Setting up RTK with VOXL2 using F9P (Base + Rover)

Teon

Hi,

I’m currently working with the VOXL2 and looking to set up an RTK base station to provide my drone with RTK corrections. I’d appreciate some tips or guidance.
My plan is to use an F9P Ultralight as the rover and a Raspberry Pi with an H-RTK Helical (or ZED-F9P + antenna) as the base. I’m also open to other modules if they’re better suited for this setup.
I’d like to stream RTCM data over Wi-Fi, possibly using NTRIP or another method. Ideally, I want the base setup to be plug-and-play - once the Raspberry Pi powers on, it should automatically start transmitting corrections without manual setup. Any recommendations on how to achieve that?
Lastly, what’s the best way to forward RTCM data to the F9P on the VOXL2? Should it go through PX4, or is there a more direct approach?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Alex Kushleyev

Hello @Teon,

This is more of a general question, not specifically related to VOXL2. However, here is some information that you might find helpful.

Base station

Raspberry Pi
ZED-F9P receiver with dual band helical antenna, connected to RPI via USB
configure ZED-F9P to be a in base station mode (will require data collection for localizing the base station precisely). Check Ublox docs
configure ZED-F9P to output RTCM3 corrections over usb to RPI
run NTRIP caster software (you will need to find one..) which will connect to USB port and serve the RTCM3 data to the clients via NTRIP protocol
-- this would require an NTRIP client on the client side
(alternatively) publish the RTCM data via Mavlink directly to the drone (MAVSDK).
would need a client that would connect to Ublox via USB and send out mavlink messages to your drone
-- https://mavsdk.mavlink.io/main/en/cpp/api_reference/classmavsdk_1_1_rtk.html
-- https://github.com/mavlink/MAVSDK/issues/2352

Rover (VOXL2)

wifi connection to the base station server
based, on the following docs (https://docs.px4.io/main/en/advanced/rtk_gps) the PX4 gps driver will automatically forward RTCM packets to the attached GPS receiver. The Px4 GPS driver will need to receive the Mavlink GPS_RTCM_DATA packet.
if you use the NTRIP caster in the step above, you could use a NTRIP client and have the client publish the mavlink GPS_RTCM_DATA message locally on VOXL2 .

I will ask around to see if we have a better documentation for this..

Alex