u-blox ANTARIS 4 System Integration Manual

Incl. reference design

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ANTARIS

GPS Modules

System Integration Manual (SIM)

(incl. Reference Design)

Abstract

This

document describes the features of u-blox's ANTARIS

modul

es.

These mo

dules

SuperSense™ ability and low power consumption in the compact

and very popular TIM and LEA form factors and the even smaller

NEO form factor.

This manual applies to all ANTARIS

Firmware 5.00 and above.

your position is our focus

mbine

excell

ent

GPS pe

4 GPS receivers based on

4 GPS

rformance,

u-blox AG

Zürcherstrasse 68

8800 Thalwil

Switzerland

www.u-blox.com

Phone +41 44 722 7444

Fax +41 44 722 7447

info@u-blox.com

Table of Contents

Summary of Contents for u-blox ANTARIS 4

Page 1 u-blox AG Zürcherstrasse 68 8800 Thalwil Switzerland www.u-blox.com Phone +41 44 722 7444 Fax +41 44 722 7447 info@u-blox.com ® ANTARIS GPS Modules System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) ...
Page 2 and software, in order to improve its design and/or performance, without prior notice. u-blox makes no warranties, neither expressed nor implied, regarding the information and specifications contained in this document. u-blox assumes no responsibility for any claims or damages arising from information contained in this document, or from the use of products and services detailed ther ein. This ...
Page 3 your position is our focus Preface ® The ANTARIS 4 System Integration Manual provides the necessary information to successfully design in and ® configure these ANTARIS based GPS receivers. The chapter below helps you to navigate this manual and to find the information you are looking for as quickly as possible. I.1 How to use this Manual This manual has a modular structure. It is not necessary to read from the beginning to the end. ® ® Focus on sections remarked with for ANTARIS 4 if you are familiar with ANTARIS technology. ...
Page 4 Contact our information service on the homepage http://www.u-blox.com • Read the questions and answers on our FAQ database on the homepage http://www.u-blox.com u-blox Glossary and Abbreviations Every technology has it’s own language. To assure a precise terminology we provide a general GPS dictionary [1] on our website. Feel free to download this information for a better understanding of our documents. I.2 Technical Support Worldwide Web Our website (www.u-blox.com) is a rich pool of information. Product information, technical documents and helpful FAQ can be accessed 24h a day. By E-mail If you have technical problems or cannot find the required information in the provided documents, contact the nearest of the Technical Support offices by email. Use our service pool email addresses rather than any personal email address of our staff. This makes sure that your request is processed as soon as possible. You will find the contact details at the end of the document. By Phone If an email contact is not the right choice to solve your problem or does not clearly answer your questions, call ...
Page 5: Table Of Contents
your position is our focus Contents GPS Fundamentals......................11 Theory of operation..........................11 Basic Operation Cycle ......................... 12 Start-Up.............................. 12 Considerations for GPS Performance ....................14 1.4.1 Dilution of Precision (DOP)......................14 1.4.2 Multipath ............................ 15 Antennas............................16 1.5.1 Selecting the right Antenna......................16 1.5.2 Active and Passive Antennas......................17 1.5.3 Patch Antennas ........................... 17 1.5.4 Helix Antennas ..........................19 1.5.7 Helix or Patch, which selection is best?..................
Page 6 your position is our focus 2.3.1 Low Cost Receivers (ROM only) ....................36 2.3.2 Programmable Receivers (Receivers with integrated FLASH memory) ........... 36 Form Factors............................37 2.4.1 NEO Modules ..........................37 2.4.2 LEA Modules ..........................37 2.4.3 TIM Modules ..........................38 Choosing the optimal module ......................39 ® 2.5.1 ANTARIS 4 Feature Matrix ......................40 ® Compatibility of ANTARIS GPS receivers ..................
Page 7 your position is our focus 4.3.1 Passive Antenna .......................... 72 4.3.2 Active Antenna ........................... 73 4.3.3 Active Antenna Bias Power......................74 4.3.4 Active Antenna Supervisor......................75 Serial Communication ........................79 4.4.1 USART Ports ..........................79 4.4.2 USB Serial Port (LEA-4x and NEO-4S) ................... 81 4.4.3 UBX Binary Protocol ........................82 4.4.4 NMEA Protocol..........................85 4.4.5 RTCM Protocol ..........................88 4.4.6 How to change between protocols....................
Page 8 Repeated Reflow Soldering......................131 5.3.7 Wave Soldering ......................... 131 5.3.8 Hand Soldering ......................... 131 5.3.9 Rework............................131 5.3.10 Conformal Coating ........................132 5.3.11 Casting............................132 5.3.12 Grounding Metal Covers ......................132 5.3.13 Use of any Ultrasonic Processes ....................132 Product Testing......................133 u-blox In-Series Production Test ....................133 GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) Contents GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 8 ...
Page 9 your position is our focus Test Parameters for OEM Manufacturer .................... 133 Sy em Sensitivity Test ........................134 6.3.1 Guidelines for Sensitivity Tests ....................134 6.3.2 ‘Go/No go’ tests for integrated devices..................134 PC Support Tools ......................135 Firmware Update ........................135 7.1.1 ATR062xL.exe ........................135 7.1.2 U-center Update Tool ......................136 7.1.3 Firmware update with u-center AE .................... 136 ®...
Page 10 4 receivers ..............167 Software Changes ..........................167 Migration from LEA-LA to LEA-4A/LEA-4S ..................167 Migration from LEA-LA to LEA-4H/LEA P ..................168 Migration from TIM-Lx to TIM-4x pin out..................170 ® ® Pin Comparison ANTARIS to ANTARIS 4..................171 Migration from TIM-ST to TIM-4x ................... 173 Mechanical Dimensions/ Pinout ...............175 LEA Modules ............................ 175 TIM Modules ............................ 176 NEO Modules ........................... 177 Index .........................178 Lists ...........................
Page 11: Gps Fundamentals
1 GPS Fundamentals 1.1 Theory of operation ® Basic Signal Processing (ANTARIS GPS Technology) RF Section GPS Channels Navigation Interface Acquisition Correlator 1 Down conversion Correlator 2 Navigation Filtering Data Output Calculation A/D Conversion Correlator 16 RF Input Digital IF Pseudorange Position, Velocity Serial Output Analog Signal signal Carrierphase Time Solution Orbit Information 1.575 GHz per SV...
Page 12: Basic Operation Cycle
1.2 Basic Operation Cycle When the receiver is powered up, it proceeds trough a sequence of states until it can initially determine position, velocity and time. Afterwards, the satellite signals are tracked continuously and the position is calculated periodically. This process is depicted below: Initialization Initialization Decode Ephemeris Data Only if Ephemeris and Pseudoranges for at least 3 SVs Search SVs Calculate Initial Position Orbit Data Calculate Successive Track SVs Positions...
Page 13 Warmstart Warmstart is performed whenever the receiver has only access to valid almanac data, and has not significantly moved since the last valid position calculation. This is typically the case, if the receiver has been shut off for more than 2 hours, but still has knowledge of last position, time and almanac. This allows it to predict the current visible SVs. However, since ephemeris data is not available or outdated, the receiver needs to wait for the ephemeris broadcast to complete.
Page 14: Considerations For Gps Performance
1.4 Considerations for GPS Performance GPS works with weak signals. The signal strength on earth is approximately 15dB below the thermal noise floor. In order to design a reliable GPS system, the following parameters have to be considered carefully during the design phase as they may significantly degrade the GPS performance. 1. Antenna limitations Poor gain of the GPS antenna • Poor directivity (radiation pattern) of the GPS antenna • Improper orientation of the antenna to the sky • Poor matching between antenna and cable impedance • Poor noise performance of the receivers input stage or the antenna amplifier • 2. Electrical Environment Jamming from external signals ...
Page 15: Multipath
Examples of DOP values: PDOP: 1.7 PDOP: 4.3 PDOP: 12.6 DOP value is ok for good GPS DOP value is acceptable for a DOP too high (all the satellites are in performance good GPS performance a straight line), this will degrade the GPS performance Figure 4: Examples of DOP values 1.4.2 Multipath Direct Multipath Direct Shadowing Figure 5: A multi-path environment A multi-path environment exists if GPS signals arrive at the antenna directly from the satellite, (line of sight, LOS) and also from reflective surfaces, e.g. water or building walls. If there is a direct path in addition to the reflected path available, the receiver can usually detect the situation and compensate to some extent. If there is no direct line of sight, but only reflections, the receiver is not able to detect the situation. Under these multipath conditions the range measurement to the satellite will provide incorrect information to the navigation solution, ...
Page 16: Antennas
The receiver cannot compensate for the second effect because the signals cancel out at the antenna, not inside the GPS unit. However, as the reflected signal is usually much weaker than the direct signal, the two signals will not cancel out completely. The reflected signal will also have an inverted polarity (left hand circular rather than right hand circular), further reducing the signal level, particularly if the antenna has good polarization selectivity. Water is a very good reflector; so all marine applications require special attention to reflected signals arriving at the antenna from the underside, i.e. the water surface. Also, the location of the antenna close to vertical metal surfaces can be very disruptive since metal is an almost perfect reflector. When mounting an antenna on top of a reflective surface, the antenna should be mounted as close to the surface as possible. Then, the reflective surface will act as an extension of the antennas ground plane and not as a source of multi-path. 1.5 Antennas Even the best receiver cannot bring back what has been lost at the antenna. The importance of the attention paid to this part of a GPS system cannot be stated highly enough. 1.5.1 Selecting the right Antenna Several different antenna designs are available on the GPS applications market. The GPS signal is right-hand circular polarized (RHCP). This results in a style of antenna that is different from the well-known whip antennas ...
Page 17: Active And Passive Antennas
10 cm. Care should be taken that the gain of the LNA inside the antenna does not lead to an overload condition at the receiver. For receivers that also work with passive antennas, an antenna LNA gain of 15 dB is usually sufficient, even for cable lengths up to 5 m. There’s no need for the antenna LNA gain to exceed 26 dB for use with u-blox receivers. With shorter cables and a gain above 25 dB, an overload condition might occur on some receivers. When comparing gain measures of active and passive antennas one has to keep in mind that the gain of an active antenna is composed of two components, the antenna gain of the passive radiator, given in dBic, and the ...
Page 18 12 x 12 mm . Very cheap construction techniques might use ordinary circuit board material like FR-4 or even air as a dielectric, but this will result in a much larger size, typically in the order of 10 x 10 cm . Figure 8 shows a typical example of the radiation pattern of a 16 x 16 mm ceramic patch antenna. This measurement only shows the upper sphere of the radiation pattern. Depending on ground plane size there will also be a prominent back lobe present. Figure 8: Typical Radiation Pattern of a Patch Antenna, MuRata, Inc. For the specific example shown in Figure 9 one can easily see that the so-called axial ratio, the relation of major to minor axis of the elliptical polarization has a minimum at the 50 mm square ground plane. At this point, the polarization of the antenna is closest to an ideal circular polarization (axial ratio = 0 dB). At a 100 mm square ground plane size this particular patch shows an axial ratio in the order of 10 dB, which is closer to linear polarization than to circular and will result in respective losses. This effect can also be seen ...
