communicate with my RTK NEO M8P GPS.
i.e. In MP, I am not reading the GPS:rtk Float or no GPS:rtk Fixed within the Flight Data page.

I have correctly updated the Arducopter-v2.px4 firmware to my Solo. (Party mode activated).
I have correctly connected and performed Initial setup of the Drotek XXL RTK Base in MP.
The BASE GPS is Valid indicated by green bar & multiple satellites detected.
Through RTK/GPS Inject page in MP, I used a survey coordinate position for the Survey-in method.
I have connected my Solo to MP via the MAVLink. The connection good (as test, I have written a mission into the Solo computer).

Although I proceed to the Flight Data page in MP,
and read that onboard GPS is connected (bottom right corner of screen),
But I see no RTK GPS connection (No GPS:rtk Float or no GPS:rtk Fixed)

I suspect there is no telemetry connection between my RTK Base and my RTK onboard GPS.
My question being: Do I need to synchronize the telemetry frequency on the MAVLink so the Base (XXL RTK GPS) is in communication with the on board RTK GPS (NEO M8P GPS)?
Or something else?
Please follow the Drotek instructions step by step.
Also, you must have installed the Drotek Solo firmware. I dont know what firmware you mean with Arducopter V2. That doesn’t describe the release.
With the Drotek Arducopter firmware, you always get 3dgps when RTK has been established since the message types for RTK-float and -fix are not implemented.
For a full RTK implementation you need Arducopter 3.5 installed. That works 100% well and reliable with the Drotek RTK module. I have it up and running for almost a year now, zero issues, perfect and accurate RTK fix.
 
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Good to know Steve thanks. Iv been pondering the GC just havent done it yet. Thats prolly reason enough I think.
 
Please follow the Drotek instructions step by step.
Also, you must have installed the Drotek Solo firmware. I dont know what firmware you mean with Arducopter V2. That doesn’t describe the release.
With the Drotek Arducopter firmware, you always get 3dgps when RTK has been established since the message types for RTK-float and -fix are not implemented.
For a full RTK implementation you need Arducopter 3.5 installed. That works 100% well and reliable with the Drotek RTK module. I have it up and running for almost a year now, zero issues, perfect and accurate RTK fix.
I have yet to purchase the Pixhawk 2.1 Green Cube (Reason: I'm currently in Sierra Leone, but will be leaving for R&R next month and will obtain the GC then).
I read that Arducopter 3.5 is not compatible-safe with the original Solo Stock Cube.
Irrespective of this opinion, do you (or anyone else) have flying experience with installation of Arducopter 3.5 into the original Solo Stock Cube?
As for inspiration: Yes I do recall seeing a '3dgps' display in MP Flight Data page.
 
Please go for the green cube to install 3.5 with open Solo. That is the safe route to go.
 
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