Hooking up and using the new GPS

GeorgeL

Im going to be ordering the new GPS unit I have been waiting for a few weeks to come. Does anyone know how to get GPS cordinates from it and send to the DEBUG window?

Franklin

Have you looked on the product page to see if there are any example code?

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
- Stephen

Clive Wakeham

http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/src/prod/GPSDemoV1.1.zip

Demo program for the BS2

GeorgeL

The only refrence material for the http://www.parallax.com/Store/Sensors/CompassGPS/tabid/173/ProductID/560/List/1/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,ProductName is how to hookup. There is no code availible at all.

Chet

you can use Jon W'scode that will allow it to work just like the "full fledged" paralax gps board. There is a lot of overhead extracting the data from the NMEA string, but at the price of using a dedicated SX, that is not a problem.

Regards

Chet

GeorgeL

could you link to it please? thanks.

Wolfbrother

I thought Sony left the GPS chip market sometime last year, guess not. We used this in a couple designs and it's a nice chip and supported WAAS which is really good for error correction as long as it sees one of the two WAAS satellites.

Here's a link to the datasheet for the chip.

http://www.sony.co.jp/~semicon/english/img/sony01/a6808461.pdf

Duffer

From what I can see, it looks like the "new" GPS unit is the same Polstar unit (that uses the Sony chip) that is used on the original Parallax GPS module but without the SX chip·that provides the "smart" mode of operation. Using the "new" GPS unit should be much the same as using the old GPS unit in "raw" mode if you use the TTL serial to communicate with the unit.

I'm not sure that a BS2 would be fast enough (or have enough variable space) to store the NMEA0183 v2.2 strings (GGA, GSV, GSA, and RMC) that are transmitted once every second from the module at 4800 baud. Some of the faster Stamp modules with additional memory space might be able to handle the NMEA string parsing and the SX and Propeller would have no problems with them. The SXB source code (firmware for the embedded SX processor)·is available on the product page for the original Parallax GPS module.

Duffer

iMMOS

What are the differences between the two modules?

GeorgeL

The original is combatible with the BS2, so I am guessing it will work with this one too. I dont need the date and time, just cordinates. Hopefully it works. Would really hate to have to buy more.

hover1

Have a look at this Nuts and Volts article. Jon used a BS2p to talk to an eTrex at 4800 baud in raw mode. The reason he used the BS2p was because of Scratchpad Ram, which the BS2 does not have.

http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/cols/nv/vol3/code/nv83.zip

The original Parallax GPS has a "Smart Mode" in which you "ask" for specific data and only get back what you asked for. The "Raw" mode is constantly putting out GPS strings at 4800 baud. This was selectable on the old module. The BS2 could keep up with the "Smart Mode".

The new GPS module is "Raw" Mode only.

Hope this helps,
Jim

GeorgeL

My goal is to request the GPS cordinates, then over bluetooth, send them to a program I am writting (VB.net)

GeorgeL

Do you think the BS2 will be capable of handling this?

hover1

GeorgeL said...
Do you think the BS2 will be capable of handling this?

After doing a little more reseach, I came accross another post by Jon W. in:

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=464709

"The BASIC Stamp can be used to capture and parse GPS data. When using the BS2p or BS2pe the GPS string can be buffered into the Scratchpad RAM for parsing after capture. When using other modules in the BS2 family members, serial modifiers like WAIT and SKIP are used to capture specific elements from the stream."

I guess that negates what I said in my last post. I guess if you are only looking for certain items in a certain·stream, maybe the BS2 will work.

I also ran across a program in my Parallax downloads that does contain the "Wait" instruction in a BS2 program to extract data from a NMEA 0183 GPRMC statement which includes the data that you are looking for. I'm not sure where I got it, but I will attach it.

............

Just found the source of the article:

www.parallax.com/dl/docs/article/GPSReadings.pdf

I think I extracted the .bs2 data from the PDF, (copy/paste), and I have not tried it yet, but it's a good start. Not sure where the BSLA comes in, but I will find out when I hook it up with my BLSA.

This would be nice to get this working as I have a Propeller chip dedicated to processing raw data right now. I have 10 variations of BS2 chips and boards that are waiting for new projects, and the Propeller would be better served elsewhere, and it would be nice to use the cheaper GPS unit.

I am out of time this weekend to try some stuff, but may jump on it next weekend.

As for BlueTooth, I'm not there yet. Just looking at the new Easy Bluetooth Module from Parallax, but that a few months away.

Regards,
Jim

GeorgeL

I already have the PING))) sensor and the older Bluetooth. Got the free from Parallax's Customer Application. Anyways, I hope the BS2 works. Looked at the code and that should do it. I may even be able to requeest the whole string and just have the computer interpret it. I will probobly switch to proppeler either way soon( a few months).

GeorgeL

Just got the chip. Wondering if anyone could help me figure out how to hook it up.

GeorgeL

Solved. See my guide.