Both these technologies are very similar, however, PPK has a decisive advantage — because of its robustness and consistency.
Let’s analyze this more:
Firstly, PPK drones offer more flexibility in terms of the actual flight of the survey drone meaning you have more freedom of how and where the drone is deployed.
In contrast, RTK drones require a very specific base station and other pieces of equipment that work together in order to process data in real-time.
Secondly, a PPK drone can refer to previous and future data relative to the current flight, which creates greater dependability. Having this ability ensures the drone is always on track with the flight.
RTK has a higher chance of malfunctioning because it cannot retain old or new data to keep the current flight in check. The accountability simply isn’t there, which puts accuracy into question.
Think of it like this:
You’re on a road trip using GPS on your mobile device. You might lose signal a couple times but gain it back quickly.
PPK operates the same on the job site — if there is an issue with its ‘signal’ backup data is there to keep the flight on track.
RTK does not have this ability; if your mobile device worked with an RTK-equivalent GPS, you’d be lost!