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Regarding RTK technique, if you have appropriate equipment for full RTK you will have up to cm accuracy. I wondered if we can use very simple external to device antenna (I'm not speaking about Garmin GPS device style build in antennas like we all had in past mobile phones) communicating with the smartphone via wifi/bluetooth/rfid + software layer running on the smartphone, to somehow take advantage on RTK technique in order to improve current GPS accuracy which is ~3 meters to let's say even something like ~1 meter?

We will compromise accuracy by using very primitive external hardware - So is a simple antenna relevant somehow for RTK technique?

Thanks,

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to EE.SE. Your question is confusing, and is broad in scope. Edit your question with the opinions and quandaries removed and stick to the actual questions you need answered. \$\endgroup\$
    – user105652
    Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 21:41
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    \$\begingroup\$ There are ways of providing position information to Apple devices via Bluetooth and WiFi (for example). If you want to implement a GPS with RTK in a plastic box and provide a WiFi connection to it, you could do what you're talking about in a pretty straightforward way. Unless I've misunderstood you, which in that case I have no idea what you're asking. \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 2:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ I think some kinds of antennas are preferred for altitude accuracy, but RTK is much more than simple GPS. A basic GPS chipset will not track the GPS carrier phase. \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 13:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ Unless the chipset that it's attached to is designed to track carrier phase, then no? \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 13:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ External antennas are more sensitive than chip antennas that are integrated on PCBs typically. But you need to connect to something that can use it... \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 13:53

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What you seem to be talking about is called "WAAS" which is a satellite-based correction service that the GPS receiver can receive in parallel with the GPS satellite positioning codes. This signal is used to improve the accuracy of the received code signal. It can get down to 1m accuracy under the right conditions.

Another approach is called "DGPS" or differential GPS. This uses a remote antenna to provide a 'WAAS-like' function for a nearby, mobile GPS. Many chipsets support this, although the functionality seems to be somewhat lightly documented or mostly undocumented. I have never seen this in reference to a smartphone GPS, only on GPS modules in embedded devices -- this is data that the GPS chipset needs to take into account, and can't be utilized well without access to the raw GPS data (not NMEA) which is not readily accessible in most units.

Neither of these methods has anything to do with RTK, except that an RTK system may take advantage of them as part of its acquisition process.

Related Stack Overflow thread: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9873350/dgps-corrections-on-android

Information on pushing DGPS data into the SiRF chipset: http://usglobalsat.com/downloads/SiRF_Binary_Protocol.pdf

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