RTK Continous Topo Precise Timestamp?

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Graham Spitzer posted 04-20-2026 14:37

I am trying to extract precise timestamp information from a JXL for RTK continuous topo points to sync RTK positions with an external camera device using GNSS time. As far as I can tell, all the logged data in a JXL is to the nearest second. Is there a way I can extract the position timestamp to the millisecond?

It could be that the continuous topo is timestamping positions extremely close to the exact whole second—meaning the time sync is accurate to the millisecond, but the system only logs data at one‑second intervals?

Or maybe, I may need to pull this information from a more native source format, such as NMEA?

Ronny Schneider posted 04-20-2026 16:40

You will need to interpolate this. Usual RTK refresh rate is 1 HZ, that's the rate the base will send data.

For postprocessing you can set the logging rate in Access to 0.05 s.

Public commercial bases will only give you 1Hz logs at best, often only 15 or 30 sec. You can use a combination of high-rate rover and low-rate base logging in TBC. It will interpolate and compute points/PP continuous vectors/trajectory at the high rate.

You'd have to import those logs into TBC, using deliberately the import tab and with "force kinematic" set and postprocess as kinematic trajectory.

Under Export->Survey you'll find a "Trajectory (CSV) file exporter" with the option for 7 decimals in the timestamp.

Access is able to send raw NMEA strings at a rate of 0.05 sec to the serial port of your device (at least the TSC7, haven't seen a TSC5 yet).

But all this is still 50 times slower than what you request. Interpolation is inevitable. Question is if interpolating from 1 HZ or 20 Hz would make a big difference in your application.

I don't have a mapping license, so I don't know if that one may have tools to convert a bunch of points with timestamp into a trajectory and potentially increase the interpolation rate.