News

The Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct (AARP) has installed a Trimble Alloy RTK GNSS reference system, delivering shared, centimetre-accurate positioning across the precinct. For tenants developing autonomous and robotic platforms, this reduces setup friction and removes the need to run individual base stations, while improving repeatability and data quality across trials. The result is more realistic autonomy testing, stronger benchmarking and test evidence, and faster progress from prototype demonstrations to validated, deployable solutions across ground vehicles, drones, mobile robots and remotely operated plant.

Centimetre-level positioning for realistic autonomy testing
Many autonomous and robotic platforms, including ground vehicles, drones, mobile robots and remotely operated plant, depend on precise positioning to navigate, dock, repeat routes and operate safely. An on-site RTK system enables centimetre-level accuracy, allowing tenants to test behaviours that are not possible or repeatable with standard GPS alone.

Repeatable, defensible test results
A shared RTK reference station enables consistent positioning across the precinct, supporting repeatable trials over time. This is critical for benchmarking autonomy performance, validating safety systems such as geofencing and producing defensible evidence for customers, partners and regulators. It helps shift testing from demonstration to qualification.

Lower barriers to testing for all tenants
Providing RTK as common infrastructure removes the need for each company to deploy and maintain its own base station. This reduces cost, setup time and technical overhead, while ensuring all tenants work within a common coordinate framework. This improves comparability between projects and trials.

Higher uptime and more productive test days
The Trimble Alloy platform is designed for reliable, continuous operation as a reference station. Its resilience reduces the risk of positioning dropouts that can invalidate tests, helping tenants make better use of time onsite and generate cleaner, more reliable datasets.

Stronger data for mapping, perception and digital twins
High-accuracy GNSS improves ground-truth for sensor fusion, mapping, localisation and digital-twin development. Tenants can more accurately assess system performance, quantify drift and align robotic data with site maps and infrastructure.

Shared RTK positioning now gives every tenant at AARP access to precinct-wide, professional-grade GNSS accuracy. The result is repeatability and data quality across trials, cleaner datasets for mapping, localisation and digital twins, and defensible test evidence that stands up with customers, partners and regulators. With this infrastructure in place, the AARP further strengthens its offer as a world-class autonomy test environment, supporting faster development and validation for Australia’s automation and robotics innovators.