GPS & USB to serial adapter
Tumbler
Posts: 323
Is it possible to connect the gps module directly with the adapter (FT232RL) since i have no serial port on my laptop.
I want to use microsoft autoroute 2007 with the gps
Or do i need another adapter?
Regards
Luc
I want to use microsoft autoroute 2007 with the gps
Or do i need another adapter?
Regards
Luc
Comments
As the webpage for the GPS module notes,
"This device can be connected to a PC serial port using a MAX232 line driver. The circuit isn't supported by Parallax, but it's possible to make this connection with a few dollars of parts."
I bought a kit to do this, from this site
http://www.awce.com/rs1.htm?src=gaws
(man, I'm pretty certain I paid significantly less than $18 for it, though).
Post Edited (sylvie369) : 10/12/2008 5:37:12 PM GMT
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
I thought the BS2 was programmed with Serial TTL
·· I'm looking for schematics and program code to make a BS2 GPS-Datalogger (transmitter-receiver?) for my students to put inside a large (5' tall, 4" diameter) model rocket. We want to track its flight path, where it went, etc.
I'm not necessarily looking for a bottom-up project (where we learn program language, etc.) but rather, one that students can "build" (wire and connect), fine-tune, and then install in two or three weeks. I'm an 8th grade 'generalist' science teacher, not a tech. ed. teacher or a MIT professor, and·unfortunately my·limited class time doesn't allow the R and·D time we really would need to build it bottom-up.
Everyone on the forum was really helpful last year when 'we' built a Data-Logger that recorded time, temperature, and humidity to put in a large rocket for an exracurricular activity (www.wearerocketry.org). Profuse thanks to Tracy Allen and Bruce Bates, who were instrumental in getting the project off the ground (no pun intended.) Thanks in advance for your replies.
Regards from NH,
Mark
mkibler@unity.edu
One possibility would be to use a Sparkfun datalogger
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8627
and a Parallax GPS module, sending the GPS data through the UART into the datalogger. Here's two reasons why that wouldn't be that great an idea:
1 - the SD cards pop out of the dataloggers when the ejection charge goes off. Ask me how I know.
2 - The Parallax GPS module is kinda borderline on the sensitivity needed for this kind of project.
A better idea would be to use EEPROM for your datalogging (because there's no card to pop out), and a more sensitive GPS receiver like this one:
http://www.byonics.com/tinytrak/gps.php
(Byonics GPS2 or 3, depending on how you want to hook it up: same receiver either way). Sparkfun also has a variety of more sensitive GPS receivers. I've been toying with the use of a Byonics Microtrak for rocket tracking, and I've become convinced that you want one of the newer, more sensitive GPS receivers for that purpose. I've got one of the older ones, and while it's fine on the roof or dashboard of a car, it's not so great in a nosecone, especially when a lost track means a lost rocket (in the case of using the Microtrak to transmit the data).
Oh, by the way, you should probably make this a new thread, rather than putting it on the end of this semi-related thread.
'Large' is a full-scale Honest John on an 'O' motor, air-starting to quad M's... or quad 'O's at lift-off! Thanks for the links. I'll check them out.
Are you from Madison? Did we talk last winter about the TARC/SLI team from Mad West...? We met them at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center last April.
Mark
I think that your project should be very doable, at least in the datalogging version. Again, get a good, sensitive GPS receiver. If you get one with a serial (DB9) output (like that GPS2 that I linked to) you'll need to attach a male DB9 connector and bring out the +5v, gnd, and TX lines, since I don't think that the BS2 programming port would provide the power properly (if I'm wrong and it does, you'll still need a gender changer, since it'll be female and the programming port is also). Program the BS2 to read in the GPS data - the sample software for the Parallax GPS module should show you how to do that with any GPS receiver that puts out the NMEA $GPGGA string (most of them will):
http://home.mira.net/~gnb/gps/nmea.html
Nuts and Volts column #83 has some good stuff on this.
Take whichever data you need, and use the WRITE command to write them to EEPROM. You'll also need your program to have a "Read data" option so that you can read out the data to your computer after the flight. I'm not sure what the easiest way to do that is, but I'll bet someone here has a brilliant and easy way.
If you were doing anything other than GPS data, you'd probably need to mess with some kind of timekeeping device as well. But with GPS data, you can just write out the time data from the NMEA string. It'll give you one second accuracy, which is all you're going to get from the GPS receiver anyway (the vast majority of them seem to output their data 1x/second). You're certainly not going to get all sorts of GPS data every 10th of a second on the way up, or anything like that, but it won't matter.
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