Klau Geomatics, an Australian geospatial innovation company, launched a new GNSS and IMU processing service, MakeItAccurate, to enable enterprise drone operations to achieve very high accuracy without using base stations, RTK links, CORS data or any other external inputs.

While most drones commonly use Post-Processed Kinematic (PPK) or Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) to enhance the precision of position data, Klau Geomatics’ solution uses KlauPPK, which combines Precise Point Positioning (PPP) with PPK. PPP uses precise satellite clock and orbit corrections, determined from ground tracking stations around the globe and does not require any base station data or radio links to achieve high accuracy. However, the downside is that, traditionally, PPP takes 14 days for the clock and orbit correction data to be available.

“Klau Geomatics has created a new hybrid PPK/PPP processing service with access to the final clock and orbit corrections just minutes after the mission,” Geospatialist and Klau Geomatic’s Director Rob Klau wrote. “The key value proposition of Klau Geomatics PPP/PPK is that it is autonomous, it works anywhere, requires no other user inputs, such as base station data and radio/GSM links, either soon after the mission in post-processing (like PPK) or real-time (like RTK). Accurate datum and tectonic plate motion corrections, specific to different countries and regions, are automatically applied to deliver the most accurate solutions.”

With this, MakeItAccurate only requires the raw GNSS data from a drone to produce highly precise trajectories and turn traditional 3-5m GPS accuracy to 3-5cm anywhere in the world. In many parts of the USA, Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, it can achieve an absolute accuracy of 2-3cm XYZ. This type of accuracy is relevant for various industries, specifically inspection, as well as surveying and mapping.

“The drone inspection industry now sees the need for absolute accuracy to analyze change over time on 3D assets. Klau Geomatics technology makes that easy and repeatable, anywhere,” Klau said. “Drone delivery is another application requiring accurate positioning, to travel long distances (beyond the range of RTK and other differential systems) to land on a small target.”

Featuring native support for DJI M210v2RTK or Phantom4RTK drones, MakeItAccurate also supports other drones using external PPK GNSS products to achieve highly accurate kinematic trajectories and camera coordinates. The software can process raw GNSS files from Novatel, Trimble, Leica, Topcon, Septentrio, UBlox, and generic Rinex format, from a few minutes’ length to 6 hours for kinematic and up to 24 hours for static data. One important thing to note is that the more data provided, the better the accuracy, so at least 20 minutes of data is recommended.

Additionally, Klau Geomatics created a MakeItAccurate API for GNSS and IMU manufacturers, lidar and other product integrators, software developers, and solution providers to seamlessly integrate MakeItAccurate with their software, hardware or services. The API pushes raw GNSS data to the processing engine and returns highly accurate coordinates with full reporting on the accuracy achieved for the entire trajectory or each camera event.

Available now, MakeItAccurate quotes each job before running, with a typical drone job costing around $25. To encourage companies to try and compare results with their current workflows, Klau Geomatics offers the first few jobs for free.