Section 1 - About This Manual; Scope Of This Manual; Conventions; Audience - NorthStar 8700 Technical Reference Manual

Section 1 - About this manual

1.1 Scope of this manual

1.1.1 Audience

1.1.2 Contents

1.1.3 Conventions

05/01/97 REV H
To use this manual effectively, please read this entire two-page section
first. This document doesn't contain basic installation information. If
you're looking for instructions about mounting the sensors and antennas,
connecting the cables, or other details on interfacing the Northstar sen-
sors to other Northstar receivers, please refer to the corresponding North-
star Installation Manual.
The Northstar Sensors Technical Reference Manual is intended for readers
with a good technical knowledge of the components of GPS consumer
navigational instruments. This audience includes engineers and other
technical product-development persons in original equipment manufac-
turer (OEM) environments; experienced dealers of marine, land-based, or
other navigational equipment; and small start-up companies, all looking
for ways to interface their products with Northstar sensors.
This manual presents this technical information in a logical, easy-to-use
format; each section is organized for access to specific information. In this
way, you can go directly to the source of that information without sifting
through unnecessary levels to find what you need.
The manual covers the following products:
Northstar 8700 GPS Position Sensor
•
Northstar 8800 Series Beacon Sensors
•
Northstar 8900 Series GPS/DGPS Position Sensors
•
Additional high-level information about antennas, pinouts and configura-
tions, NMEA protocol, beacon binary protocol, RS-422 and RS-232 inter-
faces, and the 8X00 ALLSTAR Engine Monitor Program is all contained
within this manual. In fact, if you own this Northstar Sensors Technical
Reference Manual, you should have received a copy of the Northstar
8X00 ALLSTAR Engine Monitor Program. (If you didn't receive this pro-
gram, call the Northstar sales department and order Northstar Part Num-
ber GS8900, shipped on a 3-½ inch diskette at no charge.)
This document supersedes the Northstar Installation and Operation Man-
ual (Northstar Part Number GM8900, Revision G).
The conventions listed below are used throughout the manual to consis-
tently refer to certain information, as follows:
NOTE and CAUTION are the headings for text boxes containing important
reader information. Be sure to read the information in these note and
caution boxes.
NMEA command is the bold typeface used when the text refers to a com-
mand given to, or output by, the sensors; NMEA command is the typeface
(without bold) used when a table refers to a command given to, or output
by, the sensors.
Section 1 - About this manual
PAGE 1