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  LEA-6 / NEO-6 / MAX-6 - Hardware Integration Manual 

UBX-14054794 

Production Information 

Design-in 

 

 

Page 42 of 85

 

–For the correct calculation of the micro strip impedance, one does not only need to consider the distance 
between the top and the first inner layer but also the distance between the micro strip and the adjacent GND 
plane on the same layer 

 

Use the Coplanar Waveguide model for the calculation of the micro strip. 

 

 

Figure 39: Micro strip on a 2-layer board (Agilent AppCAD Coplanar Waveguide) 

Figure 39 shows an example of a 2-layer FR4 board with 1.6 mm thickness and a 35 µm (1 ounce) copper 
cladding. The thickness of the micro strip is comprised of the cladding (35µm) plus the plated copper (typically 
25µm). Figure 40 is an example of a multi layer FR4 board with 18 µm (½ ounce) cladding and 180 µ dielectric 
between layer 1 and 2. 

 

Figure 40: Micro strip on a multi layer board (Agilent AppCAD Coplanar Waveguide) 

2.6

 

Antenna and antenna supervisor  

u-blox 6 modules receive L1 band signals from GPS and GALILEO satellites at a nominal frequency of 
1575.42 MHz. The RF signal is connected to the 

RF_IN

 pin. 

u-blox 6 modules can be connected to passive or active antennas. 

 

For u-blox 6 receivers, the total preamplifier gain (minus cable and interconnect losses) must not exceed 
50 dB. Total noise figure should be below 3 dB. 

u-blox 6 Technology supports short circuit protection of the active antenna and an active antenna supervisor 
circuit (open and short circuit detection). For further information refer to 

Section 2.6.2).

 

Summary of Contents for LEA-6

Page 1: ...modules featuring the u blox 6 positioning engine These compact easy to integrate stand alone positioning modules combine exceptional performance with highly flexible power design and connectivity opt...

Page 2: ...er ROM FLASH version LEA 6H All LEA 6H 0 002 FW6 02 FW 7 01 FW 7 03 FW1 00 LEA 6N All FW1 00 LEA 6S All ROM6 02 ROM7 03 LEA 6A All ROM6 02 ROM7 03 LEA 6T 0 All ROM6 02 ROM7 03 LEA 6T 1 All FW 7 03 LEA...

Page 3: ...ning to the end The following symbols are used to highlight important information within the manual An index finger points out key information pertaining to chipset integration and performance A warni...

Page 4: ...interrupt pin 16 1 7 3 AADET_N LEA 6 16 1 7 4 Configuration pins LEA 6S 6A NEO 6 16 1 7 5 Second time pulse for LEA 6T 0 and LEA 6T 1 16 1 7 6 TX ready signal FW 7 0x 17 1 7 7 ANTOFF NEO 6 17 1 7 8 An...

Page 5: ...na control NEO 6 52 2 6 9 External active antenna control MAX 6 53 2 6 10 GPS antenna placement for LEA 6R 53 3 Product handling 54 3 1 Packaging shipping storage and moisture preconditioning 54 3 1 1...

Page 6: ...u blox 6 GPS receiver 70 B 2 2 Software migration from 6 02 to 7 03 71 B 2 3 Software migration from 7 03 to FW1 00 GLONASS GPS QZSS 71 B 3 Hardware Migration 71 B 3 1 Hardware Migration ANTARIS 4 u b...

Page 7: ...ser or third parties or that could cause damage to goods 1 2 Architecture u blox 6 LCC modules consist of two functional parts the RF and the Baseband sections See Figure 1 for block diagrams of the m...

Page 8: ...arge 1 3 1 2 V_BCKP backup battery In case of a power failure on pin VCC the real time clock and backup RAM are supplied through pin V_BCKP This enables the u blox 6 receiver to recover from a power f...

Page 9: ...ir ephemeris In non cold starts u blox 6 focuses on searching for visible satellites whose orbits are known from the Almanac In Eco mode the u blox 6 acquisition engine limits use of its searching res...

Page 10: ...eet 11 1 6 2 USB LEA 6 NEO 6 The u blox 6 Universal Serial Bus USB interface supports the full speed data rate of 12 Mbit s 1 6 2 1 USB external components The USB interface requires some external com...

