ComNav Technology now provides a GNSS high-precision positioning solution for navigation and positioning of autonomous lawn mowers. Environmentally friendly and intelligent robotic lawn mowers are growing more popular, making the mowing task easier, safer and more convenient.
R&D background
It is difficult to develop autonomous lawn mowers because they obtain navigation information by means of visual and acoustic sensors, usually through embedded cables in the working area and detection through eddy current sensors. The shortcomings are obvious: before the mower starts, it must be set up with cables and other equipment. Cable requirements differ in various countries, and cable laying can be complicated, wasting resources and money.
With these difficulties in mind, ComNav applied its K8 series of GNSS high-precision modules to lawn mowers to break through the application limit. It solved this accuracy problem to make the lawn mower achieve centimeter-level driving according to the setup path in an open field. With ComNav’s other technologies — quantum algorithm and LAI, HighLock, PPP, RTK-KEEP — the law mowers continues to operate under trees, around corners or in other obscured areas.
Introduction of ComNav’s solution
With the K8 series module, ComNav facilitates the lawn mower’s fieldwork with position data provided by GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS, IRNSS and SBAS.
The high-precision positioning system for lawn mowers consists of a base station and a rover station. Three solutions are recommended for the terminal to obtain differential data from the base station.
Base and rover datalink. A base station acquires differential data through a datalink and provides corrections to the rover. The rover station — comprising the parts installed on the lawn mower, including the GNSS antenna, the GNSS high-precision module, datalink and UHF antenna — enables centimeter-level positioning and navigation.
Image: ComNav
Local CORS network. Utilizing existed local CORS, the rover station obtains differential data from the CORS service, enabling the lawn mower to achieve positioning and navigation accuracy on a centimeter level.
Image: ComNav
Self-built CORS network. Base stations can be placed anywhere based on requirements. Doing so eliminates the worry about prevailing conditions and makes high-precision positioning and navigation of lawn mowers possible.
Image: ComNav
Technology Features
LAI technology. ComNav’s patented low-power anti-interference (LAI) technology provides a jamming-to-signal ratio of up to 50 dB. Power consumption is only 0.1 W when turned on. By quickly detecting and eliminating interference with simple settings, LAI technology can reduce failure time and ensure safe operation. The technology can generate a spectrum diagram of interference sources, enabling identification of interference types and potential interference sources.
Quantum algorithm. ComNav’s quantum algorithm has sophisticated technology for detecting and repairing cycle slips. It uses full-constellation and full-frequency tracking capabilities along with multi-frequency combination, model and parameter estimation. Quantum is able to eliminate errors caused by the ionosphere, the troposphere and multipath in seconds. As a result, the initialization time of real-time kinematic (RTK) is greatly shortened and precision and reliability are improved. Meanwhile, the extra-long baseline calculation capability expands the operation range.
RTK-KEEP technology. By estimating model and parameter values, RTK-KEEP Technology can reduce errors caused by satellite orbit, clock difference, ionosphere and troposphere when the base station’s data is lost. Centimeter-level accuracy can be kept for more than 10 minutes, greatly improving the availability of RTK.
Benefits of ComNav’s Solution
ComNav’s solution allows the lawn mower to achieve centimeter-level positioning and reduce mowing repetitions. It helps the lawnmower to operate safely and reliably in the corners, under trees, or in other places where satellite signals are weak or lost. With its strong anti-interference capabilities, the lawn mower can maintain continuous and effective positioning in complex environments, meeting the needs of a variety of applications.