Overview
This guide provides an overview of how to connect and configure Swift Navigation and third-party devices for Skylark Cx and acquire precise position solutions.
Currently, Skylark Cx correction service is available in the continental USA, Europe, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. More regions will be supported in the near future.
Start using Skylark Cx by registering through the Skylark Portal.
Look up your receiver to check its compatibility with Skylark: Receiver Compatibility Checker
Receiver Internet Access
The Skylark Cx corrections are distributed over the Internet using NTRIP protocol. A reliable Internet access is required for good navigation performance. A quick guide to establishing an Internet connection to Swift Navigation GNSS receivers can be found in Cell Modems and Network Routers article.
Receiver Configuration
The GNSS receiver needs NTRIP Client software to receive corrections from Skylark Cx. Additionally, the NTRIP Client needs to send NMEA GGA message with receiver's approximate position to Skylark Cx. For Piksi Multi and Duro refer to the NTRIP Client article for additional details.
The following NTRIP Client parameters need to be configured: address, port, mountpoint, username, password and GGA message interval.
Address
- The address depends on the region and GNSS bands:
Port
- 2101 for standard connection on Piksi Multi, Duro, Starling and third-party receivers.
- 2102 for TLS encrypted data stream.
Mountpoint
- OSR for Swift receivers (Piksi Multi and Duro) and Swift Starling Positioning Engine (e.g. PGM EVK). It allows wide-lane fixing. Piksi Multi / Duro firmware v2.4.16 or newer is required. This data stream uses Swift proprietary RTCM messages and is supported only by Swift-based receivers.
- MSM5 (formerly CRS) or MSM4 for Swift and any third-party receivers (see Note 3 below for a detailed RTCM messages list).
Username/Password
- Enter the <username> and <password> as received in the Skylark account activation email. If you don’t have credentials, please create account on Skylark Portal or contact Swift sales team (sales@swiftnav.com) to sign-up.
GGA Interval
- Set GGA output interval to 10 seconds.
The final URL is a combination of address, port and mountpoint in the following form:
address:port/mountpoint
Piksi Multi / Duro Example and Operation Check
NTRIP settings section example in the Swift Console:
Note: the NTRIP settings can be changed only when NTRIP is disabled.
When all is properly connected and configured, your Swift Navigation GNSS receiver will start receiving RTK corrections from the Skylark Cx cloud corrections service immediately after obtaining live Single Point Position (SPP). To verify operation with Skylark Cx, open the Observations tab on the Swift Console. The Remote section should be filled with data and the TOW should increment every second. At the same time, the Position field in the status bar should indicate RTK solution.
The operation status is also indicated by four color-coded LEDs on the Piksi Multi board or Duro front panel as follows:
Notes:
- Skylark Cx uses ITRF2014 reference frame.
- Currently, Skylark Cx provides correction for GPS, Galileo and BeiDou constellations, on L1/L2 and L1/L5 bands.
- Skylark Cx supports third-party GNSS receivers compatible with RTCM v3.2 over NTRIP (MSM5 or MM4 mountpoint). Such receiver needs to support MSM4/5 messages, support wide-lane RTK, and output NMEA GGA message every 10 seconds. The following RTCM messages are sent:
1006 (ANT Pos & Height)
1008 (ANT Descr & S/N)
1019 (EPH GPS)
1020 (EPH GLO)
1033 (REC & ANT Descr)
1042 (EPH BDS)
1046 (EPH GAL I/NAV)
1075 (MSM5 GPS) or 1074 (MSM4 GPS)
1095 (MSM5 GAL) or 1094 (MSM4 GAL)
1125 (MSM5 BDS) or 1124 (MSM4 BDS)
Related Articles
Using Skylark Cx with a u-blox ZED-F9P
Using Skylark Cx with a Septentrio mosaic-X5
Cell Modems and Network Routers