c/equipment•Posted byu/cascadedroneguy•2 months ago

Using Starlink for NTRIP corrections in remote areas

Just wrapped up a project on some BLM land in eastern Oregon. Zero cell coverage for miles. We brought a Starlink Mini and it completely changed our workflow.

Setup is pretty simple - Starlink Mini sits on the truck roof, connects to a small travel router that creates a local WiFi network. RTK rover connects to the router via WiFi, pulls NTRIP corrections from our caster over the Starlink connection. Total latency was around 80-120ms which is fine for RTK.

The Starlink Mini is about $600 plus $50/month for the mobile plan. Weighs under 3 lbs. Boot time from cold is about 3-4 minutes to get a connection which is a little annoying but once its up it stays up. We had maybe 2 brief dropouts over 3 days of work, both recovered in under a minute.

One gotcha - you need clear sky view for Starlink which means it doesn't work great in heavy timber. But if your working in open terrain without cell coverage, this is the move. Way more reliable than the old cellular booster approach and orders of magnitude better than hauling a base station into the backcountry.

The rover was holding fix at 15-25km from the nearest reference station which is pushing it, but the corrections were solid and our checkpoints came in under 3cm. Pretty happy with that for a site this remote.

Comments

Mike Hargrove•2 months ago

We've been doing the same thing since last summer. Works great in the mountain west where cell coverage is spotty at best. One tip - bring a power bank rated for at least 100W output. The Starlink Mini draws about 40W average and you don't want to drain your truck battery.

Also the Starlink app shows you predicted satellite coverage for your area. Check it before you head out to make sure you won't have dead zones during your work hours.

cascadedroneguy•2 months ago

Local base works but you need a known point or a long static occupation to get your base coordinate. On BLM land theres often no control nearby. With NTRIP you're tied to the state network and everything is georeferenced from the start.

Plus the Starlink lets us submit data, check email, even do a quick call from the field. It's become standard gear for us on remote jobs.

FredSteele•2 months ago

How does the cost compare to just running a local base? If you've got two receivers you can set up base/rover and skip the internet entirely. Obviously less convenient but zero monthly cost.