Drone Surveying

Explained: From
GCPs to PPK
October 2018
Drone technology has changed the way
the heavy civil and resource industries
survey their worksites. Unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) enable faster, less costly
surveying without sacrificing accuracy.
They require little special training and
education to operate, so you can collect
the data as often as you wish—and do it
without putting personnel in harm’s way,
thus reducing safety risks.
From single-rotor and quadcopter to
VTOL and fixed-wing, drones might seem
interchangeable. Each has the camera
capabilities to capture precise imagery
and programming to operate manually or
automatically. But it’s how your images are
Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK
geotagged that can dramatically change
how you gather your site data. You may
have heard of two advanced processing
methods before: RTK and PPK.
Too often, explanations of these workflows
are bogged down in complexity, scaring
away all but the most technical individuals.
We’ve put together this ebook to answer
some of your most pressing questions in
plain English, such as:
What’s the difference between RTK and PPK?
Which one is better for drone surveying?
What’s the accuracy?
How does RTK and PPK work in the real world?
Where do ground control points come in?
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 Because there are multiple ways to
process your locational data with GPS,
we’ll be covering real-time kinematic
(RTK) and post-processing kinematic
(PPK) in depth. We’ll also dive into how
they differ from each other, and how
these systems differ from traditional
ground control point workflows. First,
let’s begin with how drone surveying
typically works.

Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 3

Ground control
and traditional
drone surveying
In traditional drone surveying, you need
a sufficient number of known points
to verify and pin down your drone
imagery to the ground. This is because
a drone without kinematic processing
capabilities is only a vehicle for capturing
site imagery.
Its position in the sky is not accurately geotagged, so you
don’t get reliable positional data from its hardware alone;
that accuracy comes from ground control. This is why
even small errors in ground control setup can have huge
repercussions on your final survey.
The points used to reference positions on the ground
are called ground control points (GCPs), which can be
Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK
known points marked and measured with base and rover
or a moveable smart ground control point like Propeller’s
AeroPoints.
Having multiple GCPs on your site when surveying
ensures subcentimeter accuracy, but they can be time
consuming to set up on a large worksite
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 Known points
as ground
control
If you’re working with known points, a surveyor
has to physically walk your site, shoot the
points with a rover, and mark them for visibility.

Not only are the mechanics of this process

time-consuming, the overall time sink increases
dramatically with the site’s physical size. Not to
mention that it adds safety risks for personnel
who have to walk an active site, traverse
hazardous terrain, or access almost unreachable
areas of a site. (Think dangerous spots, like a
400-foot cliff that may be unstable in a mine.)

Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 5

AeroPoints
as ground
control
If you’re working with smart GCPs like
AeroPoints, you still have to drop the
hardware in an optimal distribution across
the entire surveyed area. This is crucial,
much more so than the number of GCPs in
a particular location. Think of doing a site
calibration—you cover your whole site, not
just the “important” parts.
Essentially, you’d need to create a shape bounding your site
and distribute GCPs using survey best practices—hitting
the lowest and highest elevations. This setup can be time
consuming, depending on the size and shape of your site.
Once AeroPoints are in place, the process becomes
infinitely simpler. Activation requires only a single button,
then they’re ready to start gathering information. When
Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK
your drone survey is complete, you gather them back up
and they automatically search for a WiFi signal to begin
uploading their data to Propeller.
As recently as a few years ago, the planning, risk
assessment, and legwork associated with setting up
ground control has been a necessary, if unwanted,
sacrifice.
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On-board GPS correctional
processing has changed
the need for ground control

Now, new RTK-enabled drones have the ability to

track their own positions accurately, which regular
drones lack. A PPK workflow is our recommended
method for topoing a site via drone for reasons we’ll
go into further down. But first, let’s uncover what
makes these two technologies different.

Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 7

The difference
between PPK
and RTK
Real-time kinematic (RTK)
processing on a drone records GPS
information and geotags images as
they’re captured during flight. The
GPS location is recorded for the
center of the image.
However, on-drone GPS units aren’t very accurate. They
have variations on average of 10–30 feet from the actual
X, Y, Z location of a feature in the real world.
With RTK, a passive base station on the ground sends
raw GPS data to the drone. Then the drone’s on-board
GPS that info and its own observations to accurately
determine its position relative to the base.
But to achieve this, the RTK drone has to keep a connection
with the base station the entire time it’s gathering data.
Unfortunately, drones can lose signal connections when
they’re turning, likely due to antenna orientation. If this
happens, it can take some time to get lock again. As you
can imagine, data becomes unreliable as a result.
That’s where things get tricky because we’re not strictly
comparing apples to apples. In reality, PPK is not
another kind of hardware, but rather different processing
workflow using an RTK-enabled drone.
Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK
PPK stands for “post-processing kinematic.” The
difference with PPK workflows is how we process base
station data for correction and accuracy.
With PPK, the drone will geotag X,Y,Z coordinates to
each images based on that on-board GPS unit. While this
is happening, a base (be it a base station, an AeroPoint,
or the CORS network) is also recording the positional
information, but with much more accurate triangulation.
After the flight is completed, those two sets of GPS data
are matched up using a timestamp, which is recorded
when the drone takes a picture. Now that we know
the offset after the fact, the initial, less-than-accurate
on-board GPS data is then overwritten, giving precise
geotags for the imagery.
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Here’s how they stack up side
by side:

RTK
Requires stable radio link to receive base station data,
which is processed during flight.

Correction data and initialization loss results reduces

percentage of accurate camera positions, which is
necessary for site survey rendering.

PPK
No data or initialization loss by signal link limitations,
as with RTK technology.

