A common GSM Rover question is “How much data does a GSM Rover consume?’ or what kind of data plan should I purchase for the SIM card in my GSM Rover (a GSM rover is a RTK GPS receiver that receives real-time correction via a GSM cellular network connection.)
For a CMR+ connection, with GLONASS here are some typical numbers:
A typical CMR+ data stream is 18,000 bytes per minute:
300 bytes per second
1,080,000 bytes per hour
8,640,000 bytes per 8 hour day
181,440,000 bytes per month assuming 21-day of 8-hours each
Worst Case Scenario: If a user were to leave a rover connected continuously (24-hours per day) for 1-month they would consume 803,520,000 bytes per month.
RTCM 3.x streams are about the same data rate as CMR+ streams.
For Ashtech users, connecting to Ashtech bases (like the PF500) this data consumption can be reduced 60% by selecting the ‘Atom-Compact’ message type.
Thus, when provisioning SIM cards, one can be confident that at most 1 Gigabyte of data will be consumed. And typical use can be less than 100 meg, even with 8-hour work days.
iG GPS 