Polaris S100 User manual

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S100 RTK RECEIVER
USER GUIDE
Version 1.21
November 21, 2021
inf[email protected]
https://www.polaris-gnss.com

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents.................................................................................................... 2
1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 4
1-1 Introduction .....................................................................................................4
1-2 RTK Operation Guideline .................................................................................4
1-3 S100 RTK Receiver Features.............................................................................5
2 USB Interface ....................................................................................................... 6
3 Preparing for First-Time Use................................................................................. 7
3-1 Install “Polaris Connect” App...........................................................................7
3-2 Install USB Driver .............................................................................................7
3-3 Check S100 Receives Satellite Signal ...............................................................7
4 RTK Rover Operation...........................................................................................10
4-1 Bluetooth RTK Rover to Work with App-Built-In NTRIP Client ......................11
4-2 Bluetooth Rover to Work with Third-party NTRIP Client App .......................12
4-3 USB Rover.......................................................................................................14
5 Raw Measurement Recording and Post Processing .............................................16
5-1 Preparing for PPK...........................................................................................16
5-2 Preparing for PPP...........................................................................................18
5-3 Obtaining Log Data from S100.......................................................................19
6 Software and Firmware Update ..........................................................................24
6-1 S100 Viewer Software Update.......................................................................24
6-2 S100 RTK Receiver Firmware Update ............................................................25
6-3 S100 Bluetooth Module Firmware Update....................................................28
7 Troubleshooting..................................................................................................30
Appendix ...............................................................................................................33
A-1 More Usage Scenarios...................................................................................33
A-1-1 Base-Rover RTK with PPP-Corrected Base .........................................33
A-1-2 PPK with PPP-Derived Base................................................................35
A-2 Other RTK Related Operations ......................................................................36
A-2-1 Bluetooth RTK Base with App-Built-in NTRIP Server..........................37
A-2-2 USB RTK Base......................................................................................39
A-2-3 Setting Up NTRIP Caster.....................................................................41
A-2-4 Third-Party NTRIP Client App Operations ..........................................43
A-3 Configure RTK License (for S100 Purchased After 2021.09.01).....................49

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A-4 Problem Reporting ........................................................................................50

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1 Overview
1-1 Introduction
S100 is a high performance dual-frequency RTK receiver with Bluetooth and USB interface. It offers
centimeter-level positioning accuracy suitable for surveying, mapping, and GIS data collection.
By default, S100 is shipped as RTK rover to accept RTCM3.x message or SkyTraq carrier phase raw
measurement data from an RTK base, and provides centimeter-level accurate position result relative to
the RTK base in standard NMEA message format.
S100 can also be configured as a RTK base to provide RTCM3.x message or SkyTraq carrier phase raw
measurement output.
S100 has two major interfaces for different applications: USB and Bluetooth. The USB interface is mainly
for configuration, monitoring, and supplying power. With Bluetooth V2.1+EDR function built-in, S100 can
be used as external Bluetooth RTK receiver for Android Mobile Device to provide higher accuracy
positioning than internal GPS.
1-2 RTK Operation Guideline
To provide centimeter-level RTK accuracy, S100 requires much better operating condition than
conventional meter-level accuracy GPS receiver:
Baseline distance between base and rover should be under 30Km.
Open sky environment without interference and signal blockage
Received signal level should be no less than 40dB/Hz.
10 or more satellites with elevation angles over 15 degrees
Good satellite geometry with satellites spread over four quadrants of the sky.

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1-3 S100 RTK Receiver Features
Base or Rover Mode Configurable Using Polaris Connect App
Supports GPS/QZSS L1/L2C, Beidou B1I/B2I, Galileo E1/E5b, GLONASS L1/L2 RTK Operation
Supports USB and Bluetooth V2.1+EDR Interface
On-Board 256MByte Flash Memory for Data Logging Post Processing
RTK Position Horizontal Accuracy 7mm + 1ppm, Vertical Accuracy 14mm + 1ppm
Maximum RTK Update Rate 10Hz
Supports RTCM 3.x Messages
NMEA Output
Update Rates：1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 8 / 10 Hz for RMC / GGA / VTG / PSTI-030
Messages：GGA / GLL / GSA / GSV / RMC / VTG / ZDA / PSTI
Baud Rate
Bluetooth：115200
USB：4800 / 9600 / 19200 / 38400 / 57600 / 115200, default 115200
Power Consumption
280 mA @ 5V
Weight：460 g