Page 11: ...about the DDC interface is available in Appendix C 1 u blox 6 GPS receivers normally run in I 2 C slave mode Master Mode is only supported when external EEPROM is used to store configuration No other...

Page 12: ...onnecting external serial I2 C memory used by external host see data sheet for exact pin orientation Note that the case shown on Figure 4 is different than the case when EEPROM is present but used by...

Page 13: ...The SPI allows for the connection of external devices with a serial interface e g FLASH memories or A D converters or to interface to a host CPU LEA 6R includes a Serial Peripheral Interface SPI for...

Page 14: ...es than those listed in Table 4 with u blox 6 receivers 1 6 4 2 SPI communication connecting to an SPI master NEO 6 Figure 7 shows how to connect a u blox GPS receiver to a host master The signal on t...

Page 15: ...abled by the CS_N signal make sure that the GPS receiver starts up with a known defined configuration since the SPI pins MOSI MISO and SCK are at start up also configuration pins Figure 8 Diagram of S...

Page 16: ...High means no external antenna has been detected See section 2 6 4 for an implementation example 1 7 4 Configuration pins LEA 6S 6A NEO 6 ROM based modules provide up to 3 pins CFG_COM0 CFG_COM1 and...

Page 17: ...nal is disabled by default To configure the ANTOFF function refer to the u blox 6 Receiver Description including Protocol Specification 3 Use caution when implementing ANTOFF configuration since forwa...

Page 18: ...SPI_MISO SPI_SCS2_N FWD SPI_ SCS1_N SPI_SCK and SPEED Pin Signal name Direction Usage 27 SPEED Input Odometer Speedpulses 23 SCK Output SPI clock 22 SPI_SCS1_N Output Chip Select signal for ADC turn...

Page 19: ...sy especially when based on a u blox reference design Nonetheless it pays to do a quick sanity check of the design This section lists the most important items for a simple design check The Design In C...

Page 20: ...and AssistNow Offline Make sure the antenna is not placed close to noisy parts of the circuitry e g micro controller display etc For active antennas add a 10 resistor in front of V_ANT 6 input for sho...

Page 21: ...considerations For a minimal design with a u blox 6 GPS module the following functions and pins need to be considered Connect the Power supply to VCC VDDUSB Connect the USB power supply to a LDO befor...

Page 22: ...t array of sensors and must only convert the sensor data into UBX messages and pass them to the GPS receiver via a standard serial interface USB SPI UART DDC This makes the u blox ADR solution very po...

Page 23: ...PULSE GND GND AADET_N 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 LEA 6 Top View LDO Figure 12 LEA 6 passive antenna design with USB port Passive Antenna Vcc Micro Process...

Page 24: ...View LNA SAW L Figure 14 LEA 6 passive antenna design for best performance with external LNA and SAW Passive Antenna Vcc Micro Processor serial 1 SDA2 SPI_MOSI SCL2 SPI_MISO TxD1 RxD1 NC VCC GND VCC_...

Page 25: ...als are not at the same frequency For this reason the RF path LNA filter and antenna must be modified accordingly to let both signals pass 2 2 2 2 Filter Use a GPS GLONASS SAW filter see Figure 16 tha...

Page 26: ...4 mm 7 MHz 10 10 4 mm 5 MHz Table 7 Typical bandwidths for GPS patch antennas Figure 18 shows a 12 12 4 mm patch antenna with 20 20 mm ground plane tuned to GPS This patch bandwidth is so narrow that...

Page 27: ...a 36 36 4 mm patch antenna is better and tune it so that GPS GLONASS signals are received 2 2 2 5 Module designs For GPS GLONASS designs chose the LEA 6N GLONASS GPS QZSS module which has a wide RF p...

Page 28: ...on To activate GLONASS mode the customer application will have to send UBX proprietary commands for activating and switching to GLONASS reception The applicable SW commands are documented in the u blo...

Page 29: ...illustrated semiconductor products All shown resistors shall have 5 accuracy or better All shown capacitors X7R types shall have 10 accuracy or better For correct operation with the LEA 6R firmware th...