Page 19: Helix Antennas
Smaller sized patches will usually reach their maximum gain with a slightly smaller ground plane compared to a larger size patch. However, the maximum gain of a small sized patch with optimum ground plane may still be much lower than the gain of a large size patch on a less than optimal ground plane. It is not only gain and axial ratio of the patch antenna that is affected by the size of the ground plane but also the matching of the antenna to the 50 Ohms impedance of the receiver. See Section 1.5.8 for more information on matching. 1.5.4 Helix Antennas Helix antennas can be designed for use with or without ground plane. For example, the radiating elements on board the GPS satellites have a ground plane. Using an array of helix antennas, the GPS satellites can control the direction of the emitted beam. If a helix antenna is designed without ground plane it can be tuned such to show a more omni directional radiation pattern as shown in Figure 10. Figure 10: Radiation pattern of helix antenna without ground plane, Sarantel, Ltd. Although we can determine an axial ratio close to 9 dB between zero degree and 90 degrees elevation, which compares to the patch antenna, the back lobe of the helix generally degrades much smoother and does not show any sensitivity at ...
Page 20: Antenna Matching
antennas with a “reasonable” size will therefore typically show a lower sensitivity compared to a “reasonably” sized patch antenna. A helix antenna might result in a “more satellites on the screen” situation in difficult signal environments when directly compared with a patch antenna. This is due to the fact that the helix will more easily pick up signals through its omni directional radiation pattern. However, the practical use of these signals is very limited because of the uncertain path of the reflected signals. Therefore, the receivers can see more satellites but the navigation solution will be degraded because of distorted range measurements in a multi-path environment. If possible test the actual performance of different antenna types in a real life environment before starting the mechanical design of the GPS enabled product. 1.5.8 Antenna Matching All common GPS antennas are designed for a 50 Ohms electrical load. Therefore, one should select a 50 Ohms cable to connect the antenna to the receiver. However, there are several circumstances under which the matching ...
Page 21: Antenna Placement
NA can help to match the hard to control impedance of the antenna to a 50 Oh ms cable. This effect is indeed beneficial if the antenna cable between the antenna and the receiver is only short. In this case, there’s no need or the gain of the LNA to exceed 10-15 dB. In this en vironment the sole purpose of the LNA is to provid e imped ance matching and not signal amplification. 1.5.9 Antenna Placement Where the antenna is mounted is crucial for optimal performance of the GPS receiver. When using patch antennas, the antenna plane should be parallel to the geographic horizon. The antenna must have full view of the sky ensuring a direct line-of-sight with as many visible satellites as possible. ...
Page 22: Interference Issues
1.6 Interference Issues A typical GPS receiver has a very low dynamic range. This is because the antenna should only detect thermal noise in the GPS frequency band, given that the peak power of the GPS signal is 15 dB below the thermal noise floor. This thermal noise floor is usually very constant over time. Most receiver architectures use an automatic gain control (AGC) circuitry to automatically adjust to the input levels presented by different antenna and pre- amplifier combinations. The control range of these AGC’s can be as large as 50 dB. However, the dynamic range ...
Page 23: Eliminating Digital Noise Sources
Moreover, the GPS band is far beyond the 1 GHz limit that applies to almost all EMC regulations. So, even if a device is compliant with respect to EMC regulations it might severely disturb a GPS receiver. If the GPS antenna is to be placed very close to some other electronics, e.g. the GPS receiver itself or a PDA-like applianc the EMC issue must be take n very seriously right from the concept phase of the design. It is one of the most demanding tasks in electrical engineering to design a system that is essentially free of measurable emissions in a given frequency band. 1.6.2 Eliminating Digital Noise Sources Digital noise is caused by short rise-times of digital signals. Data and address buses with rise-times in the nanosecond range will emit harmonics up to several GHz. The following sections contain some general hints on ...
Page 24 driving large bus systems. Alternatively, high-speed signal lines can be terminated with resistors or even active terminations to reduce high frequency radiation originating from overshoot and ringing on these lines. If dielectric layers are thick compared to the line width, route ground traces between the signal lines to increase shielding. This is especially important if only two layer boards are used (see Figure 14). Bad: Excessive Radiation Good: Radiation terminated Figure 14: Terminating radiation of signal lines 1.6.2.3 Decoupling Capacitors Use a sufficient number of decoupling capacitors in parallel between power and ground nets. Small size, small capacitance types reduce high-frequency emissions. Large size, high capacitance types stabilize low frequency variations. It’s preferred to have a large number of small value capacitors in parallel rather than having a small ...
Page 25 Figure 16: Temperature dependency of COG/NPO dielectric, AVX Figure 17: Temperature dependency of X7R dielectric, AVX Figure 18: Temperature dependency of Y5V dielectric, AVX GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) GPS Fundamentals GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 25 ...
Page 26: Shielding
1.6.3 Shielding If employing the countermeasures listed in Section 1.6.2 cannot solve EMI problems, the solution may be shielding of the noise source. In the real world, shields are not perfect. The shielding effectiveness you can expect from a solid metal shield is somewhere in the order of 30-40 dB. If a thin PCB copper layer is used as a shield, these values can be even lower. Perforation of the shield will also lower its effectiveness. Be aware of the negative effects that holes in the shield can have on shielding effectiveness. Lengthy slots might ...
Page 27 Figure 20: MuRata’s NFM21C Feed Through Capacitors Any feed through capacitor will only achieve its specified performance if it has a proper ground connection. If the use of a special feed through capacitor is not feasible for a particular design, a simple capacitor between the signal line and shielding ground placed very close to the feed through of the signal line will also help. It has been found that a 12 pF SMD capacitor works quite well at the GPS frequency range. Larger capacitance values will be less efficient. One should keep in mind that a feed through capacitor is basically a high frequency “short” between the signal line and ground. If the ground point that the capacitor is connected to is not ideal, meaning the ground connection or plane has a finite resistance, noise will be injected into the ground net. Therefore, one should try to place any feed trough capacitor far away from the most noise sensitive parts of the circuit. To emphasize this once again, one should ensure a very good ground connection for the feed through capacitor. If there is no good ground connection available at the point of the feed through, or injection of noise into the non-ideal ground net must be avoided totally, inserting a component with a high resistance at high frequencies might be a good alternative. Ferrite beads are the components of choice if a high DC resistance cannot be accepted. ...
Page 28 1.6.3.2 Shielding Sets of Sub-System Assembly Yet another problem arises if multiple building blocks are combined in a single system. Figure 21 shows a possible scenario. In this case, the supply current traveling through the inductive ground connection between the two sub-systems will cause a voltage difference between the two shields of the sub-system. The shield of the other system will then act as a transmitting antenna, radiating with respect to the ground and shield of the GPS ...
Page 29: High Sensitivity Gps
® 1.7 High Sensitivity GPS (SuperSense GPS) GPS signals are already very weak when they arrive at the Earth’s surface. By the time the GPS signals arrive at the receiver they are typically as weak as –130dBm (–160dBW). This is well below the thermal noise level. Standard GPS receivers (e. g. TIM-4A) integrate the received GPS signals for up to 20ms. This results in the ability to track signals down to about –150dBm (–180dBW). High Sensitivity GPS receivers are able to integrate the incoming ...
Page 30: Assisted Gps / A-Gps
1.8 Assisted GPS / A-GPS Assisted GPS, or A-GPS, is a technology that uses an assistance server to cut down the time needed to determine a location using GPS. It is useful in urban areas, when the user is located in "urban canyons", under heavy tree cover, or even indoors. It is becoming more common and it's commonly associated with Location Based Services (LBS) over cellular networks. Figure 25 depicts a typical A-GPS system. GPS Satellites GPS Satellites Radio link, e.g.GSM Aiding Base Receiver Server Station Receiver With GPS Receiver Assistance Server Mobile Device Figure 25: Aiding Topology 1.9 DGPS (Differential GPS) Differential GPS (DGPS) provides slightly better accuracy than a stand-alone GPS receiver. The correction data from a reference station is transmitted to the GPS receiver in order to eliminate Pseudorange errors. Additional ...
Page 31: Sbas (Satellite Based Augmentation Systems)
1.10 SBAS (Satellite Based Augmentation Systems) SBAS (Satellite Based Augmentation System) is an augmentation technology for GPS, which calculates GPS integrity and correction data with RIMS (Ranging and Integrity Moni toring Stations) on the ground and uses geostationary satellites (GEOs) to broadcast GPS integrity and correction data to GPS users. The correction data is tra smitted on the GPS L1 frequency (1575.42 MHz), and therefore there is no additional receiver required to ...
Page 32: Dead Reckoning Enabled Gps (Dr)
Another benefit is the use of GPS integrity information. In that way SBAS Control stations can ‘disable’ usage of ® GPS satellites in case of major GPS satellite problems within 6 seconds time to alarm. The ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology will only use satellites, for which integrity information is available, if integrity monitoring is enabled. For more information on SBAS and associated services please refer to • RTCA/DO-229C (MOPS). Available from www.rtca.org • gps.faa.gov for information on WAAS and the NSTB • www.esa.int for information on EGNOS and the ESTB • www.essp.be for information about European Satellite Services Provider EEIG is the EGNOS operations manager. ...
Page 33: Dead Reckoning Principal
1.11.1 Dead Reckoning Principal In contrast to GPS, which delivers absolute positions, Dead Reckoning is a relative method. The sensors give information for a defined measurement period, and the location is calculated relative to the previously known position. Therefore an absolute GPS position is required as a starting point, which is the last known GPS position. + dy + dx δ Known parameters: s = Traveled distance (odometer, direction) δ...
Page 34 GPS Positioning is weighted more heavily as long as the GPS parameter (e.g. DOP, number of satellites, signal quality) indicates good and reliable performance. In situ ations, where the GPS signals are poor, reflected from buildings (multipath) or jammed, the DR solution is used with a higher weighting. No GPS Poor GPS Good GPS Blending Calibration Extrapolation Position, Velocity, Time Position, Velocity, Time Position, Velocit y, Time from real-tim e clock Altitude held constant Fig re 30: Dead Reckoning Blending • No GPS: ...
Page 35: System Consideration
2 System Consideration 2.1 Introduction ® All ANTARIS 4 products run on the same GPS engine. The different types of receivers differ mainly in flexibility and user specific features. Power consumption • ® ANTARIS 4 runs on an optimized Continuous Power Mode. • For applications with defined off times and for very low pow er consumption applications, FixNOW™ can be enabled (for details refer to Section 4.2.7). Antenna • ® ANTARIS 4 receivers support active and passive antennas of different technologies and shapes. • ® The antenna short circuit detection is a standard feature of ANTARIS 4. Antenna open circuit detection is optional. ...
