Email: info@sparqee.com

SparqEE GPS

This product is no longer being sold/supported by SparqEE.

SparqEE GPSv1.0

Special Features:

GPS Development Board

Power/IO: 2.5-6V

The GPSv1.0 is provided as a wide input range GPS development board. Most development environments provide a 3.3V output but sometimes utilize higher voltage I/O lines (Arduino is 5V I/O, Raspberry Pi is 3.3V I/O). This board can support any voltage I/O lines up to 6V.

Purchase

Forum

Datasheet

Power

Supply voltage range: 2.5-6V

Physical

23mm x 40mm (0.91″ x 1.57″)

Operating Temperature

-40°C to +85°C

Pin Assignment:

Pin	Function	Optional/Required	Voltage	I/O
GND	Ground connection	Required	0	I
RX	Receive	Required	2.5-6V	I
TX	Transmit	Required	2.5-6V	O
2.5-6V	Power input	Required	2.5-6V	I
EN	Enable power module	Required	2.5-6V	I

Code:

Arduino

Download Code

Connect the following pins:

Pin	#	Function	Procedure	Voltage	I/O	Arduino
GND	1	Ground connection	Static connect	0	I	GND
TX	3	Transmit	UART communication	5V (2.5-6V)	I	RX
2.5-6V	4	Power input	Static connect	5V (2.5-6V)	I	3.3V
EN	5	Enable power module	Static connect	5V (2.5-6V)	I	3.3V

Note: Since the GPS board uses TX/RX on the Arduino board, it must be unplugged from the Arduino board when programming.

The following is GPS output before it attains a lock. You’ll see mostly commas, especially noting the GPGGA line which does not contain required coordinates:

$GPGGA,080325.199,,,,,0,00,,,M,0.0,M,,0000*5B
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*1E
$GPRMC,080325.199,V,,,,,,,240314,,,N*40
$GPGGA,080326.199,,,,,0,00,,,M,0.0,M,,0000*58
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*1E
$GPRMC,080326.199,V,,,,,,,240314,,,N*43
$GPGGA,080327.199,,,,,0,00,,,M,0.0,M,,0000*59
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*1E
$GPRMC,080327.199,V,,,,,,,240314,,,N*42
$GPGGA,080328.199,,,,,0,00,,,M,0.0,M,,0000*56
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*1E
$GPRMC,080328.199,V,,,,,,,240314,,,N*4D
$GPGGA,080329.199,,,,,0,00,,,M,0.0,M,,0000*57
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*1E
$GPGSV,3,1,12,02,14,214,29,04,64,182,24,05,00,000,21,10,00,000,23*7E
$GPGSV,3,2,12,12,03,334,26,08,57,094,,23,52,187,,27,52,110,*76
$GPGSV,3,3,12,03,36,332,,09,32,128,,24,27,212,,17,26,350,*7B

GPS output once lock is attained. GPGGA coordinates filled in versus the commas seen above, for example $GPGGA,031350.000,3355.3471,N,11751.7128,W. The third and fourth fields denote valid Latitude and the fifth and sixth fields denote a valid Longitude.

$GPGSA,A,3,17,09,28,08,26,07,15,,,,,,2.4,1.4,1.9*.6,1.7,2.0*3C
$GPRMC,031349.000,A,3355.3471,N,11751.7128,W,0.00,143.39,210314,,,A*76
$GPGGA,031350.000,3355.3471,N,11751.7128,W,1,06,1.7,112.2,M,-33.7,M,,0000*6F
$GPGSA,A,3,17,09,28,08,07,15,,,,,,,2.6,1.7,2.0*3C
$GPGSV,3,1,12,17,67,201,30,09,62,112,28,28,57,022,21,08,55,104,20*7E
$GPGSV,3,2,12,07,25,124,22,15,24,302,30,11,17,052,26,26,49,262,05*73
$GPGSV,3,3,12,30,51,112,31,57,31,122,,01,24,073,,04,05,176,*7E
$GPRMC,031350.000,A,3355.3471,N,11741.7128,W,0.00,143.39,210314,,,A*7E
$GPGGA,031351.000,3355.3471,N,11741.7128,W,1,07,1.4,112.2,M,-33.7,M,,0000*6C

Raspberry Pi - 2nd UART - BitBang/Software Serial

You can use the standard Raspberry Pi UART and functions to capture GPS data over the HW UART or, as demonstrated below, you can use the Raspberry Pi to “Bit Bang” or port “Software Serial” rather than the Hardware one.

The below software Serial port utilizes the great PIGPIO which you can download and install for free at the following URL:
http://abyz.co.uk/rpi/pigpio/download.html

Here’s the file I used from their site and the installation on the Raspberry Pi:

Download PIGPIO Library

wget abyz.co.uk/rpi/pigpio/pigpio.zip
unzip pigpio.zip
cd PIGPIO
make
sudo make install

#!/usr/bin/python

import sys
import time
import difflib
import pigpio

RX=18

try:
        pi = pigpio.pi()
        pi.set_mode(RX, pigpio.INPUT)
        pi.bb_serial_read_open(RX, 9600, 8)

        print "DATA - SOFTWARE SERIAL:"
        while 1:
                (count, data) = pi.bb_serial_read(RX)
                if count:
                        print data
                time.sleep(1)

except:
        pi.bb_serial_read_close(RX)
        pi.stop()