iSXblue/SXBlue II GNSS Series Technical Reference Manual
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3.
Advanced Operations
This chapter introduces the general operational features of the iSXBlue/SXBlue II and configuration
procedures.
3.1
Communicating with the iSXBlue/SXBlue II Receiver
The iSXBlue/SXBlue II features three communication ports that may be configured independently from
each other (Bluetooth, Serial and USB). The ports may be configured for any mixture of NMEA 0183,
binary, and RTCM SC-104 data. The usual data output is limited to NMEA data messages since these are
industry standard. When sending commands to configure the iSXBlue/SXBlue II, these ports are referred
to as:
•
Port A (Bluetooth)
•
Port B (Serial)
•
Port C (USB)
Note - If you require different data types to be output from the iSXBlue/SXBlue simultaneously
(such as NMEA and binary or NMEA and RTCM), ensure that the software used for logging and
processing of the data has been designed to correctly parse the different data types from the single
stream of data. Alternatively, you may also use any two ports to separate the different data types
and also set them at different output rates if needed.
3.1.1
NMEA 0183 Interface
NMEA 0183 is a communications standard established by the National Marine Electronics Association
(NMEA) and provides data definitions for a variety of navigation and related equipment. Such
instruments supported include gyrocompasses, Loran receivers, echo sounders, GPS receivers, and more.
NMEA functionality is virtually standard on all GPS equipment available. NMEA has an ASCII
character format that allows you to read the data via terminal software on the receiving device (if
possible). One second of example NMEA data from the iSXBlue/SXBlue II GNSS follows:
$GPGGA,141823.00,4536.79732,N,07333.95861,W,2,09,1.0,49.6,M,-32.4,M,5.4,0313*4E
$GPVTG,151.61,T,,M,0.08,N,0.15,K,D*36
$GPZDA,141823.00,9,7,2004,00,00*63
$GPGSA,M,3,06,08,10,17,18,21,24,26,29,,,,1.7,1.0,1.3*31
$GPGSV,3,1,11,06,40,234,48,08,18,056,42,10,43,066,45,16,00,319,*7F
$GPGSV,3,2,11,17,43,121,45,18,21,264,45,21,39,304,45,24,10,125,45*7E
$GPGSV,3,3,11,26,69,160,48,27,07,031,39,29,73,109,45,,,,*45
The iSXBlue/SXBlue II supports a variety of standard and proprietary NMEA messages and commands.
You may configure a selection of NMEA 0183 data messages on one port at various update rates (each
message has a maximum update rate) using proprietary commands to activate them. Since the ports are
fully independent you configure a different selection of NMEA 0183 messages with different rates on
another other port.
Chapter 5 presents information relating to the NMEA interface of the iSXBlue/SXBlue II series.
Appendix D - Resources provides contact information, should you wish to purchase a copy of the NMEA
0183 standard.
