RTK Correction Signal Options Doubled in Last Two Years

The network of overlapping real-time kinematic (RTK) correction systems continues to grow, now offering growers in a sweet spot over the central Corn Belt a half-dozen or more options for acquiring correction signals for their navigation systems.

The sweet spot — Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and southern Minnesota — highlights a big leap in the number of correction signal networks that have begun offering their services in recent years. Even in less-well-served geographies flanking this area, multiple RTK network options are becoming the status quo.

A decade ago, whether there was an RTK network covering your farming operation depended on whether a radio-based system had been deployed by your local John Deere, Trimble or AutoFarm dealer. Then, beginning in 2000, a third correction signal option gradually became available as state departments of transportation (DOT) began building RTK base station networks. By 2009, DOT networks, which deliver correction signals via cellular modems, had been deployed in Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Michi