A GIS-GNSS-RTK Integrated Approach towards Affordable Digital Elevation Model Creation

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is a popular technology currently used for real-time applications, including Agriculture. This work presents the study results on the applicability of the GNSS Real Time Kinematic (RTK) method using Size, Weight, Power, and Cost-efficient (SWaP-C) GNSS modules for efficient Digital Elevation Model (DEM) creation. A water-runoff path was identified for an agricultural land of West Bengal, which is generally plain. Using real-life experiments in a farming field, the efficacy of the cost-efficient GNSS RTK is shown for static and dynamic data collection methods. The experiment-derived results were successfully compared with the real scenario, and the expected runoff behavior was captured. This work would be helpful in establishing the potential of data-driven, smart agriculture, which will support the community and society. The work contributes to sustainable agricultural management by enabling effective water resource planning and reinforces the role of low-cost GNSS technology in democratizing precision GIS-GNSS tools.