EGNOS satellite changed

[Richard84]

I’ll defend my old company. Did they sell the unit? I guess not. What do you pay for Egnos? Can they control egnos, no. So my advice is they were only being honest in saying they couldn’t help. If it’s agco software they can’t touch it. .... sorry to be harsh but that’s life . You don’t buy a Seat then call Audi for warranty and expect them to help

Well you fitted it Rob and the system has worked well, it’s just irritating that with system maintenance be it free or paid for signals have outage, though I expect it to come back on. This seems like an oversight that know one at Topcon has a fix for this EGNOS satellite update which has been in the pipeline for ages. Last few days system see EGNOS PRN120 fine but can’t see the new satellite that has been switched on, so in reality it’s getting no correction signal. All systems using EGNOS can’t be bricked because of this it must be a firmware issue with Topcon’s AGI-4 system. It would seem the only get round would be to upgrade the unit at substantial cost to OmniSTAR or RTK.

 

[GPS_Support_2014]

So even though the GLONASS satellites will be uncorrected they still do have a benefit in making the overall position solution more robust.

SBAS+ is recommended when operating in areas with heavy tree cover. For example, in orchards.

You are correct that the GLONASS position is not corrected when using EGNOS.

By using SBAS+ it ensures the position calculation remains stable in cases where some GPS satellites are blocked by tree cover. It uses the uncorrected GLONASS sats in the position calculation.

 

[GPS_Support_2014]

Fuse agco reply me that.

It sounds like the problem will be fixed with a firmware update. Version 4.1K12p15 or newer will have added support for the new EGNOS satellite PRN 123, and will allow the user to choose which EGNOS satellites to use.

My version 4.1K12p6 in receiver info. I asked if my dealer should update my agi firmware on c1000, now waiting for reply. But i think there will be possible to fix this if it will be possible to update that.

They need to be sure that they add support for satellite PRN136 also.
PRN123 is an active satellite also but it is a bit further East on the globe and I’ve noticed we don’t pick it up as easily as PRN136.

 

[Richard84]

Same here PRN123 is right on the horizon and is borderline useless for my location. I can’t even get PRN136 to appear on my system. Stuck with good signal to PRN120 but sadly the lights are on but nobody’s home.

 

[GPS_Support_2014]

which has been in the pipeline for ages.

The EGNOS bulletin communicated this change on the 14th of August and the switch happened on the 30th of August.

Unfortunately 15 days for OEM manufacturers to adjust their software is too little time.
There’s not software engineers sitting there twiddling their thumbs waiting to do something.

EGNOS could have done a better job at notifying the handful of OEM GPS receiver manufacturers that we have around the world.

 

[GPS_Support_2014]

Same here PRN123 is right on the horizon and is borderline useless for my location. I can’t even get PRN136 to appear on my system. Stuck with good signal to PRN120 but sadly the lights are on but nobody’s home.

Yes, PRN120 will give a good signal still but because it’s in “test mode” your GPS receiver won’t give a DGPS fix.

 

[Richard84]

Still most of these global precision tech companies must have engineers who’s job is debugging and a fixing issues in their products. I admit the noticed wasn’t long but we are nearly 4 weeks on from the press release. It’s not as if a whole new system/product needs to be designed, it’s just a bug.

 

[Northern farmer]

Why do they have to use fixed numbers, why not let the operator set the prn number. No need for any alert time for changes in that case. I guess a fully automatic search would work too, I understand some receivers already do that.

 

[marcot]

I’ll defend my old company. Did they sell the unit? I guess not. What do you pay for Egnos? Can they control egnos, no. So my advice is they were only being honest in saying they couldn’t help. If it’s agco software they can’t touch it. .... sorry to be harsh but that’s life . You don’t buy a Seat then call Audi for warranty and expect them to help

Ooops bet you regret jumping in to your old jobs defence now? Sounds to me like he bought an Audi .....asked Audi for support ....his Audi technician had jumped ship and he got Seat support !!

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

The EGNOS bulletin communicated this change on the 14th of August and the switch happened on the 30th of August.

Unfortunately 15 days for OEM manufacturers to adjust their software is too little time.
There’s not software engineers sitting there twiddling their thumbs waiting to do something.

EGNOS could have done a better job at notifying the handful of OEM GPS receiver manufacturers that we have around the world.

