To accelerate autonomy in agricultural machinery, the Itasca, Illinois-based company Sabanto announced the integration of Trimble BX992 Dual Antenna GNSS receivers with Trimble CenterPoint RTX into its autonomy solutions. This integration delivers high-accuracy positioning to Sabanto’s fleet of autonomous tractors that combine advanced cameras, obstacle detection sensors, GNSS systems, and robotics. With precise positioning and autonomous operation, farmers can realize greater productivity, minimize downtime and input costs, and alleviate workforce shortages through the use of autonomous vehicles.
Leveraging Trimble technology, Sabanto’s autonomy solutions can now receive centimeter-level L-Band corrections nearly anywhere in the world. L-Band corrections are used to provide correction services via satellite to a GNSS receiver, in this case the Trimble BX992 dual-antenna receiver enclosure with integrated inertial navigation system. Trimble CenterPoint RTX correction service is a high-accuracy, satellite-delivered global positioning service delivered by L-Band satellite or by the internet.
The integration follows an investment with Sabanto in 2022 as part of Trimble Ventures, a $200 million fund focused on deploying Trimble's strategic capital to accelerate the growth of innovative companies and partners that complement Trimble’s platforms and support their customers in their work. That particular investment focused on autonomous workflows in farming applications, underscoring Trimble’s goal to invest in early and growth-stage companies that are accelerating innovation, digital transformation and sustainability in the industries Trimble serves.
Correction stream-switching
In addition to RTX corrections, Trimble will offer correction stream-switching enabling farmers to automatically switch from IP to satellite seamlessly, to provide the best signal in every environment. In a separate announcement as the Sabanto-integration, Trimble announced stream switching , which is a new feature allowing farmers to seamlessly stream Trimble CenterPoint RTX, RangePoint RTX and ViewPoint RTX, over IP or satellite. This new feature delivers less down time and performance comparable to RTK without the complexity of base stations. It is available for farmers using a NAV-900 or NAV-500 receiver.
This solution was designed to provide farmers with the optimal GNSS corrections stream, delivered via IP or satellite, depending on signal strength. For example, in areas prone to satellite cutoffs due to elevation changes or canopy, the signal switches to the modem and stays on IP. For regions with bad cellular connection, the streaming automatically switches to satellite. This seamless stream switch helps farmers gain improved guidance uptime, taking from the best of both worlds and boosting productivity through RTK level corrections, without any additional software or mindspace.
“With a customer base in agriculture, as well as municipalities and airports with a remote environment, our customers are often in areas without reliable cell service, so a reliable correction signal is extremely important to keeping our autonomous machinery working around the clock,” said Craig Rupp, founder and CEO of Sabanto. “It’s exciting to see our two businesses find synergies that will improve ag autonomy, delivering a better experience for our farmers through continuous connectivity, regardless of the environment.”
