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EVA-M8M - Hardware Integration Manual

UBX-14006179 - R02

Early Production Information

Design-in

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2.11.3

Placement

A very important factor in achieving maximum GNSS performance is the placement of the receiver on the PCB.
The connection to the antenna must be as short as possible to avoid jamming into the very sensitive RF section.
Make sure that RF critical circuits are clearly separated from any other digital circuits on the system board. To
achieve this, position the receiver digital part towards your digital section of the system PCB. Care must also be
exercised with placing the receiver in proximity to circuitry that can emit heat. The RF part of the receiver is very
sensitive to temperature and sudden changes can have an adverse impact on performance.

High temperature drift and air vents can affect the GNSS performance. For best performance avoid high
temperature drift and air vents near the module.

2.12

Migration considerations

EVA-M8M series is the successor of the EVA-7M. u-blox is committed to ensuring that products in the same
form factor are backwards compatible over several technology generations. Utmost care has been taken to
ensure there is no negative impact on function or performance and to make u-blox M8 modules as fully
compatible as possible with u-blox 7 versions. No limitations of the standard features have resulted. If using
BeiDou, check the bandwidth of the external RF components and the antenna. For power consumption
information, see the

EVA-M8M Data Sheet

[1].

In contrast to EVA-7M, the EVA-M8M series provides flash firmware update capabilities when connecting an
external SQI flash memory device. In addition, the SQI Flash memory allows for the usage of data logging and
increases AssistNow Offline and Autonomous performances. More information and recommendations for using
an external SQI flash see section 2.2.5. It is highly advisable that customers consider a design review with the u-
blox support team to ensure the compatibility of key functionalities.

For an overall description of the module software operation, see the

u-blox M8 Receiver Description

Including Protocol Specification

[2].

For migration, see the

u-blox 7 to u-blox M8 Software Migration Guide

[6].

2.12.1

C88-M8M - Evaluating EVA-M8M on existing NEO-xM sockets

The C88-M8M GNSS application board is designed for easier  evaluation and design-in of u-blox EVA-M8M
modules  in existing  NEO-xM  modules  based products.  The C88-M8M  series  integrates the EVA-M8M GNSS
modules  into a NEO  form factor adaptor board (i.e. with the same dimensions and pinout  as the NEO-6M,
NEO-7M and NEO-M8M).  The C88-M8M  application board allows straightforward integration  of the u-blox
EVA-M8M modules in customers’ existing end products based on the u-blox NEO GNSS modules. It enables fast
verification of the EVA-M8M functionalities and performances before the design-in.

Schematic of C88-M8M is available upon request.

NEO-6M

C88-M8M

Pin Name

Typical Assignment

Pin Name

Typical Assignment

Remarks for Migration

RESERVED

SAFEBOOT_N
(Leave open)

RESERVED

SAFEBOOT_N
(Leave open)