SmartNet keeps machine control honest to within 1cm

The two sites, covering a combined area of more than 20,000km², are the first of many planned SmartNet systems nationally, and are part of the Global SmartNet system that has sites throughout North America and Europe.
The Gold Coast site, was commissioned by the Gold Coast City Council, to provide network RTK over the entire Council area. In fact there is coastal coverage from Ballina on the NSW north coast to Buderim north of Brisbane. In South Australia the net covers from the Coorong in the south to Port Augusta in the north, and from the ankle of Yorke Peninsula to well east of Burra. On both sites, SmartNet Aus has tied new bases into existing bases, to provide government and private clients with centimetre accuracy RTK.
SmartNet is a joint initiative of Leica Geosystems and its national distributor C.R. Kennedy. However it is a stand-alone company, and the networks are available to anyone who has a GNSS enabled system, from any supplier.
Problems solved
The value of SmartNet in comparison to other networks, is that it is a CORS (Continuously Operating Reference Station) network, not a single-base solution. It is connected with Leica Spider (Leica Geosystems reference network software) via nTrip, a protocol that enables streaming of DGPS or RTK correction data via the internet.
As such it has vast advantages over conventional, single-base network solutions. Loss of fix, distance-dependant errors and accuracy issues on long baselines, are no longer problems. Other issues with conventional systems are UHF frequency crowding, clashing of radio signals, bandwidth issues, topology, natural and man-made barrier interference and other atmospherics all affecting baseline lengths. SmartNet has none of these either.
Users connect their GNSS equipment to the internet, via Bluetooth mobile phones or proprietary modems, and from there connect to SmartNet to receive the corrections. The RTK is consistent no matter where the user is within the network.
SmartNet operates far more accurately as it does not need to expand from one point only. Geographically separate networks can be set up all over the country and the Leica Spider software monitors all of these networks simultaneously.

For Static Surveys the user can log onto www.smartnetaus.com and view all the RINEX data available with just a few mouse clicks. Rinex files can be uploaded and Leica Spider Web processes the data.
Increased productivity
The commercial savings of using SmartNet Aus are huge. Using the network eliminates the need to purchase or hire, set-up, secure, upgrade and maintain a base station. It eliminates this substantial financial and time cost and it’s easy to use - the user simply turns on their GNSS equipment, connects to the SmartNet Aus servers and they are working.
More information: www.smartnetaus.com, enquiries@smartnetaus.com.