Overview

This guide provides an overview of how to connect and configure Swift Navigation and third-party devices for Skylark and acquire precise position solutions.


Currently, Skylark correction service is available in the continental USA, Europe, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Australia. More regions will be supported in the near future.


Start using Skylark by registering through the Skylark Portal. 


Receiver Internet Access

The Skylark 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. Additionally, the NTRIP Client needs to send NMEA GGA message with receiver's approximate position to Skylark. 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:
Region
Bands L1/L2
Bands L1/L5
North Americana.l1l2.skylark.swiftnav.comna.l1l5.skylark.swiftnav.com
Europeeu.l1l2.skylark.swiftnav.comeu.l1l5.skylark.swiftnav.com
Asia Pacificap.l1l2.skylark.swiftnav.comap.l1l5.skylark.swiftnav.com


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 widelane 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) 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 contact our sales team (sales@swiftnav.com) to sign-up.


GGA Interval

  • Set GGA 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 cloud corrections service immediately after obtaining live Single Point Position (SPP). To verify operation with Skylark, 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: 

  1. Skylark uses ITRF2014 reference frame.

  2. Currently, Skylark provides correction for GPS, Galileo and BeiDou constellations, on L1/L2 and L1/L5 bands.

  3. Skylark supports third-party GNSS receivers compatible with RTCM v3.2 over NTRIP (MSM5 mountpoint). Such receiver needs to support MSM5 messages 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)

  1095 (MSM5 GAL)

  1125 (MSM5 BDS)



Related Articles


Skylark FAQ


Using Skylark with a u-blox ZED-F9P


Using Skylark with a Septentrio mosaic-X5


Cell Modems and Network Routers


NTRIP Client