Page 36: Technology
2.2 Technology 2.2.1 Standard GPS Receivers ® Standard GPS receivers are based on u-blox’s high performance 16-channel ANTARIS 4 technology. They represent an excellent compromis e between low cost and high performance, which makes them the ideal choice for most applications. ® 2.2.2 SuperSense GPS Receiver ® ® SuperSense GPS receivers are also based on u-blox’s high performance ANTARIS 4 technology. They include a more accurate time base (TCXO) and additional software, providing up to 10dB additional sensitivity, which ...
Page 37: Form Factors
The NEO form factor is 16.0 x 12.2 x 2.8 mm and has 24 pins. It supports one USART and one USB communication interface and is optimized for minimal floor space compared to the TIM and LEA form factors. NEO modules allow fully automatic assembly and soldering. 2.4.2 LEA Modules TOP View Figure 32: LEA form factor The LEA form factor is 17.0 x 22.4 x 3 mm and has 28 pins. It supports one USART and one USB communication interface and is optimized for minimal floor space compared to the TIM form factor. The LEA form factor is now available in it’s 2 generation (LEA-LA, LEA-4x) allowing u-blox customers to profit from technological advances without having to redesign their applications. LEA modules allow fully automatic assembly and soldering. GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) System Consideration GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 37 ...
Page 38: Tim Modules
2.4.3 TIM Modules Top View Figure 33: TIM form factor TIM form factor is 25.4 x 25.4 x 3 mm and ha s 30 pins. u-blox introduced this form factor to the market in 2004 and it is now available in the 3 generation (TIM-ST, TIM-Lx, TIM -4x) allowing u-blox customers to profit from technological advances without having to redesign their applications. TIM modules allow fully automatic assembly and soldering. GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) System Consideration GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 38 ...
Page 39: Choosing The Optimal Module
2.5 Choosing the optimal module ® Figure 34The family of ANTARIS 4 GPS receiver modules is shown in Figure 34. The optimal choice depends on the specific application requirements. • For Timing Applications choose LEA-4T • For DR Applications choose LEA-4R or TIM-4R. • If USB is required or genera lly for new developmen use the LEA or NE from fact or • ® If the module replac an existing ANTARIS receiver based on the TIM form factor or if two serial ports are required, the TIM form factor is recommended . • If minimal board space is important, decide for the NEO form factor. • If a temperature ra of –30°C to +70°C is suffici t, en consider using LEA-4M.
Page 40: Antaris ® 4 Feature Matrix .......................................................................................................... 40
your position is our focus 2.5.1 ® ANTARIS 4 Feature Matri ® 2 ® ANTARIS ANTARIS Low Pro- Pro- Module Type Programmable Low Cost Low Cost Time DR Cost grammable grammable only only Passive Antenna ...
Page 41: Compatibility Of Antaris Gps Receivers
your position is our focus ® 2.6 Compatibility of ANTARIS GPS receivers ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS modules are designed for a high level of compatibility, even over product generations. De ending on customer requirements a design may start with a low cost receiver and can be changed to a ®...
Page 42: Active Vs. Passive Antenna
your position is our focus 2.7 Active vs. Passive Antenna First some general issues: • A GPS receiver needs to receive signals from as many satellites as possible. A GPS re ceiver cannot provide optimal performance in narrow streets between high buildings (i.e. in urban canyons), in underground parking lots or if objects cover the ant nna. Poor sky visibility may result in position drift or a prolonged Time-To-First-Fix (TTFF). Therefore, good sky visibility is very important. ...
Page 43: Design-In
your position is our focus 3 Design-In ® This section provides a Design-In Checklist a s well as Reference Schematics for new designs with ANTARIS 4. For ® ® migration of existing ANTARIS product designs to ANTARIS 4 please refer to Appendix D. For a Design-In for for the LEA-4R/TIM-4R Dead Reckoning GPS Modules refe r to the LEA-4R/TIM-4R System Integration Manual [7]. ® 3.1 Schematic Design-In Checklist for ANTARIS Designing-in a TIM-4x, LEA-4x or NEO-4x GPS receiver is easy especially when a design is based on the reference ...
Page 44: Lea-4X Design
your position is our focus When migrating from an ANTARIS GPS receiver (TIM-Lx or LEA-LA), reduce R5 of the Antenna Short and Open Supervisor circuit to 33k (see Section 4.3.3.2). Serial Communication (see Section 4.3) Choose UBX for an efficient (binary) data handling (see Section 4.4.3) or if more data is required than supported by NMEA (see Section 4.4.4) ...
Page 45 your position is our focus Passive Antenna Passive Antenna RF_IN RF_IN BOOT_INT BOOT_INT VBAT VCC_RF VBAT VCC_RF V_ANT/NC RESET_N V_ANT RESET_N Backup Backup AADET_N/NC GPSMODE6 ET_N PCS0_N/ SS_N/ P26 Battery Battery GPSMO VDD18OUT EXTINT1/ P13 VDD18OUT GPSMODE2/ PCS2_N/ P12 GPSMODE23 GPSMODE7 SCK/ P23...
Page 46 your position is our focus Function Description Remarks (LEA) The serial output voltage levels on Tx depend on the applied VDDIO voltage Serial Port /USB level. TxD1 3 O Serial Port 1 VDDIO serial port output. Leave open if not used. 5V tolerant serial port input with internal pull-up resistor to V_BAT. Leave open if not used. RxD1 4 I Serial Port 1 Note Don’t use an external pull up resistor. LEA-4A / LEA-4S / LEA-4M (only): Tx 2 1 O ...
Page 47: Tim-4X Design
your position is our focus 3.3 TIM-4 x D ign For a minimal De sign wit TIM-4x the following fu nctions and pins have to be considered: • Connect the Power supp ly to VCC. • Assure a optimal ground connection to all g round pins • Connect the antenna to RF_IN over a matc hing 50 Ohm micro strip and define th e antenna supply for active ennas (internal or ex rnal power supply ) • If you need Hot- or Warm start in your appli cation, connect a Backup Battery to V_BAT • Decide whether TIMEPULSE, RESET or BOO TMODE option are required in your application and conne ct the ...
Page 48 your position is our focus Function Description Remarks (TIM) Antenna The connection to the antenna has to be routed on the PCB. Use a controlled impedance of 50 Ohm to connect RF_IN to the antenna or the antenna GPS signal input RF_IN 17 I connector (for det ails refer to Section 3.6.5) from antenna Don’t supply DC through this pin. Use V_ANT pin to supply power. Connect to GND if Passive Anten na is used. Antenna Bias If an active Antenna is used, add a 10R resistor (see 4.3.3.2) in front of V_ANT V_ANT 19 I voltage input to the Antenna Bias Voltage or VCC_RF for short circuit protection or use the antenna supervisor circuitry (see 4.3.3.2). Can be used to power an external active antenna (VCC_RF connected to ...
Page 49: Neo-4S Design
your position is our focus .4 NEO-4S De sign or a minimal D esign with EO-4S, th N e followin g function and pins have to be considered: • Connect the Power supply to VCC. • Assure a optimal ground connection to all g round pins • Connect the antenna to RF_IN over a match ing 50 Ohm micro strip. • If an active antenna shall be connected to NEO, m ake sure to add an inductor for the antenna bias voltage shown in sectio 4.3.3.1 n and follow the layout recommendations in section 3.6.6. • Connect pins 8 and 9 together. ...
Page 50 RF_IN I GPS signal input impedance of 50 Ohm to connect RF_IN to the antenna or the antenna connector (for details refer to Section 3.6.5) GND I Ground fer to pin 10. GND I Ground Refer to pin 10. MOSI O SPI MOSI Leave open if SPI interface is not used. Contact u-blox for more information about the SPI interface. MISO I SPI MISO The function of pin 16 depends on the status of the SELECT pin: • If SELECT pin is connected to VCC: Pin 16 is a configuration input, which defines the USB Power Mode. Connect SPI Clock / to GND for Bus-Powered USB interface. Leave open if USB interface Self- USB Power Mode SCK / CFG_USB O/I Powered •...
Page 51: Layout De Sign-In Checklist For Antaris
your position is our focus ® 3.5 Layout De sign-In Checklist for ANTARIS Follow this checklist for your Layout design to get an optimal GPS performance. Layout optimizations (Section 3.6) Is the GPS module placed according to the recommendation in Section 3.6.2? Have you followed the Grounding concept (see Section 0)? Keep the micro strip as short as possible. Add a ground plane underneath the GPS module to reduce interference. For improv ed shielding, add as many vias as poss ible around th e micro strip, around the serial communication lines, underneath the GPS module etc. ...
Page 52: Layout
your position is our focus 3.6 Layout GPS signals at the surface of the Earth are about 15dB below the thermal noise floor. Signal loss at the antenna and the RF connection must be minimized as much as possible. When defining a GPS receiver layout, the placement of the antenna with respect to the receiver, as well as grounding, shielding and jamming from other digital devices are crucial issues and need to be considered very carefully. 3.6.1 Footprint This section provides important information enabling the design of a reliable and sensitive GPS system. TIM modules LEA modules 0.8 mm [32 mil] 1.0mm [39 mil] 0.8 mm 2.45 mm [32mil]...
Page 53: Paste Mask
your position is our focus 3.6.2 Paste Mask Figure 41 and Table 8 demonstrate the recommended positioning of Cu, Solder and Paste Masks, as well as the suggested distances. Note that these are recommendations only and not specifications. The exact geometry, distances and solder paste volumes must be adapted to the specific production processes (e.g. soldering etc.) of the customer. To improve the wetting of the half vias it is recommended to reduce the amount of past e ...
Page 54: Placement
your position is our focus 3.6.3 Placement ® The placement of the ANTARIS 4 GPS Receiver on the PCB is very important to achieve maximum GPS performance. The connection to the antenna must be as short as possible to avoid jamming into the very sensitive RF section. ...
Page 55 your position is our focus micro strip line O tional active antenna supply ANTARIS GPS module Figure 43: Recommended layout for TIM-xx As seen in Figure 43, an isolated ground area is created around and below the RF connection. This part of the circuit has to be kept as far away from potential noise sources as possible. Make sure that no signal lines cross or vias of signal traces show up at the PCB surface underneath the area surrounded by the red rectangle. Also, the ground plane should be free from digital supply return currents in this area. On a multi layer board, the whole layer stack below the RF connection should be free of digital lines. This is because even a solid ground plane provides only limited isol tion. ...
Page 56: Antenna Micro Strip
your position is our focus General design recommendations: • The length of the micro strip line should be kept as short as possible. Lengths over 2.5 cm (1 inch) should be avoided on standard PCB material and without additional shielding. • Distance between micro strip line and ground area on the top layer should at least be as large as the dielectric thickness. • Routing the RF connection close to digital sections of the design should be avoided. • To reduce signal reflections, sharp angles in the routing of the micro strip line should be avoided. Chamfers or fillets are preferred for rectangular routing; 45-degree routing is preferred over Manhattan style 90-degree routing. ...
Page 57: Antenna Bias Voltage On Neo-4S And Lea-4M
your position is our focus Figure 45: Micro strip on a 2-layer board (Agilent AppCAD Coplanar Waveguide) Figure 45 shows an example of a 2-layer FR4 board of 1.6 mm thickness and a 35µm (1 once) copper cladding. The thickness of the micro strip is comprised of the claddi ng (35µm) plus the plated cupper (typically 25µm). Figure 46 ...
Page 58 your position is our focus Good Microstrip Microstrip Inductor L Inductor L Antenna Supply Voltage Antenna Supply Voltage (e.g. VCC_RF) (e.g. VCC_RF) Figu re 47: Recommended layout for connecting the antenna bias voltage for LEA-4M and NEO-4S ...
Page 59: Receiver Description
