I’d like to share some field experience deploying an autonomous mowing rover in a tea plantation using ArduPilot Rover with RTK Fixed positioning.
Tea plantations present a fairly structured environment (consistent row spacing, repeated paths), but manual mowing is still labor-intensive and often inconsistent, especially on slopes.
With a local RTK base (Fixed mode), we’re seeing very stable centimeter-level positioning and strong path repeatability in real operation.
Some observations from testing:
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Repeatable trajectories
Missions can be re-run on different days with minimal deviation -
Good crop protection
The rover stays within defined boundaries and avoids contacting the plants -
Works well in sloped terrain
With proper tuning, tracking remains stable even on uneven ground -
Suitable for repetitive field tasks
Mowing is just one example — the same setup should apply to spraying or inspection
From our experience, for agricultural use cases, repeatability (relative accuracy) is often more important than absolute global accuracy. A fixed RTK base provides consistent results for this type of workflow.