Page 30: ...d reckoning performance It has an internal pull up and therefore can be left open or connected to VCC_OUT or VCC if not used You need to check the voltage levels and the quality of the vehicle signals...

Page 31: ...pulses speed ticks wheel pulses or wheel ticks These terms are often used interchangeably which can sometimes lead to confusion For the sake of consistency in this document we will be referring to the...

Page 32: ...ive Antenna Detect Input pin for optional antenna supervisor circuitry Leave open if not used UART TxD1 3 O Serial Port 1 Communication interface can be programmed as TX ready for I2C interface Leave...

Page 33: ...0 USB_DM USB_DP VDDUSB Reserved VCC_RF GND GND RF_IN GND VCC V_BCKP RxD1 TxD1 SCL2 SDA2 Reserved CFG_GPS0 SCK MISO CFG_COM1 MOSI CFG_COM0 14 16 11 9 7 1 18 USB port Optional Micro Processor USB LDO Fi...

Page 34: ...uch as GSM For lowest power in backup mode use ANTOFF Vcc Micro Processor serial Passive Antenna Backup Battery NEO 6 Top View 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 12 24 22 21 20 19 17 15 13 23 GND Reserved SS_N TIMEPULSE...

Page 35: ...O Serial Port 1 Communication interface can be programmed as TX ready for I2C interface RxD1 21 I Serial Port 1 Serial input Internal pull up resistor to VCC Leave open if not used USB USB_DM 5 I O U...

Page 36: ...ver with a MAX 6 module Vcc Micro Processor serial Passive Antenna Backup Battery 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 12 17 15 13 Reserved TIMEPULSE EXTINT0 TxD1 VCC_IO V_RESET VCC_RF GND GND RF_IN GND VCC V_BCKP RxD1 ANT...

Page 37: ...DDC Pins DDC Clock Leave open if not used Reserved 18 Reserved Leave open VCC_IO 7 I IO supply voltage Input must be always supplied Usually connect to VCC Pin 8 If I O level should be different from...

Page 38: ...mask 12 2 mm 480 3 mil 16 0 mm 630 mil 1 0 mm 39 3 mil 0 8 mm 31 5 mil 0 8 mm 31 5 mil 3 0 mm 118 1 mil 1 0 mm 39 3 mil 1 1 mm 43 3 mil Figure 31 NEO 6 footprint 9 7 mm 382 mil 10 1 mm 398 mil 1 0 mm...

Page 39: ...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 P...

Page 40: ...s created around and below the RF connection This part of the circuit MUST be kept as far from potential noise sources as possible Make certain that no signal lines cross and that no signal trace vias...

Page 41: ...19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 Wrong better best Figure 38 Recommended micro strip routing to RF pin for exact pin orientation see data sheet...

Page 42: ...e cladding 35 m plus the plated copper typically 25 m Figure 40 is an example of a multi layer FR4 board with 18 m ounce cladding and 180 dielectric between layer 1 and 2 Figure 40 Micro strip on a mu...

Page 43: ...rated low noise amplifier of the antenna needs to be supplied with the correct voltage through pin V_ANT Usually the supply voltage is fed to the antenna through the coaxial RF cable Active antennas r...

Page 44: ...t of the receiver i e the RF input this supply should be virtually free of noise Usually low frequency noise is less critical than digital noise with spurious frequencies with harmonics up to the GPS...

Page 45: ...gurable to suit various different applications u blox 6 Module GND RF_IN GND Active Antenna V_ANT VCC_RF LNA AADET_N Antenna Supervisor Circuitry external antenna voltage supply Figure 44 External ant...

Page 46: ...of active antenna supervisor Firmware supports an active antenna supervisor circuit which is connected to the pin AADET_N An example of an open circuit detection circuit is shown in Figure 46 and Fig...

Page 47: ...not derived from Vcc_RF do not exceed the maximum voltage rating of AADET_N The open circuit detection circuit uses the current flow to detect an open circuit in the antenna The threshold current can...

Page 48: ...Recovery Enabled OD Open Circuit Detection Enabled PdoS Power Down on short Table 20 Active Antenna Supervisor Message on startup UBX binary protocol To activate the antenna supervisor use the UBX CF...

