Vitulus with Ardusimple GNSS-RTK, ROS, RTAB-Map and D435

One simpleRTK2B with ZED-F9P for base fixed on the ground and a second together with simpleRTK2B Lite for the robot. It works quite well. For details on receivers check ardusimple.com.

See the video with a short test of navigation with map.

It seemed easy in the beginning to add GNSS-RTK on the Vitulus. I had tested all on the window, when I put it on the robot almost no signal I had from the satellites. It took some time to find, there is some noise from NUC and a lot of noise from USB 3. So I asked Google if it's normal and yes it's a known fact :)

I tried shield noise sources a few different ways, but it was not good. Finally I decided to make some changes on the main unit to close more of the noise inside. I painted all plastic parts of the main unit by EMI 35 spray, except surfaces visible from outside. I painted the inner surface of the main unit support too. I made extra shielding on USB3 cables and NUC from self adhesive ALU tape and PVC tape. There were still some open areas around the LCD and lidar. Copper self adhesive tape closes it to the edges of printed parts.

Antenna distance from the source of noise is important too, so I moved the front antenna to the back. Shortened distance between antennas affect heading precision, but is still acceptable and after fusion with IMU is usable without problems. Use a metal plate under the antena if it's not helical.

Finally connect all shields to ground. I did everything I found to affect the quality of signal. Maybe you have your experience, tell me.

The noise is reduced and the signal is back. I'm not sure if all the changes are necessary and I’ll try to make it more simple in the future.