Comparison of the Trimble MX9 and the Trimble MX50 mobile mapping systems 5
The navigation tests
To compare different navigational performances of the two systems, a challenging GNSS environment was
selected. The area was challenging because narrow streets, high buildings and tree canopy made for difficult
GNSS conditions. The test drive area chosen was a 1 km circuit in downtown Biberach, Germany. Both the
MX9 (with the AP60 navigation system) and the MX50 (with the AP20 navigational system) systems were
driven with the same type of setup, dynamics and GNSS conditions. No DMI and GAMS solutions were used.
The driving speed was around 20 km/h.
Figure 3 – Test drive loop in Biberach city center
Raw data for each system was post-processed against a GNSS base station, located approximately 2 km from
the testing site. The trajectories were post-processed using the Applanix POSPac™ MMS office software,
version 8.7 SP1.
In addition, MX9 and MX50 mission trajectories were also processed simulating a total GNSS outage. The
results were compared against the processed trajectory with no GNSS outage. This test gave an interesting
insight on the different behavior of the two used IMUs in terms of compensation for drift in heavily denied
GNSS conditions.
