Center for GeoInformatics

Benefits of Using GULFNet

Real-Time Network & Infrastructure

Imagine a time where you could produce survey-quality 3-D positions in real-time without the infrastructure costs, technical headaches and management responsibility associated with a network that could make all this possible... With the LSU C4G GULFNet Real-Time Network (RTN), that time is now! The cutting edge technology utilized by the GULFNet RTN has the potential to benefit every surveyor, GIS provider, contractor and other precision minded GPS user within the state of Louisiana.

Cable-free opperation

Check out these C4G GULFNet breakthroughs:

Operational 24 hours each day, seven days a week.
LSU C4G Geodetic Consortium Members simply dial into the system to generate precise positions quickly and reliably. Gone are the days of researching data records and monuments in order to accomplish static or RTK-GPS surveys.
Members just login and go to work!

100% Cable-free operation possible!

Utilizing Bluetooth® wireless communication between the receiver and controller creates absolutely cable-free rover operation! External radios, cables and extra tripods are not needed. Set-up and operation are incredibly simple.

Eliminates the requirement to own and operate a base station receiver.
The whole network is now your base. If a base unit is already available to the user, it may be possible to convert it to a rover receiver, which could double the amount of data collected each day. The risk of theft and labor costs associated with the operation of the reference base station is eliminated.

Clear communications via a cell phone.
Eliminate radio headaches! Clear communications between the network and rovers via cell phone modems eliminates problems associated with radio broadcast.

Control Point RTK

Totally Eliminate problems due to error in the reported position of monuments.
With GULFNet, all surveys can be on the same coordinate system, horizontally and vertically. Refer to our section on data reliability.

Increase GPS field production.
As a Consortium Member of GULFNet, RTN RTK users should expect at least one survey party hour, per day savings when compared to traditional RTK methods. Those who have not used real-time network RTK before should be amazed with this system.
Our Members just login and go to work!

Production increases of 50%+ possible!
Dramatic efficiency improvements when compared to total station surveys. The GULFNet RTN eliminates the need to establish supplemental traverses for construction staking and topographic surveys.
Our Members just login and go to work!

Last Updated ( Monday April 06, 2009 )

RTK vs. RTN

Real-Time Networks – Laying the Fallacies to Rest

By Jesse Kozlowski, PLS, article from Professional Surveyor Magazine • June 2008

Whether taken by Gunter's chain or the latest RTN technology (shown here by a standard radome often used to cover a network antenna), a surveyor can stand behind his or her measurement.

Anyone who has worked with GPS is likely to be familiar with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) quality index. And anyone who has worked with an RTN (real-time network) over the past decade is also likely to be familiar with another contrast of "signal over noise"—the sometimes heated debate in the positioning and academic communities over the worthiness and otherwise of RTNs. Until recently, sifting through the reams of RTN commentary in search of accurate information has proven somewhat challenging, and this sentiment is shared among the RTN operators with whom I have spoken. Despite being a relatively new sub-genre of space-based positioning, RTNs are now almost unanimously considered a solid amenity, a new utility, and a reliable tool in the surveyor's kit. They are also ubiquitous—their spread around the globe over the last few years could almost be described as infectious. However, it wasn't always so.

Last Updated ( Thursday December 11, 2008 )