Low cost receiver
Prototype
pg. 8
Low-Cost SBAS Receiver Design (SkyTraq Venus 838) - 25/02/2020
This document describes Open Hardware and is licensed under the CERN OHL v. 1.2.
You may redistribute and modify this documentation under the terms of the CERN OHL v. 1.2. (
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FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Please see the CERN OHL v. 1.2 for applicable conditions
4.
Setup and Operation
You should now have a functioning SkyTraq Venus 838 GNSS receiver, which has been configured to use corrections from
the Australia and New Zealand SBAS Test signals, using PRN 122. Once powered on, you can now pair to the HC-06
bluetooth module using a PC or Android phone. If connecting via PC, you will now be able to configure the device and log
messages via Bluetooth. Once you have paired the HC-06, you can check the Bluetooth COM
port using “Bluetooth settings”
.
As shown in the image below, you should now see both an incoming and outgoing connection to the device:
You can then use GNSS viewer to connect to the board via this bluetooth COM port. From there you can wirelessly query and
configure the device, monitor location information or log data to a file. This COM port should mirror serial messages from the
SkyTraq to any other software with a real-time receiver input, including GIS software, NMEA logging applications, or Android
Apps. On Android, many apps have in-built support for bluetooth GNSS receivers, however some may require the use of a
“Mock Location” sourced from an app that can take a bluetooth receiver input to function properly.
5.
Troubleshooting
The most common issue when constructing this receiver is mis-configured baudrate between the HC-06 and the SkyTraq
board. If they do not match, the communications will not work as expected in either direction. A simple way to test whether
this has been done correctly is to use the
“Bluetooth Serial Terminal” windows app, available on the windows app store.
Once you have paired the HC-06, you can select it from the drop-
down list, and press “connect”.
If you see the NMEA
sentences that you have configured the board to output, then everything is working as expected. If there is no output or the
content is not readable once connected, there may be a baud-rate mismatch, or the HC-06 Rx and Tx may be plugged into
the wrong pin on the SkyTraq. If there are connectivity issues via Bluetooth, try configuring the SkyTraq via USB instead.
For further troubleshooting advice, get in touch with
the positioning team at FrontierSI, and they will do
their best to help.
6.
Contact Information
If you would like to discuss the design or assembly
process of this Low-Cost SBAS Receiver based on the
SkyTraq Venus 838FLPx Evaluation kit, please get in
touch with Chris Marshall at FrontierSI.
Chris Marshall
Licensed under CERN Open Hardware License v. 1.2,
for more information, please read the supporting
documentation included in the package.
Please contact Chris Marshall with information about
manufactured products under this license, and any
modifications made by the Licensee.