Well it’s not quite like that now is it?

Firstly in terms of receiver affected, certainly not all receivers were/are affected as you are perhaps implying. I was tracking and receiving corrections all three EGNOS satellites; 120, 123 and 136, when there was an overlap in operation and all 3 birds were active two weeks ago on one of my base receivers.

Secondly in terms of notification, there was a roadmap communicated for the GEO swap way back at the start of July in the EGNOS Service Provision Yearly Report (April 2017 - March 2018). See page 70....

Thirdly in terms of actual receiver ability to handle a GEO swap;

1. The move of PRN120 to "test" should hardly be news or a 'surprise', especially to GNSS system manufacturers. As I noted above the satellite is waaaay over its expected life.

2. EGNOS have been banging on for years, about modernising the GEO satellite constellation.

3. The whole reason they put GEO's into test, is so that that GNSS manufacturer development teams can prepare and develop readiness for when changes happen and these birds become operational.

4. GEO swaps on EGNOS shouldn't be a surprise! They should be expected. I put any "failure" to make a seamless change, simply down to poor software implementation, poor or lazy coding practise or simply bare bones firmware, on the part of certain receiver manufacturers.

If receivers cant handle a swap in GEO's then I'm afraid their software is not built to meet the specification, that requires them to be able to swap to GEO's without a firmware update.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Why do they have to use fixed numbers, why not let the operator set the prn number. No need for any alert time for changes in that case. I guess a fully automatic search would work too, I understand some receivers already do that.

....poor or lazy software engineers, not implementing to the spec. or at least cutting corners.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Same here PRN123 is right on the horizon and is borderline useless for my location. I can’t even get PRN136 to appear on my system. Stuck with good signal to PRN120 but sadly the lights are on but nobody’s home.

PRN123 is quite a bit further east than PRN136. The signal here is stronger for PRN136 than PRN123 but not a huge amount (2 to 3 dB difference).

You probably need to get the receiver patched so that you can pick-up PRN136, if you are further north.

 

[Gnytasis]

Contacted to dealer. They sed that is possible to update agi 4 software so this egnos failure will be fixed. Now need to wait one week for them

 

[Richard84]

Yes, mine was supposed to have been done today but a no show.

 

[Power Harrow Pilot]

I can’t see any prn satellites on my 750, do I need to update software or?????

 

[Richard84]

Firmware updated and now working on Topcon AGI-4 running through datatronic terminal. Few bugs in the update but at least it works.

 

[SinisaB]

I can’t see any prn satellites on my 750, do I need to update software or?????

No, you do not have to. Can you find FUTURE 136?

 

[Gnytasis]

Firmware updated and now working on Topcon AGI-4 running through datatronic terminal. Few bugs in the update but at least it works.

What software version they installed to you? How about direction lost error when backing with tractor and then want to go forward it displays that dirrection correction problem. maybe software update fixing this strange issue? Compas calibrated but sometimes showing and showing again that error. After rebooting autoguide sometimes fix that problem but its not normal.

 

[Northern farmer]

What software version they installed to you? How about direction lost error when backing with tractor and then want to go forward it displays that dirrection correction problem. maybe software update fixing this strange issue? Compas calibrated but sometimes showing and showing again that error. After rebooting autoguide sometimes fix that problem but its not normal.

Not really a topic under the title of the thread but we had a repeating compass calibration issue with the "AGI-4" and a C3000 screen. Most often compass calibration was lost when the steering valve was disabled after the driver stepping out of the tractor (seat switch triggering the event). Haven't seen any direction correction issues, perhaps not the same root cause. Anyway, we got rid of the misbehaviour after a special reset/initialisation of the topdoc. Had to issue some commands via the AGI-4 isobus mode menus.

 

[Richard84]

What software version they installed to you? How about direction lost error when backing with tractor and then want to go forward it displays that dirrection correction problem. maybe software update fixing this strange issue? Compas calibrated but sometimes showing and showing again that error. After rebooting autoguide sometimes fix that problem but its not normal.

Version K1610.3. The only problem I’ve had with direction errors is if the compass hasn’t been recalibrated for a long timer you rush the system and it hasn’t caught up, eg lifting and implement up backup up briefly and then returning to work and engaging auto steer again before it’s realised what’s happened. The other thing to try is check all the tractor profile settings are correct and haven’t got corrupted somehow.