Skadi Tilt Compensation™ Field Demonstration

In this video, GNSS Technical Expert Tyler Gakstatter demonstrates the Skadi Tilt Compensation^™ solution from Eos Positioning Systems^® (Eos). This step-by-step walkthrough shows you how to enable and use tilt compensation with your Skadi real-time kinematic positioning (RTK) GNSS receiver to improve accuracy and safety during field work. Tilt compensation not only eliminates human errors, but at the same time, it increases efficiency in the field. You’ll discover how Skadi Tilt Compensation can help you save valuable time through various real-world data-collection examples with ArcGIS^® Field Maps.

Watch the full video tutorial or scroll down to follow along with the full written transcript!

Video

Transcript

All right. We’re going to take a look at the Skadi Gold^™ on a range pole utilizing the new tilt feature. Skadi Tilt Compensation is an activation upgrade for the Skadi Gold, Skadi 300^™, and Skadi 200^™. So, with any of the RTK-enabled Skadi receivers, you can use Skadi Tilt Compensation.

Mounting the Skadi GNSS Receiver to a Range Pole

The first thing we’re going to do is mount this receiver on the range pole. There is a clip at the top here that will fit right into the grooves — get that locked in.

I’ll put the range pole back on my stand for now and power on the receiver with the power button on the left side.

Connecting the Skadi GNSS Receiver via Bluetooth®

Next, we need to pair our device via Bluetooth^®. So, this could be an iPad^®, an Android^™ device, or a Windows^® device.

Now, we see the Skadi Gold show up in my “OTHER DEVICES,” and that number is related to the serial number on the bottom of the receiver. I want to click on that to connect. So, that’s connected.

Launching Eos Tools Pro

Now, I’ll flip over to Eos Tools Pro. Eos Tools Pro is the companion app that interfaces with the Skadi for two primary purposes: one, for giving you detailed information about how it’s performing and, two, to stream RTK corrections.

For RTK corrections, we’ve got a base station operating here on the building. I’ve gone into the differential settings, got connected, and looking at the upper left of the app, we can tell that we have a Fixed position.

Enabling Skadi Tilt Compensation: Two Methods

If you look at the upper right of Eos Tools Pro, it says Tilt Compensation: Disabled. So, it’s not on by default. There are two ways to turn it on: either press the power button three times to toggle it on, or click on that tilt compensation icon and then toggle tilt compensation on.

Launching ArcGIS Field Maps and Configuring Settings for Skadi Tilt Compensation

First, let’s see what this looks like in ArcGIS Field Maps without tilt. Here in Field Maps, we’re looking at a map of our office, where I’m standing.

Let’s set our Location Provider to Eos Positioning Systems.

I’m going to leave the antenna height at 0 because that’s crucial for tilt, even though this particular demo is not utilizing tilt quite yet. We’ll come back to that.

So here we are. We’ve got our position in Field Maps. Our GPS accuracy is just under a centimeter. This is operating just like Arrow Gold^®, Arrow 200^®, or any of the Arrow RTK receivers — it’s operating the same way.

What I mean by that is, if we go to the top of this parking lot line here and I bubble up the range pole, it’s relatively close to the end of that line. Now, as I tilt it, you can see my position follows the antenna and not the tip of the range pole.

So, that makes it crucial that when you collect data this way, you are completely level, utilizing your bubble level.

Now, let’s try this with Skadi Tilt Compensation enabled. Let’s toggle that on here. Eos Tools Pro will audibly say, “Tilt initialized.”

Tilt requires RTK because it’s using RTK to calibrate the inertial measurement unit (IMU) inside of the Skadi. So, at first, when you kick it on, it may ask you to shake the range pole. So, you just move it a little bit. Then once the tilt compensation badge goes green and says enabled, then it’s compensating your position no matter how much you tilt that range pole.

Mapping Parking Lot Lines with ArcGIS Field Maps

Now, let’s take a look at Field Maps and move over to our line.

I’ll put the tip of the range pole at the end of that line, first starting out leveled. Okay, we’re close.

Now I’m going to start tilting the range pole; you’ll see my position is staying in the same spot.

That’s what we want to see.

Even to the extreme — and I wouldn’t recommend using it this way — we can pretty much lay down the pole, and it is staying in that position. So, it’s really flexible and allows you to collect data more efficiently, and also in tougher places.

Using Skadi Tilt Compensation in Tough Conditions

Here’s a couple of examples: say I was mapping out this parking lot line. I would go grab the end of this line here, capture it, and then come back over here.

With the vehicle in the way, I would normally not be able to capture the other side of this line, because I would have to level the pole, which means this is about as close as I could get — about a foot away. But even with this car here, I can actually see the line.

With Skadi Tilt Compensation, I can put the tip of the range pole on the line and hold it about a 45-degree angle and still capture that point accurately. If I zoom out a little bit, you can see our position is landing right at the end of that line.

So that’s one scenario where tilt can help. There are lots of similar scenarios where cars are parked over manholes, valve covers, that kind of thing, and you wouldn’t normally be able to collect those.

Mapping Against a Building with ArcGIS Field Maps

Another situation is up against buildings like this. When capturing building corners or entryways that go into overhangs, normally I would have to come in here, hold my range pole, pull up the bubble level, and level the bubble.

Now, you can see that building is blocking a significant number of satellites.

With tilt, I don’t even have to climb in there. I can stand out here, get my range pole on the corner of the building, hold it out like this to the open sky, and capture my point.

Conclusion

Skadi Tilt Compensation makes you more efficient because you don’t have to spend extra time leveling the range pole. There’s also minimal training required, which is often the part I see folks getting concerned about when they’re first starting using GNSS. And finally, tilt compensation allows you to collect data in challenging areas where you wouldn’t otherwise be able to access if you had to keep the pole level.

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