Weather update Precision farming
Straight-line issue after Russian satellite disruption
No longer being able to drive straight on land as an (indirect) consequence of the war in Ukraine. It sounds far-fetched, but there is a grain of truth in it. Users of rtk straight-driving systems are experiencing problems with the Russian Glonass signal. It only affects older systems.
Farmer Jan-Reinier de Jong from Drenthe posted a message on Twitter about problems with his straight-driving system – better known as rtk-gps. That is the American name of the satellite navigation system. The EU has Galileo, the Chinese Beidou and Russia so Glonass. Modern systems receive dozens of navigation satellites for their positioning. Glonass' Russian signals would now disrupt the system. A deliberate action by Russia?
Older systems affected
Inquiries with Geert-Jan Giesberts – Precision Farming manager at Ag Leader importer Homburg – tell us that things are different. De Jong works with an Ag Leader system and some colleagues also suffer from signal loss. "The older systems that were delivered until around 2016 and still run on old software are affected by this," Giesberts says. "Newer systems automatically filter out 'noise' in the system, so they don't have a problem with it. Installing new software on the older systems also solves the problem. Otherwise, we recommend temporarily turning off Glonass."
It is unclear whether other brands have also been affected by a clouding of the Russian signal. Other users have not (yet) encountered any problems. Giesberts has seen a similar case before, during the Iraq war. Is a disrupted Russian navigation signal really an attempt to disrupt the Western world? Probably not. It is more likely that it will be the other way around. Ukrainian hackers stated in early March to paralyze the Glonass network. Perhaps this is a result of this.
3G network stops April 1
Giesberts may foresee another problem with the straight-line systems later this spring. "As of April 1, KPN will stop with the 3G network. This may have consequences for older systems that still work with a 3G SIM card." Because the vast majority of correction signals are sent via KPN's network, this is a problem for the sector.
The 2G network says it will keep KPN up and running until at least April 2025. The straight-line systems can also handle this, but the signal is slower. Giesberts compares it to a pumping station: "We all 'refuel' data continuously. When the 3G pump expires, longer queues are created at the 2G pump. This means that a correction signal arrives later. For an app that is received a little later, it is That's not a disaster, but for an RTK system it is." Most modern straight-line systems now run on the 4G network.
Niels van der Boom
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