ultimate gps and pc serial port

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bilsch
 
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ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by bilsch »

Has anyone tried using the ultimate gps module on a standard pc serial port?

All I get from minicom is a bunch of jibberish

I have verified the serial config in minicom - 9600 8n1 no flow control

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tastewar
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by tastewar »

I know all the doc says 9600 and that seems to be standard now for gps, but have you tried any other rates? 4800 was standard for gps for a long time; I've seen 19200...

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bilsch
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by bilsch »

I did try other rates out of curiosity however i know for sure it is 9600

With the ftdi adapter 9600 8n1 works but I want to use the hardware serial port on a linux x86_64 box

Out of curiosity I tried another usb to serial adapter ( olllld adapter :-> ) I get the same thing - just a bunch of jibberish

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bilsch
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by bilsch »

I'm not sure if using a multimeter will be accurate enough but thought it worth a shot.

So, when I hook the positive end of my multimeter to the tx out from the gps I see it get to around 3 volts. Is it possible the hardware serial adapter is giving me garbage because the signal voltage is too low?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232#Voltage_levels
Valid signals are either in the range of +3 to +15 volts or the range -3 to -15 volts; the range between -3 to +3 volts is not a valid RS-232 level

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tastewar
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by tastewar »

Sounds quite plausible. There's a link to a little board that would help in this thread:

http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=32437

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Yes a TTL to serial adapter is needed for interfacing with an RS232 serial port. The signal voltages on RS232 can cause damage to the GPS module.

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bilsch
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by bilsch »

Yes a TTL to serial adapter is needed for interfacing with an RS232 serial port. The signal voltages on RS232 can cause damage to the GPS module.
What is the voltage of the gps module and what voltage is a pc serial port? Assuming the voltage off of rs232 serial port is higher than the gps module I suppose I could try to limit the voltage?

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tastewar
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by tastewar »

But you have to boost the voltage in the other direction. There's a whole family of chips (e.g. MAX232) that bi-directionally convert between TTL level voltages and RS-232 levels. That little board I linked to (here it is again: http://www.suntekstore.com/goods-140026 ... oard_.html) has the support circuitry built-in, which is nice, but it's a crappy little thing otherwise. I went through 3 of them trying to solder wires to the little pads, and having the pads lift off the board :-/

Hence my asking if Adafruit would consider producing a similar product. Cause their stuff rocks.

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bilsch
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by bilsch »

tastewar,

I completely missed your previous posting thanks I'll see if I can dig one of those up!

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bilsch
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by bilsch »

tastewar,

That maxim chip would very likely resolve the rx/tx side of the equation ( my only stated need in this thread ;) ) but since this is for a gps unit I plan to also use pps as a part of the time sync for additional accuracy.

Oddly, with pps connected to the cts pin on the ftdi board I don't actually get the pulse registered in the kernel pps driver. I'm going to try out the gpio approach on my pi but my C foo is ... well, very very limited so far. i had posted on this previously and no one responded :-< ( http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.ph ... i+gpio+pps )

Thanks for the hint about the maxim chip!

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tastewar
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by tastewar »

I wonder if this tutorial, that I bookmarked earlier for myself, would help. It talks about using the GPIO serial port. Definitely avoids the need for level shifting!

http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-ulti ... ead-of-usb

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bilsch
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by bilsch »

I wonder if this tutorial, that I bookmarked earlier for myself, would help. It talks about using the GPIO serial port. Definitely avoids the need for level shifting!
Yes, that does work though note they are not touching the pps side of the equasion.

Here are the links I'm looking over:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 8&p=129224
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 06#p142606

It seems as though others have had the same idea re using the pi and gpio for the pps ( and hardware serial uart for comms ).

Curious this has not been merged in to the raspberry pi kernel yet. Guess if I can get it working I'll send a pull request.

ropesca
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by ropesca »

I have the same problem: I need to attach this GPS to a serial port on a PC to sync the clock, it means I need to use the PPS output. Wouldn't this converter work? http://www.adafruit.com/products/395

I just found RS232 to TTL with 4 pins (RX, TX, VCC, GND). How can I use the PPS pin with serial port (RS232)?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Stepping back for a second, how will the PC recognize the pulse once you have the wiring right?

ropesca
 
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Re: ultimate gps and pc serial port

Post by ropesca »

I imagine it would work the same way that others GPS work: connecting PPS pulse to pin 1 RS232. No?
adafruit_support_mike wrote:Stepping back for a second, how will the PC recognize the pulse once you have the wiring right?

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