your position is our focus 4 Receiver Description 4.1 Overview ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Module is a self-contained receiver for the Global Positioning System (GPS). The complete signal processing chain from antenna input to serial output is contained within a single component. The height of 3mm (~120mil) and small size makes it the ideal GPS solution for applications with stringent space requirements. This type of package makes expensive RF cabling obsolete. The RF input is available directly on a ® pin, the ANTARIS GPS Module is SMT solderable and can be handled by standard pick and place equipment. ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Receiver provides up to two serial ports, which can handle NMEA, UBX proprietary data format and differential GPS correction data (RTCM) and a USB device port (only LEA-4x and NEO-4x modules) ...
Page 60 your position is our focus 4.1.1.1 The RF Section explained The RF section fulfills four major tasks: • Low Noise Amplification of the antenna signal The built-in Low noise amplifier, LNA (ATR0610) provides the initial amplification of the antenna signal. It has a very low noise figure and is the first pre-amplification stage. The performance of this part determines the noise performance of the whole receiver. • Filtering of the antenna signal Since the architecture of the ATR0601 does not use an image reject mixer for power saving reasons, a SAW filter at the RF input is needed to suppress the image frequency. • Frequency conversion of the input signal to a frequency suited for digital processing. • Sampling of the analog signal to obtain a digital bit stream An automatic gain control (AGC) loop is used in front of the A/D-converter to maintain an optimum load for ...
Page 61: Power Management
your position is our focus 4.2 Power Management 4.2.1 Connecting Power ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Receiver basically has two power supply pins, VCC and VBAT. For LEA modules there is an additional pad power supply pin VDDIO that defines the IO voltage levels. Figure 50 shows the internal connections of the power supply network. VCC_RF to RF section: Noise F ilter A and ATR0601 1.8 V to ATR062x core, FLASH...
Page 62: Avoiding Increased Current In Low Power Modes
your position is our focus ® As long as Vcc is supplied to the ANTARIS 4 GPS Receiver, the backup battery is disconnected from the RTC and the backup RAM in order to avoid unnecessary battery drain (see Figure 52). Power to RTC and BBR is supplied from Vcc in this case. GPS Voltage Supply Voltage Supervisor RTC and Battery Backup RAM (BBR) VBAT Figure 52: Backup Battery and Voltage Before Vcc is supplied for the first time, switch J1 Figure 52 is not initialized. In this case increased battery drain ight occur if the backup battery is connected to the V_Bat pin. The battery drain will drop to the specified level s soon as Vcc is applied the first time. ote It’s advised to connect the backup batter y while Vcc is on or – if not possible – power up the module ...
Page 63: Power Saving Modes
your position is our focus 4.2.4 Power Saving Modes 4.2.5 Ope rating Mo ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS tec hnology offers ultra-low power architecture with built-in autonomous power save functions. The receiver us es Autonomous Power Management to minimize the power consumption at any given time. The CPU clock is ge ared down every time the full CPU performance is not needed. Even at very low cloc k speeds, the CPU can still respond to interrupts and gear up CPU clock quickly if required by the computing task. The software freque ntly m akes use of this feature to reduce average po w consumption. Furthermore, the clock ...
Page 64: Continuous Tracking Mode
your position is our focus Power Consumption Continuos Mode FixNow Mode 1'000 10'000 Off Time [s] Figure 5 3: Po wer Consumption with FixNOW Mode Requirements Recommended Operation Mode Maximum Accuracy Continuous Tracking Mode (CTM); Default configuration Periodic position fixes (< 10s) Continuous Tracking Mode (CTM) Power consumption is of minor concern ...
Page 65: Power Saving Modes (Fixnow™ Mode, Fxn)
your position is our focus BAS Disabling SBAS (WAAS, EGNOS) reduces the current consumption by up to 3mA (dependi ng on the number of visible SBAS satellites). pdate Rate Reducing the update rate from 1 Hz to 0.2 Hz (1 position in 5 seconds) results in a current saving of about 0.6 mA. Increasing the update rate from 1 Hz to 4 Hz increases the current consumption by 2 to 3 mA ...
Page 66 your position is our focus Full Power State (On State) ® In Full Power State all components of the ANTARIS 4 chipset are powered through pin VCC. This is the standard operation mode. Depending on CPU load, activity of the peripheral hardware and external load on the I/Os, the actual supply current requirement may vary significantly. Sleep State (Off State) Within this mode the CPU is powered and the receiver can be woken up with a request on the serial communication interface or an external interrupt. ...
Page 67 your position is our focus Wakeup conditions Trigger EXTINT0 Rising edge RxD1 or RxD2 Falling edge Table 13: Possibilities to wakeup the receiver Note When waking up a receiver from sleep- or backup state with a serial message (RxD1 or RxD2), a number (at least 8) of 0xFF characters shall be send prior to the RXM-POSREQ message. Otherwise the first bytes may get lost.
Page 68 your position is our focus start-up Get Fix Continuously IF ( no fix ) IF ( t > T_on ) Reacquisition Acquisition IF ( got 1st fix ) IF ( got fix ) IF ( t > T_acq ) IF ( t > T_reacq ) Acquisition Off State Reacquisition Off State Off State IF ( FixNow requested ) IF ( FixNow requested ) IF ( FixNow requested ) IF ( t > T_off ) IF ( t > T_acq_off ) IF ( t > T_reacq_off ) T_off will be aligned to TOW if TOW alignment is enabled) ...
Page 69 your position is our focus .2.7.7 FXN with out On/ Off Time this mode , the receiver wi ll – as long as there is good GPS coverage – never turn it self off. If there is loss of ignal, or if there is no signa l at powe r-up, the receiver il w l time out and ...
Page 70 your position is our focus .2.7.8 N with On/Off Time contrast to using FXN with out On/O ff Time the receive will only stay on for T_on a r r an initial fix has been chieved an d switch to Off St ate for T_off afterw ards. there is no GPS signal whe n the rec eiver wakes up, th re e ceiver will try to acquire a fix as usual for T_ac q. If his is not su ccessful the rece iver goes to Off St ate for T_acq _off. GPS Signal lost signal OK...
Page 71 your position is our focus Example Enabled Use on/off time 0 (= one valid fix) 60 T_on [s] T_off [s] Absolute align Disabled Base TOW [s] Not used T_acq [s] 60 T_acq_off [s] 120 5 60 T_reacq [s] T_reacq_off [s] Operation As long as there is good GPS coverage, the receiver will perform PVT solutions for T_on, then switches to the ...
Page 72: Externally Controlled Power Management
your position is our focus Example Enabled Use on/off time 0 (= one valid fix) 86’400 (=24 hours) T_on [s] T_off [s] Absolute align Enabled Base TOW [s] 43’200 (=12 hours) 60 (=1 minute) 120 (=2 minutes) T_acq [s] T_acq_off [s] T_reacq [s] 5 T_reacq_off [s] 60 ...
Page 73: Active Antenna
your position is our focus ‘noise’ that may interfere with the antenna performance. For further information about Antenna designs refer to Section 3.4. Passive antennas do not require a DC bias voltage and can be directly connected to the RF input pin RF_IN. Sometimes, they may also need a passive matching network to match the impedance to 50 Ohms. Note Some passive antenna designs present a DC short to the RF input, when connected. If a system is designed with antenna bias supply AND there is a chance of a passive antenna being connected to ...
Page 74: Active Antenna Bias Power
LEA-4M and NEO-4S For all other receivers, refer to Section 4.3.3. EO-4S and LEA-4M do not provide the antenna bias voltage for active antennas on the RF_IN pin. It is therefore essary to provide this voltage outside the module via an inductor as indicated in Figure 62. u-blox recommends using an inductor from Coilcraft (0402C S-36NX). ...
Page 75: Active Antenna Supervisor
your position is our focus 4.3.3.2 Short Circuit Protection This section only applies to TIM-4x and LEA-4x receivers with the exception of LEA-4M. If a reasonably dimensioned series resistor R_BIAS is placed in front of pin V_ANT, a short circuit situation can be detected by the baseband processor. If such a situation is detected, the baseband processor will shut down supply to the antenna. For firmware version earlier than 5.00, the voltage supply to the antenna will only be re- established after a hardware reset of the receiver, e.g. after power cycling. For firmware version 5.00 or later the receiver can be configured to attempt to reestablish antenna power supply periodically. Note To configure the antenna supervisor use the UBX-CFG-ANT message. For further information refer to ® the ANTARIS 4 Protocol Specification. References Value Tolerance Description ...
Page 76 your position is our focus 4.3.4.1 Short and Ope n Circu it Active Ant enna Supervisor This s ection o nly appli es to TIM-4x and LEA-4x receiv ers with the exce ption o f LEA-4M. Antenna Supe rvisor c an be c onfigured by a serial port message...
Page 77 your position is our focus Active Antenna RF_IN Antenna Supply in V_ANT V_ANT VCC_RF ADDET_N ADDET_N Analog GND TIM/LEA Figure 65: Schematic of open circuit detection AADET_N is assigned to different pins for TIM-4R and the other variants of TIM-4x. On TIM-4x, AADET_N is assigned ...
Page 78 your position is our focus References Value Tolerance Description Remarks ± 1 1 2.2 µF Capacitor, X7R, min 10 V 0% ± 1 C2 100 nF Capacitor, X7R, min 10 V 0% FB1 Ferrite Bead e.g. Murata BLM18HD601SN1 600 Ω ± 10% R1 Resistor, min 0.063 W 56 Ω ± 10% R2 Resistor, min 0.250 W 10 Ω ± 1 R3, R4 ...
Page 79: Serial Communication
4.4 Serial Communication ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology comes with a highly flexible communication interface. It supports both the NMEA the proprietary UBX protocol and is able to accept differential correction data (RTCM). It is truly multi-port nd multi-protocol capable. Each protocol (UBX, NMEA, RTCM, custom protocol) can be assigned to ...
Page 80 your position is our focus Possible Asynchronous Serial Interface Configurations Data bit Parity bit Stop bit Baud rate 4’800 8 N 1 9’600 19’200 38’400 57’600 115’200 Table 22: USART configuration Th baud rates can be set individually for each Serial Port. Different e ...
Page 81: Usb Serial Po Rt (Lea -4X And Neo-4S)
your position is our focus 4.4.1.3 SPI Interface The standard software does not support the SPI interface. SPI is only used on LEA-4R/TIM-4R for connecting the external sensors. It is also used to connect an optional EEPROM to NEO-4S for permanently saving of configuration changes. 4.4.2 U SB Serial Po (LEA and NEO-4S) ll LE A-4x receivers an d NEO -4S fe atur e one USB serial po...
Page 82: Ubx Binary Protocol
The voltage range for VDDUSB is specified from 3.0V to 3.6V, which differs slightly from the specificat ion for VCC. 4.4.3 UBX Binary Protocol he u-blox GPS Receivers use a u -blox propri etary protocol to ansmit GPS data ...
Page 83 your position is our focus 4.4.3.2 UBX Message Class A Class a grouping of messag is es, which are related to each other. The following table gives the short names, description and Class ID Definitions. C ss ID Class Name Class No Description Examples NAV Navigation 0x01 Navigation Results Position, Speed, Time, Acc, Heading, DOP, SVs used RXM Receiver Manager 0x02 Receiver Manager Messages Pseudo Ranges, avg. C/N0, Channel STATUS Infor mative 0x04 Printf-Style Messages Error, Warning, Notice A K ...
Page 84 your position is our focus Th following table g ives information about the various values: Nu b m er Formats Short Type Size (Bytes) Comment Min/Max Resolution Unsigned Char 1 0...255 1 I1 Signed Char 1 2's com plement -128...127 1 Unsigned Short 2 0...65535 1 I2 ...
Page 85: Nmea Protocol
your position is our focus 4.4.3.4 UBX Message Flow There are certain features associated with the messages being sent back and forth: • Acknowledgement When me ssages from the Cla ss CFG are sen t to the receiver, the receiver will send an Acknowledge or a Not Acknowledge mess age back t the sender, depending on whether or not the message was processed o corr ectly. • Polling Mechanism Most messages that can be ou tput by the receiver can also be polled. There is not a single specific me ssage, which polls any other message. The UBX protocol wa s ...
Page 86 your position is our focus Figure 72: NMEA Protocol Framing NMEA Parser The NMEA specification is fairly open and allows minor variations in the implementation (e.g. number of position after decimal point, etc.) but it always requests commas between as a separator between NMEA data fields. One should therefore write a parser that searches for commas and extracts everything between two commas. Th is way, the parser is independent of the number of digits for the individual message fields. It will even be ab le to handle empty fields ",,". Beside the commas, a good parser should be able the handle the valid flags correctly. Data are only valid if the valid flag is set to valid. If it’s set to invalid, the NMEA parser should reject data output by the receiver. By no means should it forward it to the application. ® NMEA messages supported by the ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology ®...
