GPS-RTK Hookup Guide a learn.sparkfun.com tutorial
Available online at: http://sfe.io/t814
Introduction
The NEO-M8P-2 module is the top-of-the-line module for high accuracy GNSS and GPS location solutions including RTK. The NEO-M8P-2 is unique in that it is capable of both rover and base station operations. The ‘-2’ designation means this module has survey-in mode allowing the module to become a base station and produce RTCM 3.x correction data. From here on we will refer to the module as NEO-M8P but it should not be confused with the NEO-M8P-0 module (which is not able to produce RTCM data).
Suggested Reading
What is GPS RTK?
Getting Started with U-Center
Before getting started be sure to checkout our What is GPS RTK? tutorial and if you want to pre-read a bit have a look at our Getting Started with U-Center.
Hardware Overview
Communication Ports
The NEO-M8P-2 in unique in that it has four communication ports which are all active simultaneously. You can read NMEA data over I2C while you send configuration commands over the UART and vice/versa. The only limit is that the SPI pins are mapped onto the I2C and UART pins so it’s either SPI or I2C+UART. The USB port is available at all times.
USB
The microB connector makes it easy to connect the NEO-M8P to u-center for configuration and quick viewing of NMEA sentences. It is also possible to connect a Raspberry Pi or other SBC over USB. The NEO-M8P enumerates as a serial COM port and is a seperate serial port from the UART interface. See Getting Started with U-Center for more information about getting the USB port to be a serial comm port.
A 3.3V regulator is provided to regulate the 5V USB down to 3.3V the module requires. External 5V can be applied or a direct feed of 3.3V can be provided. Note that if you’re provide the board with 3.3V directly it should be a clean supply with minimal noise (less than 50mV VPP ripple is ideal for precision locating).
I2C (a.k.a DDC)
The u-blox NEO-M8P has a “DDC” port which is really just an I2C port (without all the fuss of trademark issues). All features are accessible over the I2C ports including reading NMEA sentences, sending UBX configuration strings, piping RTCM data into the module, etc. We’ve written a handful of sketches and an Arduino library to aid in using the NEO-M8P over I2C a snap.
UART/Serial
The classic serial pins are available on the NEO-M8P but are shared with the SPI pins. Because USB covers most serial needs we didn’t label the UART pins explicitly. By default the UART pins are enabled. Be sure the DSEL jumper on the rear of the board is open.
- MISO = TX out from NEO-M8P
- MOSI = RX into NEO-M8P
SPI
The NEO-M8P can also be configured for SPI communication. By default the SPI port is disable. To enable SPI close the DSEL jumper on the rear of the board. Closing this jumper will disable the UART and I2C interfaces.
Control Pins
This pins are used for various extra control of the NEO-M8P:
- FENCE : Geofence output pin. Configured with U-Center. Will go high or low when a geofence is setup. Useful for triggering alarms and actions when the module exits a programmed perimeter.
- RTK: RTK output pin. Remains high when module is normal GPS mode. Begins blinking when RTCM corrections are received and module enters RTK float mode. Goes low when module enters RTK fixed mode and begins outputting cm-level accurate locations.
- PPS: Pulse-per-second output pin. Begins blinking at 1Hz when module gets basic GPS/GNSS position lock.
- RST: Reset input pin. Pull this line low to reset the module.
- SAFE: Safeboot input pin. This is required for firmware updates to the module and generally should not be used or connected.
- INT: Interrupt input/output pin. Can be configured using U-Center to bring the module out of deep sleep or to output an interrupt for various module states.
Antenna
The NEO-M8P requires a good quality GPS or GNSS (preferred) antenna. A U.FL connector is provided. Note: U.FL connectors are rated for only a few mating cycles (about 30) so we recommend you set it and forget it. A U.FL to SMA cable threaded through the mounting hole provides a robust connection that is also easy to disconnect at the SMA connection if needed. Low-cost magnetic GPS/GNSS antennas can be used (checkout the ublox white paper) but a 4” / 10cm metal disc is required to be placed under the antenna as a ground plane.
LEDs
The power (PWR) LED will illuminate when 3.3V is activated either over USB or via the Qwiic bus.
The pulse per second (PPS) LED will illuminate with each successful update once a position lock has been achieved.
The RTK LED will be illuminated constantly upon power up. Once RTCM data has been successfully received it will begin to blink. This is a good way to see if the NEO-M8P is getting RTCM from various sources.
The FENCE LED can be configured to turn on/off for geofencing applications.
Jumpers
Closing DSEL enables the SPI interface and disables the UART and I2C interfaces. USB will still function.
Cutting the I2C jumper will remove the 2.2k Ohm jumpers from the I2C bus. If you have many devices on your I2C bus you may want to remove these jumpers. Not sure how to cut a jumper? Read here!