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2 USB Interface
a b
c d
Figure 2-1
Connect S100’s 4-pin socket (Figure 2-1 a) with the included accessory USB cable (Figure 2-1 b). The S100
USB cable is used for
1. Supplying power from power bank (Figure 2-1 d)
2. Firmware update using Windows PC (Figure 2-1 c)

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3 Preparing for First-Time Use
A tutorial video showing the process of setting up S100 to perform RTK surveying with Mobile
Topographer from very beginning can be found here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FXFHmiqboE
3-1 Install “Polaris Connect” App
Install Android app “Polaris Connect for S100 RTK Receiver”from Google Play. It can be found with this
QR Code.
3-2 Install USB Driver
USB driver needs to be installed before updating S100 Receiver firmware. Download it from:
https://www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers
3-3 Check S100 Receives Satellite Signal
Below steps bring up S100 as a normal USB-interface GNSS receiver to receive satellite signal:
1. Place S100 at a location having good sky view. Connect S100 with PC using the included USB cable.
2. Pair phone with the S100, which has a Bluetooth device name starting with “S100”. See Figure 3-1.
Figure 3-1

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3. Launch Android app “Polaris Connect”, and selected the paired S100 device. See Figure 3-2.
Figure 3-2
4. Start “USB Input Rover” mode. The app closes when S100 is configured to USB Rover. See Figure 3-3.
Figure 3-3
5. On a PC, install and open S100 Viewer. In S100 Viewer, a dialog box for COM port and baud rate will
appear. Click “Connect”. See Figure 3-4.

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Figure 3-4
6. NMEA output should be seen on the Message screen. If having good sky view with sufficient number
of satellites tracked, the signal bar will turn solid and have position fix. See Figure 3-5.
Figure 3-5

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4 RTK Rover Operation
S100 RTK rover works with carrier phase measurement, using fractional part of ~19 centimeter wave
length GNSS signals and differential principles to achieve centimeter-level position accuracy relative to
the RTK base.
Referring to figure 4-1, S100 receives RTK base correction data over Internet via NTRIP Client running on
the Android phone. S100 uses this correction data along with signals received from satellites to calculate
its precise position and output position / velocity / time information in NMEA-0183 format.
Figure 4-1
The most common way to use S100 for RTK surveying is to adopt a 3rd party RTK correction service, then
only one S100 RTK receiver is needed.
S100 is configured as RTK rover and connects to an Android smartphone via Bluetooth. User can then run
the free “Polaris Connect” app, or “Lefebure NTRIP Client”app, on the smartphone for retrieving
3rd-party RTK base correction data over Internet and sending it to the S100 RTK receiver. With “MOCK
Location” option enabled on the Android smartphone, 3rd party GIS app for survey data collection can
be used, achieving centimeter-level RTK accuracy.
The S100 can be used as Bluetooth RTK rover or USB RTK rover. The operations to configure and start RTK
rover are described in this section.
For Bluetooth RTK rover, user can choose to use Polaris Connect app’s built-in NTRIP client feature
(section 4-1) or third-party NTRIP client like Lefebure NTRIP Client app (section 4-2).
For USB RTK rover, the operations are described in section 4-3..
Other possible but less used RTK usage scenarios are described in Appendix A-1.

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4-1 Bluetooth RTK Rover to Work with App-Built-In NTRIP Client
The S100 RTK Receiver, when configured as a Bluetooth RTK Rover, can receive RTK correction data from
RTK correction service, going through Polaris Connect app, as previously shown in Figure 4-1.
Follow below steps to configure S100 to receive correction data via Bluetooth interface with built-in
NTRIP client of the Polaris Connect app.
1. Switch to Rover tab in the app. See Figure 4-2 a
2. Click Settings (Figure 4-2 b) and configure NTRIP log-in information (Figure 4-2 c). The log-in
information should be obtained from RTK correction service provider.
3. Select Normal in Operation Mode, Normal + Log NMEA and Debug Mode are used for
troubleshooting, refer to Appendix A-3.
ab c
Figure 4-2

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4. Click Start of “Bluetooth Rover with NTRIP Client” and then app starts receiving correction data. See
Figure 4-3 a b.
a b
Figure 4-3
4-2 Bluetooth Rover to Work with Third-party NTRIP Client App
The S100 RTK Receiver, when configured as a Bluetooth RTK Rover, can receive RTK correction data from
RTK correction service, going through a third-party NTRIP client service, e.g. Lefebure NTRIP Client app,
as shown in Figure 4-4.
Figure 4-4

