Faster, easier, finer: RSCC tests precise point positioning for agricultural machineries in 2022

In 2022, Russian Satellite Communications Company field-tried a customer navigation station prototype on agricultural machinery with a parallel driving system. This is what Evgeny Buydinov, Deputy Director General of RSCC, spoke about at the Sphere congress on April 13 in Moscow.

"Agricultural machinery with a parallel driving system and our equipment can do the field works with maximum efficiency — testing confirmed that the location accuracy comes down to 5 cm," he pointed. The development was carried out by RSCC jointly with Russian research enterprise ACC NPP JSC.

Evgeny Buydinov also emphasized the advantage of satellite communications in providing farming enterprises with high-precision correction data. For instance, only 10% of agricultural fields are covered by ground-based radio communication networks in Russia, with no hope for the remaining 90% to get connected to them insofar, which is a serious problem. "Therefore, we can use RSCC’s Express-AT1 and Express-AT2 satellites to cover almost 100% of the Russian territory, including farm lands," added Russian Satellite Communications Company Deputy Director General.

The precise point positioning project was approved within the Satellite Communications Industrial Competence Centre and has been implemented at the initiative of its participants: GLONASS JSC, ACC NPP JSC, and RSCC. "In June 2023 we are expecting delivery of the first batch of 10 sets of commercial customer units and equipment for the central station. After that, we are planning to carry out comprehensive tests with the interested farming holdings and agriculture machinery manufacturers," summarized Evgeny Buydinov.