I finally gave up on trying to work with RTK as I can rarely get a fix, regardless of NTRIP service. On trying PPK for the first time the files PPKRAW.bin and Rinex.obs hold no data.

I have made sure that RTK is disabled (but it wouldn't fly anyway because of 'weak RTK signal'). The survey performs as expected, the images are acquired, but no data is recorded in the files that I need to use PPK.

Can anyone suggest why this would be?

I don't have any experience with the M210's so keep that in mind here. Are you sure you need the PPKRAW.bin file? I've often wondered what this file is used for because I've never even seen this file get used by any post processing software. The PPKRAW.nav file is what PPK software is looking for in my experience.  That along with the PPKOBS.obs of course. I have had 8 or 10  flights with the M3E that have returned with a corrupt .nav file and couldn't be processed. This would happen if I had to pause a mission before completion or if I took photos manually and not during a planned mission.

Johnnokomis Posted at 6-10 17:53
I don't have any experience with the M210's so keep that in mind here. Are you sure you need the PPKRAW.bin file? I've often wondered what this file is used for because I've never even seen this file get used by any post processing software. The PPKRAW.nav file is what PPK software is looking for in my experience.  That along with the PPKOBS.obs of course. I have had 8 or 10  flights with the M3E that have returned with a corrupt .nav file and couldn't be processed. This would happen if I had to pause a mission before completion or if I took photos manually and not during a planned mission.

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure I need those files. The only file that does get recorded is the .mrk file, which is clearly not the one I need.

I've just been told that this might be because I'm flying an X5s camera and that PPK only works with the X7 camera. Is this true? I can't find any official guidance on the matter.

djiuser_NLF8s6Io04Dx Posted at 6-23 09:32
I've just been told that this might be because I'm flying an X5s camera and that PPK only works with the X7 camera. Is this true? I can't find any official guidance on the matter.

Someone here with more experience with the X5S could give you a more solid answer than me. With that said, the camera used *shouldn't* make a bit of difference in relation to PPK/RTK. You could strap an older GoPro or a smartphone to any RTK enabled drone and as long as you have the correct lever arm measurements in place it should be able to be PPK'd. The files needed for PPK processing are created even if a flight doesn't capture a single image. The .nav file is just a Rinex log of the aircrafts flight path that is later synced to the time the images were captured during the flight. The .mrk is just an Excel spreadsheet of the photos metadata. Even a non RTK drone can produce an .mrk file. If I'm wrong then someone please correct me, this is how I understand the process works.

So,it's looking more like my matrice has a problem collecting data from the GNSS and/or writing it to a file.

Can anyone from DJI shed light on this?

A post script in case anyone else has the same or similar problem. I eventually had a series of communications with DJI tech engineers who took all the details and after considering it, suggested I return the unit for repair.

However, I had the chance of trying an X7 camera before sending the drone off. Lo and behold, the X7 caused the drone to record PPK file data where previously there was none.

So, the Matrice 210 RTK will do RTK using the X5 camera, but will not do PPK, even though the data has to be passing through the device - for whatever reason, it doesn't get recorded.

The solution is to spend another £2000 to £3000 on an X7 camera, and of course a new set of lenses as the X5 and X7 have a different lens format.

I am rather surprised that the camera should make the difference, but perhaps even more surprised that DJI engineers appear not to know this, or for the information not to be available anywhere.

djiuser_NLF8s6Io04Dx Posted at 7-13 11:14
A post script in case anyone else has the same or similar problem. I eventually had a series of communications with DJI tech engineers who took all the details and after considering it, suggested I return the unit for repair.

However, I had the chance of trying an X7 camera before sending the drone off. Lo and behold, the X7 caused the drone to record PPK file data where previously there was none.

It's probably a software defect. The OBS file should not be camera dependent. It is simply the observations of the GNSS receiver that are recorded.