Jumpers JP1, JP2, JP3, are provided on the rear of the board to allow isolation of the various status LEDs.
Backup Battery
The MS621FE rechargeable battery maintains the battery backed RAM (BBR) on the NEO-M8P. This allows for much faster position locks. The BBR is also used for module configuration retention. The battery is automatically trickle charged when power is applied and should maintain settings and GNSS orbit data for up to two weeks without power.
Connecting an Antenna
U.FL connectors are very good but they are a designed to be implemented inside a small embedded application like a laptop. Exposing a U.FL connector to the wild risks it getting damaged. To prevent damaging the U.FL connection we recommend threading the U.FL cable through the stand-off hole, then attach the U.FL connectors. This will provide a great stress relief for the antenna connection. Now attach your SMA antenna of choice.
Be careful: U.FL connectors are easily damaged. Make sure the connectors are aligned, flush face to face (not at an angle), then press down using a rigid blunt edge such as the edge of a PCB or point of a small flat head screwdriver.
If you’re indoors you must run a SMA extension cable long enough to locate the antenna where it has a clear view of the sky. That means no trees, buildings, walls, vehicles, or concrete metally things between the antenna and the sky. Be sure to mount the antenna on a 4”/10cm metal ground plate to increase reception.
Connecting the GPS-RTK to a Correction Source
Before you go out into the field it’s good to understand how to get RTCM data and how to pipe it to the GPS-RTK. For this example we will show how to get correction data from the UNAVCO network, pull that data in using RTKLIB, and pipe it down over serial to the GPS-RTK.
You will need:
- GPS-RTK
- GPS or GNSS Antenna
- Metal Plate of 4” or larger
- SMA extension cable (if needed to get a clear view of the sky)
- microB cable x 2
- Serial Basic
- A few jumper wires
Software:
- Credentials with a free RTCM provider such as UNAVCO
- U-Center
- Download and unzip RTKLIB. We will be using 2.4.2.
UNAVCO has fairly good coverage in the USA. Using their interactive map find a station that is near your location. It’s ok if it is more than 10km (6 miles) away, we’re just practicing.
Site P041 is pretty close to SparkFun HQ. We’ll be using it. To access UNAVCO data feeds you will need to send an email to rtgps@unavco.org to request credentials. Let UNAVCO know if you are affiliated with any business, school or organization and if you are using the account for personal use. Access to UNAVCO is free; I believe they need this information for reporting on their grant funding.
Once you have your UNAVCO credentials open RTKLIB (in Windows run rtklaunch.exe).
This small window allows you to launch the various RTK programs. For this tutorial we’ll be using RTKNAVI, the second button from the right.
RTKNAVI allows you to connect to RTCM feeds from various providers, including UNAVCO. Click on the small “I” button.
From the input stream window click the check box next to ‘Base Station’, select NTRIP Client from the dropdown, and the RTCM 3 format. Next click on the small three dots under Opt - this will open the NTRIP client configuration options.
Enter the UNAVCO domain, port, and credentials that you were issued. Next click on the Ntrip button. This will launch the Ntrip browser so that we can located the P041 station.
Ntrip browser allows you to connect to different providers and view what streams are available. I wish it was as simple as being able to search for ALL the RTCM streams near a given location but no option currently exists. Instead, we must connect to each provider and see what locations they provide, and what type of correction streams are produced by a given location. Remember, the NEO-M8P only works with RTCM 3.x.
This list is quite large and we’re looking for P041 so click on the Mountpoint column header to sort the list alphabetically.
Once we have P041 located, we want the RTCM feed so copy and paste that mountpoint back into RTKNAVI into the ‘Mountpoint’ box. Once you’ve entered all your credentials and mountpoint click OK to close the NTRIP Client Options window. You can also close the Ntrip browser.
The input stream should be configured so click OK in the Input Stream window to complete configuration. Click ‘Start’ from the RTKNAVI window to test the connection to the UNAVCO server.
Success! We are receiving a stream. Now we need to output this data. Click the L button for ‘Logging’.
We want to log the Base Station stream to the serial port so now is a good time to connect your Serial Basic or FTDI board. Once the board enumerates you should have a new serial port. If you run into problems or need drivers checkout the Serial Basic Hookup Guide.
Click the ‘…’ button to configure your serial port. Note that you’ll need to select the same baud rate as your GPS-RTK module is configured for. By default the NEO-M8P communicates at 9600bps 8-N-1 so use this setting. Once you have things configured properly the TX LED on the Serial basic should blink once per second indicating the UNAVCO server is pushing data all the way down to the TX pin on the Serial Basic.
The RTCM pipe is complete, now we need to connect the “last inch” to the NEO-M8P.
