jules
How come the GPS signal can be disrupted by trees - given that my iPhone can seemingly get a good GPS location under cover, indoors, moving at speed, etc. The only thing that really disrupts an iPhone is a tunnel.
bryan.wheeler
Product Pioneer Program
That’s a loaded question. For some light reading, this can help explain a lot about weak GPS and the why. To sum it up:
To answer why it loses GPS under trees: accuracy drops because leaves and trunks block, reflect, or absorb the satellite signals. This creates noise.
As satellites move, the angles change, and signal quality (measured by CNR – Carrier to Noise Ratio) may improve. CNR values above 37 are generally required, as long as enough satellites are available.
Yarbo Wiki Reference
What Factors Affect GPS Signal Quality?
jules
Thank you that makes sense.
I had understood that consumer grade GPS was accurate to maybe 10m and that military grade was about 1m (depending on a bunch of factors) - does Yarbo just use GPS for location - or is it also somehow using the base station to increase accuracy? If it is doing that, does that not help out when the Yarbo is under trees?
I’m asking this because the current and most convenient location for my charging station is under some trees. It docks fine - but often I have to manually drive it 10m away from the charging station before it will start a program.
bryan.wheeler
Product Pioneer Program
Yes, the Data Center (DC) is what provides centimeter-level accuracy. It acts as the fixed reference point, constantly comparing notes with Yarbo Core. The math only works if both DC and Core can see the same satellites clearly.
For Docking Station placement:
Future updates (Dead Reckoning + Vision-based navigation) will likely improve this behavior. Until then, you may want to test alternative docking positions with better sky view.
Original posted by user @jules at Yarbo Forum post on Jul 31st, 2025.
Answered by @bryan.wheeler in replies to the thread.