Page 49: ...antenna supply voltage L Figure 49 External antenna bias voltage for active antennas For optimal performance it is important to place the inductor as close to the microstrip as possible Figure 50 illu...

Page 50: ...016X T1 E3 Transistor Vishay L1 LQG15HS27NJ02 Inductor muRata C1 X5R 100N 10V 10 Decoupling Capacitor muRata Table 22 Active antenna supervisor bill of material RF Vcc R R R R I _ 1 3 2 2 Equation 2 C...

Page 51: ...T6000 Rail to Rail Op Amp Linear Technology T1 Si1016X T1 E3 Transistor Vishay L1 LQG15HS27NJ02 Inductor muRata C1 X5R 100N 10V 10 Decoupling Capacitor muRata Table 23 Active antenna supervisor bill o...

Page 52: ...n off mode pin 17 can be programmed as ANTOFF see section 1 7 7 Use caution when implementing ANTOFF configuration since forward compatibility is not guaranteed References Value Tolerance Description...

Page 53: ...n Due to geometric and dynamic aspects of driving vehicles it is important to correctly place the GPS antenna and the external sensors from a geometric point of view in order to get consistent measure...

Page 54: ...ufacturing procedures The paste mask geometry for applying soldering paste should meet the recommendations in section 2 5 1 The quality of the solder joints on the connectors half vias should meet the...

Page 55: ...fall rate max 4 C s To avoid falling off the u blox 6 GPS module should be placed on the topside of the motherboard during soldering The final soldering temperature chosen at the factory depends on a...

Page 56: ...of the module falling off due to the significantly higher weight in relation to other components Two reflow cycles can be considered by excluding the above described upside down scenario and taking i...

Page 57: ...lox 6 module are sensitive to Ultrasonic Waves Use of any Ultrasonic Processes cleaning welding etc may cause damage to the GPS Receiver u blox offers no warranty against damages to the u blox 6 modul...

Page 58: ...charges In addition to standard ESD safety practices the following measures should be taken into account whenever handling the receiver Unless there is a galvanic coupling between the local GND i e th...

Page 59: ...ppropriate ESD rating Figure 56 ESD Precautions Protection measure A is preferred because it offers the best GPS performance and best level of ESD protection 3 3 5 Electrical Overstress EOS Electrical...

Page 60: ...n PCB e g on top or bottom layer and especially at the border of a PCB Weak GND concept e g small and or long ground line connections EMI protection measures are recommended when RF emitting devices a...

Page 61: ...k the high energy emitted by the GSM transmitter Examples of these kinds of filters would be the SAW Filters from Epcos B9444 or B7839 or Murata 3 3 8 2 Increasing jamming immunity Jamming signals com...

Page 62: ...e GPS carrier see Figure 61 The main sources are wireless communication systems such as GSM CDMA WCDMA WiFi BT etc Figure 61 Out band jamming signals Measures against out band jamming include maintain...

Page 63: ...pHEMT GaAS ALM 1412 3 3 6 D LNA FBAR Filter ALM 1712 3 3 6 D Filter LNA FBAR Filter ALM 2412 3 3 4 A LNA FBAR Filter MAXIM MAX2659ELT 3 3 4 A LNA SiGe JRC NJG1143UA2 LNA Infineon BGM1032N16 Filter LN...

Page 64: ...supplied by an external limited power source in compliance with the clause 2 5 of the standard IEC 60950 1 In addition to external limited power source only separated or Safety Extra Low Voltage SELV...

Page 65: ...ent which delivers a detailed test report for each unit The following measurements are done Digital self test Software Download verification of FLASH firmware etc Measurement of voltages and currents...

Page 66: ...UBX NAV SVINFO message e g with u center 5 Compare the results to a Golden Device or a u blox 6 Evaluation Kit 4 3 2 Go No go tests for integrated devices The best test is to bring the device to an o...

Page 67: ...6R 4 3 3 4 Temperature sensor The temperature measured by the temperature sensor connected to the LEA 6R shall be read with the UBX ESF MEAS message The measurement tolerance is in the order of about...