Page 87 your position is our focus The NMEA standard allows for proprietary, manufacturer-specific messages to be added. These shall be marked with a manufacturer mnemonic. The mnemonic assigned to u-blox is UBX and is used for all non-standard messages. • Proprietary NMEA: PUBX,00 - Navstar Position (Lat/Long) • PUBX,01 - Navstar Position (UTM) • PUBX,03 - Navstar Satellite Information • PUBX,04 - Navstar Time & Clock Information • PUBX,40 - Set NMEA message output rate • PUBX,41 - Set Protocols and Baudrate ...
Page 88: Rtcm Protocol
4.4.5 RTCM Protoco he RTCM (Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services) pro tocol is a unidirectional protocol (input to the eceiver) su pplying the GP S receiver with real-time differential co rrection data (DGPS). The RTCM protocol specification is available from http://www.rtcm.org/. ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology support RTCM Correction Type Messages 1,2, 3 and 9. GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) Receiver Description GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 88 ...
Page 89: How To Change Between Protocols
your position is our focus 4.4.6 How to change between protocols 1. Reconfiguring a port from one protocol to another is a two-step process. First of all, one needs to assign the preferred protocol(s) to a port. One port can handle several protocols at the same time (e.g. NMEA and UBX). By default, all ports are configured for UBX and NMEA protocol so in most cases, it’s not necessary to change the port settings at all (UBX-CFG-PRT or "PUBX,41" messages). 2. Activate certain messages on each port. 4.5 Acquisition ® At ...
Page 90: Warmstart Strategy
your position is our focus 4.5.2 Warmstart Strategy In Warmstart, the receiver reads the approximate time (from RTC clock), position and almanac information from Battery Backup RAM, assigns up to 12 channels with currently visible SVs and tries to acquire them. The remaining channels will be assigned to non-visible SVs as the receiver may have been moved to another location during off time. Once sufficient SVs are found and ephemeris is decoded, the receiver starts to navigate. 4.5.3 Hotstart Strategy In Hotstart, the receiver reads the approxima te ...
Page 91 your position is our focus External data source, e.g. wireless network operator Almanac Precise Time Ephemeris Synchronization Coarse Position Pulse Coarse Time Cold Start Improved to Improved to typ 34 s typ 24 s typ 4-12 s Figu re 75: Aidin g Principal ...
Page 92: Assistnow Online
com munication networks that support Internet access, including GPRS, UMTS and Wireless LAN. No special arrange ments need to be made wit h mobile network operators to enable AssistNow nline. ® ® Note: All ANTARIS 4 GPS rece ivers support AssistNow Online. ® 4.5.6 AssistNow line ® AssistNow Offline is an A-GPS se rvice that boosts GP S acquisition performance, bringing Time To First Fix (TTFF) ...
Page 93: Supersense ® Gps - Weak Signal Gps (Tim-4H/ Lea-4H/ Tim-4S/ Lea-4S) ..................................... 93
your position is our focus ® u-blox provides AlmanacPlus data files in different sizes, which contain differential almanac corrections that are valid for a period of between 1 and 14 days thereafter. Users can download correction data anytime they have an Internet connection, for example at home or in the office. The GPS receiver stores the downloaded data in the non-vola tile Flash EPROM. ® ssistNow O ffline works in locat ions without a ny wireless connectivity as the correction data files reside in the eceiver. This makes them immedi ately available upon start-up, eliminating connection set-up delays, dow nload aiting times and ca ll charges. ® ® ote: All A NTARIS 4 GPS re ceivers with Flash EPROM are AssistNow Offline capable but require a special firmware. ® 4.5.7 SuperSense GPS - Weak Signal GPS (TIM-4H/ LEA-4H/ TIM-4S/ LEA-4S) This section only applies to TIM-4H/TIM-4S, LEA-4H/LEA-4S and NEO-4S.
Page 94 your position is our focus Acquisition and Ephe meris Downl onger integr ation tim es also improve the acquisition sensitivity but it’s not possible to reach the tracking sensitivity. One of the main issues is that the decoding ...
Page 95: Sensitivity Settings (Tracking And Acquisition Modes)
your position is our focus 4.5.8 Sensitivity Settings (Tracking and Acquisition Modes) For a given hardware setup (antenna and receiver), higher sensitivity can be reached by extending the integration time of the GPS signal. This means that higher sensitivity is a trade-off versus the time it takes to detect a GPS signal. Therefore, both the hardware setup and the user application determine which sensitivity mode will provide the best performance . ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology allows the sensitivity of the receiver to be modified in four steps. Namely, they are: • Auto Sensitivity (sensitivity automatically adjusted according to measured signal levels). •...
Page 96: Navigation
Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring Specific Differential GPS parameters DGPS able 27: Overview GPS Navigation Pa rameter 4.6.1.1 Navigation Output ® e ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology outpu ts the navigation data in LLA (Latitude, Longitude and Altitude), ECEF Earth Centered Earth Fixed) or UT M (Universal Transverse Mercator) format. he LLA output can be configure d to one out of more than 200 predefined datums or to a user datum. ...
Page 97: N Avigation Update Rate
your position is our focus 4.6.2 avigation Update Rate ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology supports raw data and navigation update rates higher or lower than 1 update per second. Parameter Description Defines the time between two raw data (pseudo range) measurements. Measurement Period Navigation Rate Defines the navigation update rate (see formula below). Defines whether the navigation update is aligned to GPS time or UTC. Time Source Table 28: Navigation rate parameters 1000 Navigation UpdateRate Navigation Rate Measuremen tPeriod Note The update rate has a direct influence on the power consumption. The more fixes that are required, ...
Page 98: Static Hold Mode
your position is our focus Platform Description Timing applications (antenna must be stationary) or other stationary applications Stationary • Velocity is constrained to 0 m/s • No process noise (assuming zero dynamics) Applications with low accelerations and low speed, as any portable devices carried and Pedestrian moved by manpower. • Assuming low acc elerations A tomotive Used for applications that can be compared with the dynamics of a passenger car. • Assuming low process noise • Assuming low vertical acceleration At se Recommended for applications at sea, with zero vertical velocity. • Assuming zero vertical velocity • Assuming low process noise Airborne <1g Used for applications that have to handle a higher dynamic range than a car and higher vertical accelerations. •...
Page 99: Degraded Navigation
Dead Reckoning Timeout is reached. The position is extrapolated but it’s indicated as “NoFix” (except for NMEA V2.1). Note For sensor based Dead Reckoning GPS solutions, u-blox offers Dead Reckoning enabled GPS modules (LEA-4R/TIM-4R). They allow high accu racy position solutions for automotive applications at places with poor or no GPS coverage. This technology relies on additional inputs from a turn rate sensor ...
Page 100: Navigation Input Filters
your position is our focus 4.6.7 Navigation Input Filters he navigation input filt ers m ask the inpu t d ata of the navigation engine. These settings are optimized already. It not re comm ended that c nges to any pa ramete rs be made unless advised by u-blox support engineers. Parameter Description Fix Mode By defaul t, the receiver calculates a 3D position fix if possible but reverts to a 2D positio n if necessary (Automatic 2D/3D). It’s possib le to force the receiver t o permanen tly calculate 2D (2D-only) or 3D (3D-only) positions. Fix Altitude Initial alti...
Page 101 your position is our focus 4.6.8.1 PDOP and P Accuracy Mask These navigation output filters adjust the valid flag of the NMEA and UBX- message. Users of the UBX protocol have additional access to messages containing an accuracy indicator, along with the position. 4.6.8.2 TDOP and T Accuracy Mask The TDOP and T accurac y mask control the TIMEPULSE output. They define when the TIMEPULSE is available and within the requested accuracy range. Only when these conditions are met the TIMEPULSE is available on the TIMEPULSE pin. GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) Receiver Description GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 101 ...
Page 102: Position Quality Indicators
your position is our focus 4.6.9 Position Quality Indicators 6.9.1 NMEA Valid Flag (Position Fix Indic ator) A position fix is declared as v alid if all of the conditions below are met: • ® Position fix with at least 3 satellites (2D or 3D fix ). In order to ensure a good accu racy, th e ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology does not sup port 1D fixes. • The ‘3D Position Accurac y Estimate’ needs to be below the ‘Position Accuracy Mask ’ • The PDOP value needs to be below the ‘PDOP Accuracy Mask’. ...
Page 103 your position is our focus Table 33 lists of the status fields (valid flags) for the different NMEA message for NMEA standard 0183 Version 2.2 and smaller: No Position Fix Dead Valid Position Fix Combined NMEA (after power-up, Reckoning 2D Position 3D 14 Field but User GPS/EKF Message after losing (linear extra- Fix ...
Page 104 your position is our focus 4.6.9.2 UBX Valid Flag (Position Fix Indicator) UBX protocol provides status information in abundance. Table 35 lists the position fix flags: Status Field Message Enumeration Description GPSfix NAV-STATUS 0x00 No Fix NAV-SOL 0x01 Dead Reckoning only 0x02 2D-fix 0x03 3D-fix 0x04 GPS + Dead Reckoning combined Flags NAV-STATUS 0x01 GPS fix OK (i.e. within PDOP & Position Accuracy Masks) NAV-SOL 0x02 DGPS used 0x04 ...
Page 105: Dgps (Differential Gps)
your position is our focus 4.6.10 DGPS (Differential GPS) For information abo ut the RTCM protocol refer to Section 4.4.5. 4.6.11 SBAS (Satellit e Based Augmentation Systems) 4.6.11.1 SBAS Features ® ANTARIS 4 is capable of receiving multiple SBAS satellites in parallel, even from different SBAS systems (WAAS, EGNOS, etc.). They can be tracked and used for navigation simultaneously. Up to three SBAS satellites can be searched in parallel and every SBAS satellite tracked utilizes one vacant GPS receiver channel. Only the number ®...
Page 106 your position is our focus The following SBAS messages are supported, in accordance to standard DO-229C: Message Type Message Content Used from 0(0/2) Test Mode All 1 PRN Mask Assignment Primary 2, 3, 4, 5 Fast Corrections Primary 6 Integrity Primary 7 Fast Correction Degradation Primary 9 GEO Navigation (Ephemeris) All 10 Degradation Primary 12 Time Offset Primary 17 GEO Almanachs All 18 Ionosphere Grid Point Assignment Primary 24 ...
Page 107 your position is our focus 4.6.11.2 SBAS Configuration To configure the SBAS functionalities use the UBX proprietary message UBX – CFG (C onfig) – SBAS (SBAS onfiguration) messag e. Parameter Description Enables or disa bles the SBAS subsys m Mode SBAS Subs ystem Allow test mode usage Allow / Disallo SBAS usage from satellites in Test Mode ...
Page 108: Raim (Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring)
your position is our focus 4.6.12 RAIM (Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring) RAIM is a process where the GPS unit itself uses various techniques to monitor the signals it is receiving from the atellites, ensuring th at the information used in the navigation solution is valid. Four SVs are required for a 3D avigation solu tion. The pre sence of one bad SV could tected if five SVs were available. A bad SV could be iden tified and eliminated from the solu on if six or more SVs are available (Fault De ction and Exclusion (FDE)). ® he ANTARIS Technolog y support s RAIM and has the bility to enable/disable this feature using software commands.
Page 109: Timing
EPULSE Pulse Length Duration of the TIMEPULSE Pulse Frequency The pulse frequency is calculated from the pulse period (u-center output only) Selection whether the Time Pulse is GPS time or UTC time synchronized Time Source ® Cable Delay Signal delay in the cable from the antenna to the ANTARIS 4 GPS Rece iver ® User Delay The cable delay from ANTARIS 4 GPS Receiver to the user device plus s ignal delay of any user application ® Delay of the signal in the ANTARIS 4 GPS Receiver RF module (hard coded) RF Group Delay Table 40: TIMEPULSE Parameter description...
