Why Mining Equipment Needs Centimeter-Level Accuracy
On an open-pit coal mine, high-precision coordinates for an excavator are not a nice-to-have feature. They are essential for controlling the entire production process, monitoring equipment efficiency, and maintaining strict compliance with mining technology requirements.
Tracking the Loading Cycle
Evaluating the loading cycle requires stable coordinates along with accurate orientation and movement data for the equipment in real time. This information allows operators' performance to be analyzed, downtime to be identified, and the routes of excavators and haul trucks to be optimized.
Monitoring the Working Face Level
When working along the face of a coal seam, precise elevation is critical. Even a small deviation can cause equipment to dig below or above the seam, affecting extraction quality, resource consumption, and operational safety. At this level of detail, accuracy within tens of centimeters is not enough — centimeter-level RTK accuracy is required.
Why Traditional RTK Solutions Are Expensive and Complex
The conventional path to RTK accuracy usually involves a separate hardware setup: a dedicated navigation system or industrial computer, a separate communication module, separate power supply, and separate installation and maintenance procedures.
Implementation Barriers in Harsh Field Conditions
In practice, this kind of setup significantly raises the barrier to adoption. Every additional unit becomes a potential point of failure, adding extra cables, connectors, and mounting components. In dusty, vibration-heavy environments with limited access for maintenance, such configurations quickly turn into a source of downtime and repair costs.
Higher Total Cost of Ownership
Beyond the cost of the hardware itself, expenses grow due to installation, diagnostics, and replacement of failed components. Each separate unit in the system requires its own attention from technicians, increasing the total cost of ownership over the equipment's service life.
Built-In RTK Positioning Technology
The solution to this challenge wasn't found in adding new hardware, but in redistributing functions within the device already installed on the equipment.
How RTK Navigation Works Without Additional Hardware
The goal of the project was to achieve RTK navigation without expensive additional equipment by implementing transport and application logic directly within the Galileosky 10 device, using its built-in EasyLogic algorithm programming environment.
As a result, the device installed on the equipment effectively becomes a courier and quality controller for RTK corrections. Using an EasyLogic algorithm, the following functionality was implemented:
The device connects to a correction server via the NTRIP protocol over a mobile network, receives and processes RTCM-format data in a continuous stream, checks the integrity of incoming packets, filters out corrupted data fragments, and forwards a clean stream of RTK corrections directly to the GNSS receiver. The RTCM format is widely used for transmitting corrections that improve GNSS positioning accuracy down to the centimeter level.
In effect, the EasyLogic algorithm functions as a lightweight RTK controller built directly into the Galileosky 10 device — without a separate unit, without an additional communication channel, and without separate power supply.
Project Results: Accuracy, Savings, and Better Process Control
Moving the RTK controller logic into the satellite monitoring device delivered measurable results across several areas for the customer.
Reduced Downtime and Lower Cost of Ownership
Simplifying the RTK setup directly reduced the number of failure points and maintenance risks. A smaller hardware footprint means faster installation, fewer cable connections, and fewer components requiring diagnostics. As a result of the project, the customer achieved significant cost savings on the overall solution while maintaining centimeter-level positioning accuracy.
A Digital Layer for Production Analytics
Access to coordinates accurate to within 2 cm creates a complete digital data layer for analyzing equipment performance. This improves overall process control: precise coordinates and elevation data make it possible to monitor compliance with mining technology, evaluate the efficiency of loading cycles, and make decisions based on objective data rather than rough estimates.
This solution, built on the Galileosky 10 device and its EasyLogic algorithm engine, demonstrates that achieving high-precision positioning on mining equipment doesn't require a more complex hardware architecture. The capabilities of a satellite monitoring device can be extended through software alone, delivering RTK-level accuracy without additional capital expenses or added operational complexity in harsh field conditions.
Contact: sales@galileosky.com