Page 68: ...le is a fairly straightforward procedure Nevertheless there are some points to be considered during the migration Not all of the functionalities available with ANTARIS 4 are supported by u blox 6 Thes...

Page 69: ...he power modes Max Performance mode and Eco mode For more information on u blox6 Power supply specifications and power modes see the LEA 6 Data Sheet 1 and NEO 6 Data Sheet 3 If you use an active ante...

Page 70: ...gurations in one UBX CFG MSG command UBX CFG RXM N A Contrary to ANTARIS 4 u blox6 does not need selecting GPS acquisition sensitivity mode Fast Normal High Sens and Auto mode since the acquisition en...

Page 71: ...blox 6 Receiver Description including Protocol Specification 4 B 2 3 Software migration from 7 03 to FW1 00 GLONASS GPS QZSS When migrating from 7 03 to FW1 00 GLONASS GPS QZSS consult the GPS GLONAS...

Page 72: ...ak supply current 7 GND GND GND GND No difference 8 VDD18OUT NC VCC_OUT NC Internally connected to VCC if you have circuitry connected to this pin check if it withstands the VCC voltage 9 Reserved NC...

Page 73: ...difference 18 VCC_RF VCC 0 1 V VCC_RF VCC 0 1V No difference 19 V_ANT 3 0 V 5 0 V V_ANT 2 7V 5 5V wider range 20 AADET_N NC 1 8 to 5 0 V AADET_N NC check resistor R5 in Active antenna supervisor Figur...

Page 74: ...rved NC Do not drive low 2 SELECT VDDIO level I O not connected SS_N NC 3 TIMEPULSE VDDIO level I O TIMEPULSE Output 4 EXTINT0 NC EXTINT0 NC 5 USB_DM NC USB_DM NC New serial termination resistors reco...

Page 75: ...pendix Page 75 of 85 B 5 2 Migration from NEO 5 to NEO 6 For u blox 6 only the Input Voltage thresholds on the pins RXD1 and EXTINT0 have changed Also check the setting of the configuration pins Seria...

Page 76: ...ltage level thresholds of SDA and SCL depend on VDD See the LEA 6 Data Sheet 1 or NEO 6 Data Sheet 3 for the applicable voltage levels DDC Device A DDC Device B VDD SDA SCL GND Rp Rp SDAin SDAout SCL...

Page 77: ...e located at a fixed address 0xA0 the receiver assumes the role of a master on the bus and never changes role to slave until the following start up subject to EEPROM presence This process takes place...

Page 78: ...see Figure 68 uses two control and two data lines These are identified as follows SCS Slave Chip Select control output from master usually active low SCK Serial Clock control output from master MOSI M...

Page 79: ...ording to single or multiple master protocols In the first variant the microcontroller s designated as slave s behave like a normal peripheral device The second variant allows for several masters and...

Page 80: ...a slave the SCK pin is an input and the clock signal from the master synchronizes the data transfer between the master and slave devices Slave devices ignore the SCK signal unless the slave select pin...

Page 81: ...the sensor integrity check has reported any failure from the sensors and set itself into GPS only mode Calibration can be reset with UBX message UBX CFG Config EKF Extended Kalman Filter D 2 Initial c...

Page 82: ...relatively short driving distance and time The above instructions shall not be made a rule towards any end user They shall only be applied in a testing environment where sufficient care is taken that...

Page 83: ...SW 10024 9 u blox 6 Firmware Version 6 02 Release Note Docu No GPS G6 SW 10003 10 LEA 5 Data Sheet Docu No GPS G5 MS5 07026 11 MAX 6 Data Sheet Docu No GPS G6 HW 10106 12 C26 telematics reference des...

Page 84: ...Sep 14 2011 jfur NEO 6V integration Section 1 6 4 SPI FLASH For new designs Sections added 2 2 2 LEA 6H GLONASS ready module integration Section B 2 2 Software migration from 6 02 to 7 03 Section 3 3...

Page 85: ...blox com Support support_ap u blox com Regional Office China Beijing Phone 86 10 68 133 545 E mail info_cn u blox com Support support_cn u blox com Regional Office China Chongqing Phone 86 23 6815 15...

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