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Follow below steps to configure S100 to receive correction data from third-party NTRIP client app like
Lefebure NTRIP Client, via Bluetooth. The Polaris Connect app closes as soon as the S100 starts to work
as Bluetooth RTK rover.
1. Switch to Rover tab in the app. See Figure 4-5 a
2. Click Start of “Bluetooth Rover”; the app Polaris Connect will be closed. See Figure 4-5 b
3. Start third-party NTRIP client app to receive RTK correction data, sends it to S100, and receive
position data stream from S100. See Figure 4-5 c.
4. If needing more information on how to use Lefebure NTRIP client app, refer to Appendix A-2-4.
ab c
Figure 4-5

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4-3 USB Rover
The S100 RTK Receiver, when configured as USB RTK Rover, can receive RTK correction data from NTRIP
client running on a PC, e.g. strsvr of RTKLIB, as shown in Figure 4-6.
Figure 4-6

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Follow below steps to configure S100 to receive correction data via USB interface. The app closes when
the S100 starts to work as USB RTK rover.
1. Make sure S100 is connecting with PC via USB interface.
2. Switch to Rover tab in app. See Figure 4-7 a
3. Click Start of “USB Input Rover”; the Polaris Connect app will close. See Figure 4-7 b
4. Start third-party tool, e.g. strsvr of RTKLIB, to receive RTK correction data, sends it to S100, and
receive position data stream from S100. See Figure 4-7 c.
ab
c
Figure 4-7
5. COM port splitter program will be needed to enable another program to share the same COM port
to use the NMEA output.

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5 Raw Measurement Recording and Post Processing
Raw measurement data logged on S100 RTK receiver is used for PPK and PPP processing. Sections 5-1
and 5-2 relate to these two types of post processing. How to obtain raw measurement data from S100 is
described in section 5-3.
5-1 Preparing for PPK
For Post-Processed Kinematic (PPK) calculations, both base data and rover data need to be available.
The base data can be (1) stored RTCM data received from RTK correction service or (2) stored RTCM data
received from another S100 RTK base; the rover data is the stored RTCM data from S100 RTK rover.
Refer to section 5-3 on how to log and obtain RTCM data on S100 receiver.
To perform PPK, files in standard RINEX format are needed. The logged RTCM data can be converted to
RINEX formats (2.01 –3.03) using RTKLIB’s RTKCONV program. See Figure 5-1 a, b.
For reference Options window of RTKCONV is shown in Figure 5-1 c.
a b
c
Figure 5-1

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Converting the RTCM file with rtkconv.exe, user can get a RINEX file with extension “obs”and a RINEX file
with extension “nav”. The three files (two OBS files and either one of the two NAV files) are used in
RTKLib PPK tool “rtkpost.exe”. See Figure 5-2.
Figure 5-2

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5-2 Preparing for PPP
For some online Precise Point Positioning (PPP) service, older RINEX 2.11 format data is required; a minor
modification on converted RINEX file may be needed. Follow below steps to prepare RINEX file for
sending to online PPP service.
1. Log and obtain RTCM data (see section 5-3)
2. Use v.2.4.3 RTKLib’s RTKCONV program to convert the logged RTCM data to RINEX 2.11. Select
proper constellations and frequency bands the online PPP service uses; will then get a RINEX format
file *.obs. See Figure 5-3 a.
3. Edit the output *.obs file, and modify the string “C2” to “P2” on about 13th line. See Figure 5-3 b.
a
b
Figure 5-3
P2

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5-3 Obtaining Log Data from S100
A tutorial video showing the process of downloading S100 log files can be found here:
https://youtu.be/YlYX_bUfmjM
The steps to generate, access, and manage log data with S100 are described below.
To generate log data of base and rover, follow below steps.
1. In rover or base tab, click the black REC button to start S100 to record raw measurement data in its
flash memory. See Figure 5-4 a, b.
2. When S100 start to record raw measurement data, the REC button becomes red and flicks. See
Figure 5-4 c.
3. Click red REC button again to stop recording.
a b c
Figure 5-4

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To check the log data in S100’s flash memory, follow below steps.
1. Click Utility and Browse. See Figure 7-5 a.
2. The information of recorded measurement data, including the start time, base or rover and file size,
is then displayed. See Figure 7-5 b.
a b
Figure 5-5