All captured data processed with similar algorithms

to RTK, run back and forth through the data.

Overall, ensures the most reliable results possible.

Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 9

PPK workflows are the gold
standard for drone surveying
While “real-time” technologies may sound more
attractive, it’s the very fact that PPK processing happens
post-flight that allows it to be so much more useful.
The real edge comes from the fact that a PPK workflow
can incorporate both past and future data relative to a
particular image because all the processing happens
after the fact. RTK technology cannot use data that
hasn’t been recorded yet.
Additionally, there’s the issue of connectivity loss between
an RTK drone and its base back on solid ground.
Because RTK is processing in real time, if it loses that
connection due to some site obstruction (buildings, walls,
etc.), it won’t have that accuracy correction from the base
for as long as that signal is blocked. It cannot correct with
GPS data it hasn’t recorded.
Post-flight data correction and processing, makes a PPK
workflow effectively immune to the repercussions of
connectivity loss that RTK tech alone is subject to
Because PPK is more reliable in this fashion, we
recommend it over RTK for drone surveying on any site,
from mines to landfills and every construction site in
between.
Both workflows still require hardware on the ground to
correct the on-drone GPS units. While vastly less time
consuming than traditional ground control, there are
different ways to achieve this and different hardware
technologies to do it.
With Propeller PPK, however, this is made dead-simple
and quick. And if you’re using AeroPoints, just one can
serve as a passive base. Propeller PPK gives 1/10 of a foot
accuracy.
Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 10
The transformation
of GCPs in a PPK
workflow
PPK workflows can completely change your drone
surveying process and transform how you use
conventional tools.
Traditional drone surveying could be said to be a GCP-
based workflow (whether or not you’re using AeroPoints
or known points and a base station). You need them for
overall accuracy, but also so photogrammetry software
can render your site correctly.
Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK
With the science of photogrammetry, if you see
the same feature from three or more known positions,
you can triangulate its location in space (a.k.a nail down
those exact X, Y, and Z coordinates).
A feature is any visually distinct point in an image. But
without ground control, you can’t place those features
in absolutely accurate locations within your site’s
coordinates or tie the data with other layers (e.g. previous
surveys, design surfaces) used with high precision GPS
or surveying equipment.
With a PPK workflow, all the precision that GCPs gave you
before is now happening for the drone images themselves.
But you still need that second source of GPS data and
validation on solid ground. And that’s where checkpoints
like AeroPoints come in. They can serve as a different,
simpler kind of model validation.
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Propeller PPK
delivers a foolproof
drone survey
solution

The beauty of the the PPK workflow
comes from its simplicity. Never before
has there been a fully integrated,
streamlined, and verifiable PPK solution
that delivers consistent results without
the need for advanced training or
dedicated experts to process, translate,
and interpret your data.
With typical PPK (or even RTK) surveying workflows,
you need to have a base station to tie down your drone
data. Traditional ground control points are eliminated
because all the GPS data granted through ground control
points are embedded in the images and cross-corrected
with the base. That base can be an actual base station
or a single AeroPoint, which is a much more affordable
piece of equipment.
You might be familiar with AeroPoints when they’re
used as GCPs. They’re lightweight and easy to use. In a
PPK workflow, you can leverage an AeroPoint’s GNSS
technology to turn it into a passive base instead. With
its one-button operation and automatic data uploads,
AeroPoints save on cost and make a PPK workflow even
more user-friendly.

Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 12

 Simple data validation
using one AeroPoint
as a passive base

Place Fly View

Once you’ve got your PPK drone and AeroPoint ready for
surveying, just find a safe, open area on your site, set up
your AeroPoint beside you, and launch your drone. It’s
as straightforward as place, fly, view. No more ground
control strategizing. No more trekking all over your site’s
perimeter and criss-crossing its active traffic zones.

With just the drone imagery and data validation from

a single AeroPoint, you can get highly accurate 3D site
surveys with Propeller. It’s simple, fast, and accurate.

Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 13

 Propeller PPK:
Drone surveying
takes its next leap
forward
Drones have evolved to become smarter
and more efficient worksite tools. Now with
accessible, straightforward PPK workflows,
drone surveying is simpler than ever and has
the same great accuracy you need to get the
job done right.

What sets a Propeller PPK workflow apart

is your time savings and risk reduction. PPK
eliminates the need for lengthy ground control
planning, placement, and, if you’re using
nonpermanent points, pickup.

Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 14

Depending on your site, that process can take even
longer than the drone flight itself. And when it comes
to personnel safety, establishing proper ground control
means physically walking an active site and potentially
having to traverse hazardous or dangerous areas.

Cutting out the unnecessary setup time and points of

failure associated with improper ground control, a PPK
solution cuts down your drone surveying from by
multiple steps and shaves hours off your workweek.

Capturing that site data, however, is only half the job.

Once you have it, you need to process it. What if there
was one workflow that got the whole job done? There is.

Propeller PPK is a fully integrated, streamlined, and

verifiable PPK solution that delivers accuracy of 1/10 of a
foot without the need for advanced training or dedicated
experts to process, translate, and interpret your drone data.

Combining DJI’s new high-precision Phantom 4 PPK

drone, Propeller’s reliable AeroPoints, and our entirely
automated cloud processing platform, it delivers data
you can trust with the easiest-to-use survey-grade
measurement solution out there.

Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 15

Want to learn more about how Propeller Contact us at propelleraero.com
and DJI have teamed up to create a fully
integrated, high-precision Phantom 4 PPK
Contact us
survey solution?

Drone Surveying Explained: From GCPs to PPK 16