Time to power up up the GPS-RTK board. Attach a microB cable to the GPS-RTK board. The power LED should illuminate. Open the U-Center software from Ublox. Be sure to read Getting Started with U-Center if you haven’t already. Thankfully, the NEO-M8P’s default configuration allows it to receive RTCM correction data without any further changes. All you need to do is feed the NEO-M8P with serial data and it will begin calculating the high precision location solution.
Select the correct COM port and begin viewing the NMEA data. You should have a position lock very quickly. Once the PPS LED begins to blink you are ready to start piping RTCM data to the GPS-RTK board.
The Serial Basic board should still be blinking once a second with RTCM data from the UNAVCO server. Using two jumper wires connect GND on the Serial Basic to GND on the GPS-RTK. Next, connect TXO to the MOSI pin on the GPS-RTK. The MOSI pin is the RX UART pin by default (when DSEL jumper is open). Jumper wires without solder are obviously a precarious setup but we’re just testing things out. Arrange things so the connection is semi-permanent. Within a few seconds you should see the RTK LED begin to blink. Congratulations! Your GPS module has entered RTK float mode. When the RTK LED turns off completely then the module has solved the carrier ambiguities and entered RTK fixed mode and is outputting centimeter level positions!
Once you have the GPS-RTK receiving RTCM correction data successfully you can begin plan how to obtain and deliver the RTCM data to the GPS-RTK. The options are vast and varied:
- It is possible to pull get Ntrip data on an Android app and pipe it over a Bluetooth serial device like the Bluetooth Mate Silver. It’s trivial to connect a Bluetooth serial device to the GPS-RTK serial pins.
- If you need maximum portability a radio link can be the lowest power, smallest footprint. SparkFun offers a variety of LoRa radios and antennas. With the help of a microcontroller these radios can pipe data from the LoRa backhaul over an Qwiic I2C port, serial, even SPI.
- If your end application already requires an internet connection such as GSM or LTE-CAT then a microcontroller could feasibly connect to an Ntrip server over the internet then pipe the RTCM data over a serial or an I2C connection on the GPS-RTK.
GPS-RTK Arduino Library
The GPS-RTK Arduino library enables the reading of NMEA data over I2C as well as sending binary UBX configuration commands over I2C. This is helpful for configuring advanced modules like the NEO-M8P-2.
The SparkFun Ublox Arduino library can be downloaded with the Arduino library manager by searching ‘SparkFun Ublox’ or you can grab the zip here:
SparkFun Ublox Arduino Library (ZIP)
Once you have the library installed checkout the various examples.
- Example1: Read NMEA sentences over I2C using Ublox module SAM-M8Q, NEO-M8P, etc
- Example2: Parse NMEA sentences using MicroNMEA library. This example also demonstrates how to overwrite the
processNMEAfunction so that you can direct the incoming NMEA characters from the Ublox module to any library, display, radio, etc that you prefer. - Example3: Send UBX binary commands to enable RTCM sentences on Ublox NEO-M8P-2 module. This example is one of the steps required to setup the NEO-M8P as a base station. For more information have a look at the Ublox manual for setting up an RTK link.
- Example4: This example extends example 3 sending all the commands to the NEO-M8P-2 to have it operate as a base. Additionally the
processRTCMfunction is exposed. This allows the user to overwrite the function to direct the RTCM bytes to whatever connection the user would like (radio, serial, etc).
NMEA and RTK
Can I really use NMEA with a high precision GPS receiver?
Yes! Except that NMEA sentences are right on the edge of enough precision. NMEA sentences look something like this
$GNGGA,012911.00,4003.19080,N,10416.95542,W,1,12,0.75,1647.1,M,-21.3,M,,*4F
NMEA outputs coordinates in the ddmm.mmmmm format. So what is the weight of the least significant digit? Said differently, what is the impact of one digit change?
104 16.95542
vs
104 16.95543
If we know 1 degree of latitude is 111.3km at the equator we can glean the change of a fraction of a minute:
- 1 degree = 60 minutes
- 1 minute = 1 degree/60 = 111.32km / 60 = 1.855km
- 1 minute = 1855m
- 0.1min = 185.5m
- 0.01min = 18.55m
- 0.001min = 1.855m
- 0.0001min = .1855m = 185.5mm
- 0.00001min = 0.0185m = 18.55mm = 1.855cm
Using NMEA sentence the NEO-M8P will only be able to communicate a change of ~1.5cm location change for each digit in the 5th position. This is pretty close to the 2.5cm accuracy of the module. If you want additional precision you should consider using the UBX protocol which can output up to 8 digits of precision in dd.dddddddd format which will get you down to 1.11mm of precision.
Resources and Going Further
Have fun with your new found super power: sub decimeter grade GPS!
Building an Autonomous Vehicle: The Batmobile
Getting Started with U-Center
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