Page 110 your position is our focus Figure 86 shows the sequential order of the signal present at pin TIMEPULSE and the respective output message for the simple case of 1 puls e per second and a one second navigation update rate. UTC 8:30:00 UTC 8:30:01 TIMEPULSE Serial Data Out Position fix calculation Protocol: UTC 8:30:00 Protocol: UTC 8:30:01 Figure 86: TIMEPULSE output signal and protocol time message, example for 1 s period and rising edge configuration The navigation update rate and TIMEPULSE period should be configured to result in a meaningful pattern. For ...
Page 111 your position is our focus 4.7.1.2 1PPS TIMEPULSE The following example shows a 1PPS rising e dge triggered TIMEPULSE aligned to GPS time Parameter values Pulse Mode + 1 – rising 1000 100 Pulse Period [ms] Pulse Length [ms] Time Source 1 – GPS Cable Delay [ns] 50 User Delay [ns] 0 Table 41: 1PPS TIMEPULSE Parameter settings GPS 8:30:00 GPS 8:30:01 TIMEPULSE...
Page 112 your position is our focus 4.7.1.4 60s UTC aligned TIMEPULSE The following example shows a 60s, falling edge triggered TIMEPULSE aligned to UTC Time Parameter values Pulse Mode - 1 – falling 60000 1 Pulse Per iod [ms] Pulse Length [ms] Time Source 0 – UTC Cable De [ns] 50 User Delay [ns] 0 ...
Page 113: Time Mode
your position is our focus 4.7.2 Time Mode This section only applies to LEA-4T modules. ® LEA-4T modules support a special Time Mode for increased time accuracy. The AN TARIS 4 is designed only for stationary antenna setup. The Time Mode features three different settings. When the Time Mode is disabled, the receiver works like a standard PVT receiver. If high timing accuracy is required and the fixed antenna position is not known, set the ® Time Mode to ‘survey-in’. In this mode the ANTARIS 4 GPS receivers averages the position measurements over a long period of time until a predefined standard deviation is achieved. Afterwards the receiver will be automatically set to fixed Mode and the Timing features will be activated. ...
Page 114: Timemark
4.7.3 Timemark This section only applies to LEA-4T modules. ® ANTARIS 4 GPS Receiver can be used for time measurement s with a sub millisecond resolution using the external interrupt (EXTINT0). The Timemark function can be enabled with UBX – CFG – TM (for firmware version <5.00) or UBX – CFG – TM2 (for firmware version ≥ 5.00). The results are transmitted via serial port with the UBX – TIM – TM/TM2 messages including time of the last ...
Page 115: Re Iver Configuration
your position is our focus 4.8 Receiver Configuration 4.8.1 Configuration Concept ® e A NTAR 4 GPS hnology is fully configura ble with UBX protocol configuration messages (message class UBX-CFG). config ation of rec eiver can be changed during normal operation mode. The configuration ta is auto tically red to th e c urre nt configuration se ction and becomes immediately active (see Figure 91). ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS core always uses the current configuration. The settings from the current section will only become permanen t settings if they are saved to the permanent ...
Page 116 your position is our focus .8.1.2 Org nization the Configur ion Sectio e confi guration is divid into sev eral sub-s ections. Each of these sub-sections corresponds to one or several UBX-CFG messa ges. Sub-Section CFG - Messages Description 0 PRT UBX–CFG –PRT rt settings 1 MSG UBX–CFG –MSG Message settings (enable/disable, u pdate rate) BX–CFG –NMEA 2 INF ...
Page 117 your position is our focus 4.8.1.4 Change Configuration permanently To change a configuration permanently on the receiver, the configuration parameters must have been previously stored in order to be available at startup. Therefore any permanent change of configuration must be saved in the battery backup RAM for Low Cost receivers or FLASH for Programmable Receivers. To store a configuration select the UBX – CFG (Config) – CFG (Configuration) save command in u-center AE and send the message to the receiver by pressing the send button ( ). Figure 92: Saving a configuration section Note Use the <ctrl> + <left click> to deselect the last selection, if you choose “user defined”. 4.8.1.5 Loading a Configuration Generally there is no need to manually load configuration settings since they are automatically loaded at startup. The ability to force a load of the settings can be useful if you changed some settings (without saving them) and want to reset the configuration to the last saved configuration. To do this select the requested sections in the load box and send the message to the receiver. 4.8.1.6 Clear a Configuration permanently Clearing a configuration can be useful if you want to reset to the factory default state. You have to load them ...
Page 118: Gpsmode Pin Configuration (Rom Only / Low Cost Receivers)
Revert to default Use Custom Firmware Setting Settings ® Figure 93: ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology Start-Up Procedure Note The start-up configuration can be changed at any time sending appropriate configuration commands over serial port. ® TIM and LE A receivers support only a subset of all GPS MODE configurations of the ANTARIS 4 Chipset due to limited pins available on the module. Function TIM-4A/ TIM-4S LEA-4A LEA-4S GPSMODE2 GPSMODE3 ...
Page 119 your position is our focus 4.8.2.2 Sensitivity Settings For LEA-4A, TIM-4A and TIM-4S: TIM-4x LEA-4A GPSMODE3 GPSMODE2 Description [PU] [PU] 0 0 Auto 1 Fast Mode 1 0 Normal sensitivity mode 1 1 High sensitivity mode ...
Page 120 your position is our focus Message Set Protocol Message Class Messages Standard GGA, RMC NMEA NAV SOL, SVINFO Medium NMEA Standard GGA, RMC, GSA, GSV, GLL, VTG, ZDA NAV SOL, SVINFO, POSECEF, POSLLH, STATUS, DOP, VELECEF, VELNED, TIMEGPS, TIMEUTC, CLOCK Standard GGA, RMC, GSA, GSV, GLL, VTG, ZDA, GRS, GST High NMEA Proprietary PUBX00, PUBX03, PUBX04 NAV SOL, SVINFO, POSECEF, POSLLH, STATUS, DOP, VELECEF, VELNED, TIMEGPS, TIMEUTC, CLOCK MON SCHD, IO, IPC Standard GGA, RMC, GSA, GSV, GLL, VTG, ZDA, GRS, GST Debug NMEA Proprietary PUBX00, PUBX03, PUBX04 ...
Page 121: Sy Em Functions
your position is our focus 4.9 System Functions 4.9.1 Reset Options ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology distinguishes between four types of reset. An external hardware reset (by pulling open drain RESET_N pin low), two resets are controlled software resets and one is an asynchronous software reset, which are used to shut down and restart parts or the whol receiver. ...
Page 122: Boot_Int- Boot Mode Selection
Figure 96: BOOT_INT, Internal connection Note This Pin is only needed if a firmware upgrade failed and therefore the firmware image is corrupt. Leave BOOT_INT unconnected if not used. Note It’s advisable to foresee a jumper between BOOT_INT_N and VCC. For Low Cost Receivers this signa l is only used for production tests at u-blox, hence no jumper is required. 4.9.4 EXTINT - External Interrupt Pin EXTINT0 (and optional EXTINT1) is an external interrupt pin. This pin is used in standard configuration to initiate a position fix in the FixNOW™ Mode. A rising edge at EXTINT wakes up the module and initiates a position fix ® calculation. Using the ANTARIS 4 Software Customization Kit, EXTINT can initiate external interrupts to custom ...
Page 123: System Monitoring
your position is our focus 4.9.5 System Monitoring ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Rece iver provides System Monitoring functions that allow the operation of the embedded processor and associated peripherals to be supervised. These System Monitoring functions are being output as part of the UBX protocol, class ‘MON’. The in formation available from the system monitoring functions is: 1. Software Version 2. Hardware Version 3. Current syste m CPU load 4. Maximum stack usage since last reset 5. Last exception (type/registers/ sta ck dump) 6. Target (USART/SPI) specific values: Number of bytes received • Number of bytes transmitted • Number of pa rity errors •...
Page 124: Product Handling
your position is our focus 5 Product Handling ® Note As all ANTARIS 4 products are LEAD FREE (RoHS compliant). 5.1 Packaging ® The ANTARIS 4 GPS Modules are delivered as hermetically sealed reeled tapes in order to enable efficient production, production lot set-up and tear-down. ® Figure 97: Reeled ANTARIS 4 GPS Receiver modules 5.1.1 Reels ®...
Page 125: Tapes
your position is our focus 5.1.2 Tapes The dimensions and orientations of the tapes for the TIM-4x, LEA 4x and NEO-4x GPS Modules are specified in Figure 99 and Table 54. 4.00mm Feed Direction Dimension Module Length(mm) Remarks TIM 25.9 Height of module LEA 23.0 NEO 16.6 TIM 25.9 Width of module LEA 17.6 NEO 12.6 TIM 32.0 Distance from leading edge of module to LEA ...
Page 126: Storage
your position is our focus Figure 100: Applicable MSD Label (See Section 3.1 for baking instructions) 5.2.3 Storage Shelf life in sealed bag is 12 months at <40°C and <90% relative humidity. 5.2.4 Handling A humidity indicator card and a desiccant bag to absorb humidity are enclosed in the sealed package. The parts are shipped on tape-a nd-reel in a hermetically sealed package. If no humidity has been drawn, the three fields in the humidity indicator card indicate blue color. GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) Product Handling GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 126 ...
Page 127: Floor Life
your position is our focus Figure 101: Humidity Indicator Card, good condition 5.2.5 Floor Life For products with moisture sensitivity leve l 4 , the floor life is 72 hours, or precisely three days. Under factory floor temperature and humidity condition s ...
Page 128: Pr Essing Oc
your position is our focus 5.3 Processing 5.3.1 Moisture Preconditioning Both encapsulant and substrate materials absorb moisture. JEDEC specification J-STD-020 must be observed to prevent cracking and delamination associated with the "popcorn" effect during solder reflow. The popcorn effect can be described as miniature explosions of evaporating moisture. Baking before processing is required in following cases: • Humidity indicator card: At least one circular indicator is no longer blue • Floor life or environmenta l requirements after opening the seal is opened has been exceeded, e.g. exposure to xcessive seasonal humidity. e om ended baking procedure: ation: ...
Page 129: Reflow Soldering
your position is our focus 5.3.3 Reflow Soldering A convection type-soldering oven is strongly recommended over the infrared type radiation oven. Convection heated ovens allow precise control of the temperature and all parts will be heated up evenly, regardless of material properties, thickness of compon ents and surface color. ...
Page 130: Optical Inspection
These Peak temperatures is around 10 degree igher than the recomme h nded st andard leads process ® on ANTARIS products. ® Note The ANTARIS modules must not be solde d w ith a damp heat process . 5.3.4 Optical Inspection ® After soldering the ANTARIS 4 GPS Module, consider an optical inspection step to check whether: • ® ANTARIS 4 GPS Module is properly aligned and centered over the pads • All pads are properly soldered • No excess solder has created contacts to neighboring pads, or possibly to pad stacks and vias nearby. GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) Product Handling GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 130 ...
Page 131: Cleaning
your position is our focus 5.3.5 Cleaning In general, cleaning the populated modules is strong ly discouraged. Residuals, which are underneath the ® ANTARIS 4 GPS Modules, cannot be removed easily with a washing process. • Cleaning with water will lead to capillary effects where water is absor bed in the gap between the baseboard ® and the ANTARIS 4 GPS Module. The combination of residuals of soldering flux and encapsulated water ...
Page 132: Conformal Coating
EMI covers is done at the customer's own risk. The numerous ground pins should be sufficient to provide optimum immunity to interferences and noise. ® Note u-blox makes no warranty for damages on the ANTARIS 4 GPS Module caused by soldering metal cables or any other forms of metal strips directly onto the EMI covers. 5.3.13 Use of any Ultrasonic Processes ®...
Page 133: Product Testing
your position is our focus 6 Product Testing 6.1 u-blox In-Series Production Test u-blox focuses on high quality for its products. To achieve a high standard it’s our philosophy to supply fully tested units. Therefore at the en d of the production process, every unit is tested. Defective units are analyzed in detail to improve the production quality. his is achie ved with au tomatic test equipme...
