Centipede-RTK
Collaborative, open and Open Source Real Time Kinematic
Centipede-RTK is a collaborative network of open GNSS base stations available to anyone within the coverage area. The network is expanded by public institutes, private individuals, private-sector actors such as farmers, and other public partners.
The objective of the project is to provide full coverage of metropolitan France. It is financially supported by INRAE and, since its launch in 2019, has benefited from shared resources between research institutes, public organizations, farmers, and private companies. The map below shows the current extent of the network.
Technical support
Research institutes such as INRAE or the CNRS use geolocation to reference their environmental data, but the accuracy of satellite navigation systems, which depends on atmospheric conditions, is only a few meters. Differential correction systems can compensate for this lack of precision: Real Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning can achieve centimeter-level accuracy. However, this system requires a reference base station close to the data collection location, access to its signal, and extremely expensive equipment to process it. In recent years, developers have been actively working with open-source software and open-hardware components to create low-cost, reliable, lightweight, and easy-to-use solutions.
This technology makes it possible, for example, to carry out naturalist surveys (flora, fauna) with high location accuracy, perform aerial photographic surveys (drones), and automate the driving of agricultural vehicles in order to improve the precision, quality, and traceability of field operations.
We also have a collaboration with the Réseau National GNSS Permanent (RENAG - see doi:10.15778/resif.rg). This collaboration has resulted in the pooling of several of our respective base stations. The Centipede-rtk network has therefore been enriched with around thirty RENAG stations, particularly in the southeast of mainland France. In addition, Centipede-rtk stations are now converted to RINEX (= their data are archived) in the RENAG databases (via the data center: doi.org/10.17616/R31NJN5L), which provides a strong guarantee of long-term preservation for the network's data. Conversely, Centipede-rtk stations are also used for the analyses performed daily by RENAG.