Geodnet: description and requirements

~ Andrea

Brief description

The aim of Geodnet is to make high precision GPS signal available for everyone at really competitive prices. As per today the technology to have 1 cm precise signal is already available, but it is expensive and in some cases not very convenient to deploy.

Geodnet and its community are working towards making high precision positioning available at very competitive pricing and convenient to use. In order to do that Geodnet needs to have at least one antenna every 25 km. A second antenna, at least 100 meter distant from the first one, is useful as backup in case the first one goes offline: more than two antennas are redundant.

If you would like to double check if the area you live still requires an antenna you may double check this map.

Requirements

In order to make the miner work you will need:

  1. Location with a clear view of the sky at 360°
  2. A stable 2.4 Ghz wifi connection
  3. A stable internet connection
  4. Electrical power
  5. A smart socket

Location

Geodnet has shared a few indications on how you should proceed in order to achieve an optimal installation. Please remember that everyone should try to get the best possible installation as it is of paramount importance that the quality of the data that we create and share is near to perfection. Otherwise the project is not useful for the end user.

The antenna should have a clear view of the sky in all directions around it. Please find here below some infographics which I have taken from the Geodnet Discord channel.

This picture shows that the antenna needs a clear view of the sky. It has 10 degrees of tolerance.
This pictures shows an example of a bad installation. The antenna is surrounded by tall buildings and trees which stop the signal coming from the satellites. Such an installation is to be avoided as it damages the project and its reputation.
The antenna circled in orange is a half way situation: there are tall buildings and trees around it but they are not totally covering the sight of the sky like in the previous example. The best situation is the second one highlighted by the green circle, where the antenna has no obstacles around it.

Before buying the antenna and miner I suggest to have an idea of good spot where to install it: even better would be to personally go to the site and verify the situation. Remember: you are looking for a position where the antenna will have a clear view of the sky. An application like GNSS View by NEC corporation (Android) may help you understanding the amount of satellites that your miner would be able to connect to: consider that in order to give a perfect service you miner will need to connect to at least 30 satellites at all times.

Stable networking

As stated above a stable internet connectivity is also mandatory: the miner does not require much bandwidth or speed, an ADSL with 25/2 mbits/s is more than enough to upload the data. More important is the fact that the internet connectivity should be stable.

The miner sadly does not dispose of ethernet connectivity: this is bad, because we know that wifi signal is not that reliable but at the same time it is good because you do not need to pull an dedicated ethernet cable for it to work. You just need a stable wifi network working on the 2.4 Ghz frequency. 5 Ghz is not supported.

The amount of data uploaded is estimated at 15 GB per month. But this is a scenario that I have never seen on my install which sends 5GB worth of data every month. 15GB/month is the figure which is shared by Geodnet considering a triple band miner, most probably to be considered the “worst case scenario”.

Electrical power

In order to work the miner needs electricity around 1 Kwh/month. On such topic I might suggest you buy a stable power supply. It does not need to be particularly powerful, 3A on the 5V are more than enough.

I suggest you buy also a smart socket: every now and then it might happen that the miner needs to be turned off and on again. If this is the case, having a smart socket that you can manage remotely from your phone is very convenient.

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