Page 134: Sy Em Sensitivity Test
6.3 System Sensitivity Test The best way to test the sensitivity of a GPS device is with the use of a 1-channel GPS simulator. It assures reliable and constant signals at every measurement. Figure 104: 1-channel GPS simulator u-blox reco mmends the following Single-Channel GPS Simulator: • Spirent GSS6100 ...
Page 135: Pc Support Tools
your position is our focus 7 PC Support Tools 7.1 Firmware Update There are several ways to upgrade the firmware 1. Command line tool (ATR062xL.exe) 2. U-center update tool 7.1.1 ATR062xL.exe The command line tool ATR06xL.exe can be used to upgrade firmware over serial port. It’s possible to write customized batch files to run the firmware upgrade automatically. To run the ATR062xL.exe with a batch file, add a file e.g. udwld.bat to your project directory with the following content according to your PC and GPS receiver setup: mple: Atr062xL.exe –f ANTARIS_Fw_5.00.bin –c COM –p com1 –m UBX 9600 There are arguments of the command line tool: b <baudrate>...
Page 136: U-Center Update Tool
your position is our focus 7.1.2 U-center Update Tool 7.1.3 Firmware update with u-center AE The receiver firmware can be updated with the firmware update function in the Tools Menu of u-center AE. ® Follow these steps to upgrade the firmware on ANTARIS 4 GPS Receiver: 7.1.3.1 Firmware Update via Serial Port (USART) 1. ...
Page 137 your position is our focus 8. Press ‘Update’ Button to start download. Figure 106: Screenshot, u-center Firmware; Update Tool settings for Serial Port Update GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) PC Support Tools GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 137 ...
Page 138: Using U-Center Antaris Edition
® 7.2 Using u-center ANTARIS Edition ® ® u-center ANTARIS Edition (u-center AE) is a very powerful PC support tool. It’s provided with every ANTARIS ® EvalKit and ANTARIS Software Customization Kit. New continuously improved releases can be downloaded for free from our website: http://www.u-blox.com. ® Figure 110: Screenshot, u-center ANTARIS Edition (u-center AE) GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) PC Support Tools GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 138 ...
Page 139: Using U-Center Message View
your position is our focus 7.2.1 Using u-center Message View The u-center Message View is used to communicate with the GPS receiver. Receiver output messages (e.g. navigation output, status and debug information) are displayed; input messages (e.g. configuration messages) can be sent. There are different sections for NMEA and UBX protocol. ...
Page 140 your position is our focus 7.2.1.1 Receiver Output Messages Message Tree Last Update Black mes sages Time in seconds have recen tly been since last update. updated; grey messages have not Message Content been updated. Selected Message Blue shaded if mes- sage has been received f rom the GPS recently Hex Dump otherwise grey. Figure 112: Message Display of an U-center output message Double-clicking ...
Page 141: Recording Logfiles
your position is our focus 7.2.2 Recording Logfiles -center allows recordin g and playi ng log file. Usi ng t he pl er controls, one record a log file, step through or lay all messages from th e log file. T he series of buttons in th e player toolbar can be used to navigate through he log file. The records w ill be displaye d on th e navigat n di splay window, in the same wa y that live GPS data displayed when usi ng u- center. Refer the u-ce nter AE u r’s guide [4] for ...
Page 142: Configuration Of Antaris
your position is our focus ® 7.2.4 Configuration of ANTARIS 4 based GPS Receivers ® u-center AE is able to get the actual configuration of an A NTARIS based GPS receiver and store it to an ASCII ® text file containing hexadecimal reco rds. Such a file can be e dited and stored to an ANTARIS based GPS receiver gain. By cl icking the menu “Tools->GPS Configur tion dialog n…” of u-center AE, the GPS Configura pens. The follow ing functions are avail able: Figure 115: Screenshot, u-center GPS configuration •...
Page 143 your position is our focus Figure 117: Content of a Configuration File When clicking the “Edit” button in the GPS Configuration dialog, the Notepad editor opens (standard Windows software). Configurations are stored the following way: • ® line: it contains the version of the ANTAR based GPS receiver where the configuration is from. Never change this line! • For the 2 line and following eac h line contains the same: <class ID>-<message ID> - <hexadecimal byte ...
Page 144: Troubleshooting
your position is our focus 8 Troubleshooting ® The ANTARI GPS receiver does not meet the TT F specific ake sure yo ur antenna has a g ood sky view. bstructed view leads to prolonge startup times. a well es igned system, the a verage of the C/No ratio of high eleva tion ...
Page 145 a GPS receive r has no information about th e number f leap conds until this information is o receiv d from the GPS satellites, which can take up to 12.5 minutes. During this time, the receiver will have to make an assumption and output a default value. u-blox has decided to output 0s in this case. Some people would prefer 13s (the number of leap seconds at the time being). Though the latter approach seems to be an advantage as one doesn't see any time jump in ca se of cold starts right now, it is very questionable approach since a potential problem is hidden for a long time . As the number of leap seconds will change sooner or later (the earth rotation slows down), the problem might not occur when the units are already deployed in the field. hat can be done to overcome this proble m? ...
Page 146 your position is our focus My application (e.g. u-center AE) does not receive anything Check if the evaluation box is powered and make sure the serial cable is properly connected to the evaluation box and the PC. By default, the e valuation box will output UBX protocol on port 1 at 57600 baud. My application (e.g. u-center AE) d oes not rec eive a me ssages ® ake sure the ba ud rate is sufficient. If the bau d rate is in ficient, GPS rec eivers based on the ANTARIS GPS Technology will skip excessive messages. ...
Page 147: A Default Settings
your position is our focus A Default Settings Note For the default settings for the ROM-only - Low Cost GPS receivers please refer as well to Section 4.8.2 as the config uration settings are defined by the status of the GPSMODE Pins at the start up.
Page 148 your position is our focus Navigation (UBX – CFG – NAV2) Parameter Default setting Unit Range/Remark 3-Automoti ve tationary; 2- Pede stri an; 3-Autom otive; 4 ea; 5-A borne Dyna mic Platform Model <1g; 6-Airborne <2g; 7- Airborne <4g Allow Almanac Navigation Disabled bled - Disabled Static Hold Threshold 0.00 ...
Page 149: Power Saving Modes
your position is our focus Receiver Manager (UBX - CFG – RXM) LEA A, LEA-4P, LEA-4M, TIM-4A, TIM-4 nd TIM-4R Parameter Default setting Unit Range/Remark GPS M Norm al to; Normal; Fast Acquisition; High Sensiti ty w ower Mo 0 – CTM 0 CTM; 1 - FXN - Table 6 2: Receiver Configuration defa...
Page 150: Sbas Configuration
your position is our focus A.4 SBAS Configuration SBAS Configuration Parameter Default setting Unit Range/Remark SBAS Subsystem Enabled abled – Disabled Allow test mode usage Disabled Enabled – Disabled Services Ranging (Use SBAS for Enabled Enabled – Disabled navigation) Apply SBAS Correction Disabled Enabled – Disabled Data Apply integrity information Disabled ...
Page 151: Message S (Ubx - Cfg - Msg)
your position is our focus Message s (UBX – CFG – MSG) UBX Message Type USART1 USART2 Range/Remark (TARGET1 (TARGET2 ) (TARGET3 ) NAV-P OSECEF Out NAV-P OSLLH Out 1 ...
Page 152: Messages (Ubx - Cfg - Inf)
your position is our focus NMEA Message Type USART1 USART2 Range/Remark (TARGET1 (TARGET3 ) (TARGET2 ) NMEA - DTM Out NMEA - GBS Out NMEA - GGA Out 1 1 NMEA - GLL Out ...
Page 153: Timing Settings
your position is our focus A.8 Timing Settings Time ark (UBX – CFG – TM2) Parameter Default setting unit Range/Remark Input Line 31 – EXTIN T0 0 – EXTINT 0; 1 – EX TINT 1; 2– EXTI NT 2 Enable Timemark Disabled Enabled; disabled Mode ; Single Time B ase ...
Page 154: B Map Datums
your position is our focus B Map Datums B.1 Predefined Datums Please re fer to the bookl et GPS Basics, Introduction to the system [2] for a detailed introduction to coordinate systems, datums and datum conversion. Ellipsoid index Rotation and scale Index Name Acronym dX [m] dY [m] dZ [m] (see Table 76) index (see Table 77) 0 ...
Page 155 your position is our focus Ellipsoid index Rotation and scale Index Name Acronym dX [m] dY [m] dZ [m] (see Table 76) index (see Table 77) 33 North Sahara 1959 - Algeria NSD -186.0 -93.0 310.0 34 Old Egyptian 1907 - Egypt OEG -130.0 110.0 -13.0 35 Point 58 - Mean Solution (Burkina Faso & Niger) ...
Page 156 your position is our focus Ellipsoid index Rotation and scale Index Name Acronym dX [m] dY [m] dZ [m] (see Table 76) index (see Table 77) Europ ean 1950 - England, Wales, Scotland & 70 EUR-G -86.0 - 96.0 -120.0 Channel Islands European 1950 - England, Wales, Scotland & 71 EUR-K -86.0 - 96.0 -120.0 Ireland ...
Page 157 your position is our focus Ellipsoid index Rotation and scale Index Name Acronym dX [m] dY [m] dZ [m] (see Table 76) index (see Table 77) N. Americ an 1927 - Eastern Canada 02 Newfoun dland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia & -G -22.0 160.0 190.0 Quebec) 03 N. Americ an 1927 - Manitoba & Ontario ...
Page 158 your position is our focus Ellipsoid index Rotation and scale Index Name Acronym dX [m] dY [m] dZ [m] (see Table 76) index (see Table 77) 136 South American 1969 - Chile SAN-D -75.0 -1.0 -44.0 137 South American 1969 - Colombia SAN-E -44.0 -36.0 uth American 1969 - Ecuador (excluding 138 ...
Page 159 your position is our focus Ellipsoid index Rotation and scale Index Name Acronym dX [m] dY [m] dZ [m] (see Table 76) index (see Table 77) 170 Mahe 1971 - Mahe Island MIK 41.0 -220.0 -134.0 171 Reunion - Mascarene Islands RUE 94.0 -948.0 -1262.0 172 American Samoa 1962 - American Samoa Islands ...
Page 160 your position is our focus Ellipsoid index Rotation and scale Index Name Acronym dX [m] dY [m] dZ [m] (see Table 76) index (see Table 77) Pulkovo 1942 Russia - 28.0 -130.0 -95.0 207 Tananarive Obser vatory 1925 - Madagascar TAN -189.0 -242.0 08 ...
Page 161 your position is our focus Index Description Rot X [seconds] Rot Y [seconds] Rot Z [seconds] Scale [-] 0 +0.0000 +0.0000 +0.0000 0.000 1 0.0000 0.0000 -0.5540 220 2 European Datum 1987 IAG RETr ig Subcommision 0.1338 -0.0625 -0.0470 0.045 able 7: Ro tation and scale...
Page 162: C Demo Design
4.3 . C.1.3 Layout Figure 118 and F re 119 show exam ples of an lication bo ard based on u-blox PS2 board. One can easily identi fy the larg e nu mber of vias an d the ground a reas on the top l ayer. Since the dielectric is rather thic k ...
Page 163: Le - Smart Antenna A
your position is our focus Figure 119: Reference layout: B ottom layer r 1.6 FR-4 material Note u-blox of fers a P review su fo yo ur esi d to assure good GPS performance. Plea se contact your loca l u -blox office already in an ear stage of your design process for optimal guida e. C.2 LEA – Smart A nten The ...
Page 164: Schematic
your position is our focus C.2.1 Schematic ANT1 gure 121: LEA S rt Antenn a Sch ematic Some of the pass ive compo nts (Resisto s) can be neglected, if the design does not have to support Low Cost odules (like LE -4A). GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) Demo Design GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 164 ...
Page 165: Bill Of Material
your position is our focus C.2.2 Bill of Material Part description Remarks ANT1 25 x 25mm Ceramic Patch Antenna e.g. EMTAC ANR1580M25B4, e.g. F0=1580 C1, C3 10µ, 20%, S1210 C2 10n, 10%, S0603 D1 Schottky diode, e.g. BSA40-05 Only required if optional battery J2 is used. J1 10-pin connec tor, 2.54mm pitch e.g. Mol ex 7395 right angle header J2 Sanyo ML621-TZ 1 Rechargeable Li Battery Optional. If not used, connect pin J1-6 to battery on motherboard or to GND. R3A 100k Resistor, 10%, S0603, 0.063W GPSMODE6, see also section 4.8.2.3. For LEA-4S and LEA-4A, fit R3B or leave ...
Page 166: Layout
your position is our focus C.2.3 Layout The layout is designed for a 2-layer 1mm FR4 PCB board. Figure 123: Bott om Layer igur 122: T op Layer GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) Demo Design GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 166 ...
Page 167: D Migration To Antaris
® ® Migrating ANTARIS to an ANTARIS 4 GPS receiver is a very straightforward procedure. Nevertheless there are some points to be considered during the migration. D.1 Software Changes < Firmware 5.00 or Firmware 5.00 or Remarks < ROM5 ROM5 UBX-CFG-NAV UBX-CFG-NAV2 To ease the navigation configuration u-blox has introduced a new message. It has also additional features. UBX-CFG-NAV is not supported anymore on ® ANTARIS 4. See also Section 4.6. UBX-TIM-TM Time mark feature UBX-CFG-TM Starting with firmware version 5.0, these messages are not longer supported! UBX-TIM-TM2 Improved Time Mark feature. UBX-CFG-TM2 Only supported on LEA-4T. UBX-RXM-RAW UBX-RXM-RAW Satellite RAW and subframe data. ...
Page 168: Migration From Lea-La To Lea-4H/Lea P
your position is our focus LEA-LA LEA-4A / LEA -4S Remarks for Migration Pin Name Typical Assignment Pin Name Typical Assignment GPSMODE2/ Backward compatible: This pin can be connected Connected to GND GPSMODE23 Not connected to GND, VDD18OUT or VCC. An external pull up GPSMODE2 or VDD_18OUT resistor is not required as there is one built-in. Not connected GPSMODE7 Not connected Connected to GND VDDUSB Connected to GND Placing a LEA-4x into an existing LEA-LA board design will disable USB port. Not connected USB_DM Not connected Not connected USB_DP Not connected ...
Page 169 your position is our focus LEA-LA LEA-4H / LEA-4P Remarks for Migration Pin Name Typical Assignment Pin Name Typical Assignment mode is increased by up to 50µA Connected to GND Backward compatible: can be left open or GPSMODE2 PCS2_N Not connected or VDD_18OUT connected to GND, VDDIO or VDD_18OUT. Not connected Not connected Connected to GND Connected to GND VDDUSB Placing a LEA-4x into an existing LEA-LA board or VDD_USB design will disable USB port. Not connected USB_DM Not connected Not connected Not connected USB_DP Connected to ...
Page 170: Migration From Tim-Lx To Tim-4X Pin Out
your position is our focus D.4 Migration from TIM-Lx to TIM-4x pin out The pin-outs of TIM -Lx and TIM-4x modules do not differ significantly. Table 81 compares the modules and ighlights the differences to be considered. Please note that this table does not consider any migration from TIM-LR. ...
Page 171: Pin Comparison Antaris To Antaris 4
your position is our focus ® ® Pin Comparison ANTARIS to ANTA ® ® ANTARIS ANTAR TIM-4A/ TIM-4S TIM-4P/ TIM-4H TIM-LA /TIM-LC TIM-LL/ TIM-LF/ TIM-LH TIM-LP TIM-LR Pin Name Typical Pin Name Typical Pin Name Typical Na Typical Pin Name ...
Page 172 your position is our focus ® ® ANTARIS ANTARIS LEA-LA LEA-4A/ LEA-4S LEA-4P/ LEA-4H/ LEA-4T Pin Name Typical Pin Name Typical Pin Name Typical Assignment Assignment Assignment TxD2 3.0V out TxD2 3.0V out MOSI 1 1.8 - 5.0V RxD2 3.0V in RxD2 MISO 2 TxD1 3.0V out ...
Page 173: Migration From Tim-St To Tim-4X
TIM-4x (ANTARIS Remarks NMEA V2.2 NMEA V2.3 Most NMEA parsers should be able to handle V2.2 and V2.3. Should your parser struggle with V2.3, configure TIM-4x to output NMEA V2.1 by sending an UBX-CFG-NMEA message. ® 12 channels 16 channels ANTARIS 4 is able to track up to 16 satellites in parallel. Since one GSV message contains only up to 4 satellites, ANTARIS may send up to 4 GSV messages whereas TIM-ST only output 3. If this causes problem, reduce the NMEA output of ANTARIS to 12 satellites by sending a CFG-NMEA message ® Lat and Long are output in Lat and Long are only ANTARIS 4 can be reconfigured to output Lat and Long in case of invalid fixes case of invalid fixes output for valid fixes by sending an UBX-CFG-NMEA message. ® Accepts position up to a Accepts position up to a ANTARIS 4 receivers are more sensitive than TIM-ST. Hence the more PDOP of 50 PDOP of 25 conservative approach with a PDOP of 25 works usually fine. However, it’s possible to configure TIIM-Lx to accept position with a higher PDOP by sendin g a UBX-CFG-NAV2 message Lat and Long are output Lat and Long are output The NMEA specification is fairly open and allows minor variations in the with 4, the time with 3 ...
Page 174 The pin-outs of TIM-ST and TIM-4x modules do not differ significantly. Table 84 compares the modules and highlights the differences to be considered. TIM-ST TIM-4x Remarks Pin Name Typical Assignment Pin Name Typical Assignment The nominal voltages are identical but the 2.75 – 3.45V 2.70 – 3.30V tolerances differ slightly. u-blox recommends using a 3.0V LDO for TIM-4x (see 4.2.1.1) GND No difference BOOT_INT BOOT_INT NC No difference RXD1 3.0V in RXD1 in No difference ...
Page 175: E Mechanical Dimensions/ Pinout
your position is our focus E Mechanical Dimensions/ Pinout E.1 LEA Modules 2.85 ± 0.1 mm [112.2 ± 4 mil] 2.85 ± 0.1 mm [112.2 ± 4 mil] LEA-4P RF_IN RF_IN LEA-4A BOOT_INT LEA-4H BOOT_INT LEA-4S VCC_RF V_BAT VCC_RF V_BAT LEA-4T V_ANT RESET_N V_ANT RESET_N 1.10 ± 0.1 mm [ 43.3 ± 4 mil] 1.10 ± 0.1 mm [ 43. 3 ± 4 mil] AADET_N GPSMODE6 AADET_N (Reserved) 3.80 ± 0.1 mm [149.6 ± 4 mil] 3.80 ± 0.1 mm [149.6 ± 4 mil]...
Page 176: Tim Modules
your position is our focus E.2 TIM Modules 25.4 ± 0.1 mm [1000 ± 4 mil] 25.4 ± 0.1 mm [1000 ± 4 mil] TIM-4P RF_IN RF_IN TIM-4A TIM-4H TIM-4S V_ANT V_ANT 1.9 ± 0.1 mm 1.9 ± 0.1 mm ± 4 mil] [75 ± 4 mil] VCC_RF VCC_RF 8 ± 0.1 mm 2.8 ± 0.1 mm 0 ± 4 mil] [110 ± 4 mil] V_BAT VDD18OUT V_BAT VDD18OUT RESET_N EXTINT1 RESET_N GPSMODE3 EXTINT0 EXTINT0 GPSMODE5 RxD2 GPSMODE2 RxD2...
Page 177: Neo Modules
your position is our focus E.3 NEO Modules 0.8 ± 0.1 mm [ 31.5 ± 4 mil] MOSI RF_IN MISO SCK/CFG_USB VCC_RF 1.1 ± 0.1 mm [ 43.3 ± 4 mil] (Reser ved) NEO-4S 3.0 ± 0.1 mm [118.1 ± 4 mil] (Reser ved) VDDUSB (Reser ved) USB_DP TxD1 USB_DM RxD1 EXTINT0 V_BAT TIMEPULSE SELECT OT_INT 1.0 ± 0.1 mm [ 39.4 ± 4 mil] 12.2 ± 0.1 mm [480.3 ± 4 mil] 2.8 ± 0.3 mm [110.2 ± 12 mil] Figure 126: Pin-out NEO-Mod ules Note...
Page 178: F Index
your position is our focus F Index 2D Navigation, 99 Fast Acquisition, 95 Firmware U pdate, 135, 136 FixNOW™, 63, 65 FLASH, 59, 115, 117 Footprint, 52 Accuracy, 30, 63, 71, 72, 100, 101, 110, 144 Full Power State, 65, 66, 69, 71 Acquisition, 12, 89, 95 FXN, 63, 65 Activ e Ante nna, 42 , 22, 60 AGPS, 90 Aiding, 13, 90 Aiding Topo logy, 30, 91 GPS Time, 97, 109, 111 , 145 Almanac Na vigation, 96, 99, 144 GPSMODE, 118 Antenna, 42, 144 Grounding, 52, 54, 132 ...
Page 179 your position is our focus Standard GPS Receivers, 36 Static Hold Mode, 98 OCD, 78 Status Information, 104 Odometer, 32, 99, 102, 103 ® SuperSense , 36 Open Circuit Detection, 78 , 93 utput Message, 140 TDOP, 110 assive Antenna, 42, 72 Testing, 133 aste Mask, 53 TIM modules, 38 atch Antenna, 17 Timemark, 114 PDOP, 14, 1 00, 101, 144 TIMEPULSE, 60, 100, 109 in Configuration, 118 Timing Receivers, 36 lacement, 54 TTFF, 42, 144 Position Accuracy Mask, 144 turn rate sensor, 32, 34, 99, 102, 103 Posit ion Fix Indicator, 102, 104 osition upon Re quest, 66 ...
Page 180: G Lists
your position is our focus G Lists G.1 List of Figures F igure 1: Basic Signal Processing ................................... 11 F igure 2: Basic Operation Cycle ..................................12 F igure 3: Decision Tree on Startup Mode ..............................13 F igure 4: Examples of DOP values ................................. 15 F igure 5: A multi-path environment ................................15 F igure 6: Patch Antennas, EMTAC Technology Corp............................. 16 F igure 7: Quadrifilar Helix Antenna, Sarantel, Ltd............................17 F igure 8: Typical Radiation Pattern of a Patch Antenna, MuRata, Inc.
Page 181 your position is our focus F igure 40: Recommended footprint ................................52 F igure 41: Solder and paste mask with enlargement showing positioning and cross section of underlying solder paste ......... 53 F igure 42: TIM placement ..................................... 54 F igure 43: Recommended layout for TIM-xx ..............................55 F igure 44: PCB build-up for Micro strip line. Left: 2-layer PCB, right: 4-layer PCB ..................55 F igure 45: Micro strip on a 2-layer board (Agilent AppCAD Coplanar Waveguide) ..................57 F igure 46: Micro strip on a multi layer board (Agilent AppCAD Coplanar Waveguide) .................. 57 F igure 47: Recommended layout for connecting the antenna bias voltage for LEA-4M and NEO-4S .............. 58 F igure 48: Hardware Block Schematic ................................
Page 182: List Of Tables
your position is our focus F igure 89: 60s TIMEPULSE Output Signal ..............................112 F igure 90: Timemark example ..................................114 F igure 91: Configuration concept ................................115 F igure 92: Saving a configuration section ..............................117 ® F igure 93: ANTARIS 4 GPS Technology Start-Up Procedure ........................118 F igure 94: RESET generation ..................................121 F igure 95: Examples for wiring RESET_N ..............................122 F igure 96: BOOT_INT, Internal connection ..............................122 ®...
Page 183 your position is our focus T able 6: Pin-out TIM-4x ....................................48 T able 7: Pin-out NEO-4S ....................................50 T able 8: Paste Mask Dimensions for TIM-4x, LEA-4x and NEO-4S ........................53 T able 9: Operating Modes .................................... 63 T able 10: Choosing an operation strategy ..............................64 T able 11: Means to reduce Power Consumption in Continuous Tracking Mode .................... 65 T able 12: Overview Power States .................................. 65 T able 13: Possibilities to wakeup the receiver ..............................67 T able 14: FXN mode parameter description ..............................
Page 184 your position is our focus T able 50: Serial I/O configuration with GPSMODE pins ..........................119 T able 51: ROM message set ..................................120 T able 52: USB Power Modes ..................................120 ® T able 54: Dimensions for ANTARIS 4 GPS Modules on tape ........................125 T able 55: Buttons description in the U-center Message View ........................139 T able 56: Antenna settings ..................................147 T able 57: Antenna settings ..................................147 T able 58: Datum default settings ................................147 T able 59: Navigation default settings ................................
Page 185: H Glossary
your position is our focus H Glossary API Application Programming Interface APM Autonomous Power Management BBR Battery backup RAM CTM Continuous Tracking Mode, operation Mode of the u-blox GPS receiver technology ECEF Earth Centered Earth Fixed ESD Electro Static Discharge FixNOW™ Operation Mode of the u-blox GPS receiver technology, initiates fix. FXN FixNOW™, operation Mode of the u-blox GPS receiver technology, initiates PVT fix. HAE Height Above WGS84-Ellipsoid LLA Latitude, Longitude and Altitude LNA Low Noise Amplifier LOS Line of sight, MSL Height above Mean Sea Level or Orthometric Height NMEA 0183 ASCII based standard data communication protocol used by GPS receivers. PUBX u-blox proprietary extension to the NMEA protocol PVT Position, Velocity, Time ...
Page 186 4 Protocol Specifications – CHM, Doc No GPS.G3-X-03002 ® [10] USB Installation for ANTARIS 4 GPS Receivers, Doc No GPS.G4-CS-05007 [11] TIM-4A Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-05023 [12] LEA-4A Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-05017 [13] TIM-4P Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-05027 [14] LEA-4P Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-05021 [15] TIM-4H Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-05025 [16] TIM-LR Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G3-MS3-04039 [17] TIM-4S Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-05074 [18] LEA-4S Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-05072 [19] LEA-4T Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-05070 [20] NEO-4S Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-06107 [21] LEA-4M Datasheet, Doc No GPS.G4-MS4-06108 All these documents are available on our homepage ( h ttp://www.u-blox.com ) . GPS Modules - System Integration Manual (SIM) (incl. Reference Design) GPS.G4-MS4-05007-A1 Page 186 ...
Page 187 Fax: +41 44 722 74 47 E-mail: info@u-blox.com w ww.u-blox.com Sales Offices North, Central and South America Europe, Middle East, Africa Asia, Australia, Pacific u-blox America, Inc. u-blox AG u-blox Singapore Pte. Ltd. 1902 Campus Commons Drive Zuercherstrasse 68 435 Orchard Road Suite 310 CH-8800 Thalwil #19-02, Wisma Atria, Reston, VA 20191 Switzerland Singapore 238877 USA Phone: ...

u-blox ANTARIS 4 System Integration Manual

GPS Fundamentals

System Consideration

Design-In

Receiver Description

Product Handling

Product Testing

PC Support Tools

Troubleshooting

A Default Settings

B Map Datums

C Demo Design

D Migration to ANTARIS

E Mechanical Dimensions/ Pinout

F Index

G Lists

H Glossary

Quick Links

Related Manuals for u-blox ANTARIS 4

Summary of Contents for u-blox ANTARIS 4

Table of Contents