gps News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

April 8, 2021April 8, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

simpleRTK2B-SBC packs 3 u‑blox ZED-F9P RTK GNSS receivers for centimeter-level GPS positioning

Real-time Kinematic (RTK) relative positioning technique allows for 1-3cm positioning accuracy with data derived from satellite-based positioning systems such as GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS, Galileo, and NavIC. We’ve previously covered Skytraq PX1122R RTK GNSS module as well as SBG Systems Ellipse-D industrial-grade inertial navigation system featuring the technology, and now Spain-based ArduSimple has announced the simpleRTK2B-SBC single board computer that aims to “simplify the development of centimeter-level positioning solutions supporting real-time kinematics (RTK)” via up to three u‑blox ZED-F9P RTK GNSS receivers. simpleRTK2B-SBC board features & specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F7 Cortex-M7 microcontroller GNSS Positioning 184-channel u-blox ZED-F9P engine Configuration options 2x ZED-F9P for position + heading 3x ZED-F9P for position + full attitude (roll, pitch, yaw) Navigation rate up to 20Hz Position accuracy down to 1 centimeter GPS: L1 & L2; GLONASS: L1OF & L2OF; Galileo: E1 & E5b; BeiDou: B2I & B2I; QZSS and SBAS Up to 4 integrated SMA for various RF options Configuration flexibility – standalone, standalone […]

March 23, 2021March 23, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

MicTrack MT700 Cat M1 & NB-IoT GPS tracker promises up to 8 years of battery life

MicTrack MT700 LTE IoT GPS tracker with large battery

We’ve covered several Mictrack cellular GPS asset trackers in the past starting with the MT600 4G LTE model, later followed by MT825 with more efficient LTE Cat M1 & NB-IoT connectivity. The company has now introduced a new model with MicTrack MT700 still offering eMTC and NB-IoT cellular networking but with a much larger 7,800mAh battery allowing up to 8 years of battery life with a single daily location update. Mictrack MT700 specifications: Connectivity Cat M1 (LTE-M, eMTC) LTE FDD: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B8/B12/B13/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28 LTE TDD: B39 NB-IoT (Cat NB1) – LTE FDD: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B8/B12/B13/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28 2G GSM fallback – 850/900/1800/1900Mhz Internal Micro 3FF SIM Optional WiFi Internal antennas GNSS – Qualcomm Gen 8C GNSS receiver (GPS+Glonass+Galileo+Beidou) plus internal GPS antenna Sensors – 3-Axis accelerometer, light sensor Misc – Charge/SYS/GPS LEDs Power Supply – 5V/2A via Micro USB port Power Consumption – <1.5ua standby current (in lowest power configuration) Battery Rechargeable 3.7V/7,800mAh Li-ion battery for up to 8 years on a charge Optional non-rechargeable LiFeS2 […]

March 21, 2021March 21, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Arduino WiFi & Bluetooth watch adds GPS, MicroSD slot, loses audio amplifier

LilyGO introduced the ESP32 powered T-Watch-2020 smartwatch last year with a slim form factor, a 1.54-inch LCD capacitive touch screen, WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity, and support for Arduino. In February, we noted TTGO T-Watch-2020 V3 with a built-in microphone to enable voice control, but the company has just listed TTGO T-Watch-2020 V2 adding GPS and a MicroSD card slot on its Aliexpress store for around $33. TTGO T-Watch-2020 V2 specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core wireless processor with 520KB SRAM System Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash, MicroSD card slot Display – 1.54-inch LCD capacitive touch screen Audio – Max98357 Class-D amplifier, buzzer/speaker Connectivity 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x/5.1 via ESP32 Quectel L76L module for GNSS (GPS, Beidou,GLONASS, QZSS) Sensors – BMA423 three-axis accelerometer with built-in step counting algorithm, activity recognition/tracking, advanced gesture recognition. Expansion – 13-pin 0.3mm pitch FPC expansion socket (shared with MicroSD card slot) Misc – Power button (round), PCF8563 RTC clock, vibration […]

February 16, 2021February 16, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Feather compatible shield Integrates BG96 Module with LTE Cat-M1, NB-IoT, and GPS

Last week, I wrote about the Pebble Board, an nRF9160 based LTE-M and NB-IoT GPS tracker board that connects with Thingsboard. I was soon informed about a similar solution based on Quectel BG96 and compatible with the Feather form factor. Meet IoT-Bots.com’s qTop Adafruit Feather Compatible shield. In case you wonder, why they did not call it a FeatherWing, that’s because as it’s slightly larger, and the boards are “Adafruit Feather Compatible (AFC) from the interface connection perspective only.” Key features and specifications: Wireless module – Quectel BG96 Cellular – LTE Cat M1, NB-IoT, and EGPRS module offering maximum data rates of 375 kbps downlink and uplink GNSS – GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou/Compass, Galileo, QZSS Nano SIM card holder and u.FL connector (3) for cellular connectivity u.FL connector (4) for GNSS Expansion Feather expansion connector (11) 6-pin qJam interface connector (12) with I2C for extra sensors Misc – Network status LED, qTop Shield ID chip Power – 3.3V LDO, Buck-boost DC/DC, […]

February 9, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Jetson AGX Xavier based Edge AI Platform supports 8 GMSL automotive cameras and 10Gbps Ethernet

Jetson Xavier AI Edge computer with 8 GSML cameras

Neousys Technology, a Taiwan-based provider of rugged embedded systems, has introduced the NRU-110V Edge AI inference platform powered by an NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier SoM. It comes with eight FAKRA Z connectors to support up to eight GMSL automotive cameras, as well as one 10GbE (10 Gigabit Ethernet) port for real-time video data transfer. The system specifically supports GMSL cameras with 3-exposure HDR, LED flicker mitigation, good light-sensitivity, and IP67 waterproof characteristics, and also comes with a synchronize mechanism to simultaneously capture high-quality images from 8 GMSL cameras while accepting GPS PPS signal to align image data with other sensors. That makes it suitable for various applications ranging from autonomous driving, mobile robots, precision agriculture, intelligent V2X, to teleoperation. Neousys NRU-110V specifications: System-on-Module – NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier SoM with SoC NVIDIA 512-core Volta GPU 8-core Arm Carmel CPU 2x NVDLA Engines 7-Way VLIW Vision Processor Memory – 32GB LPDDR4x @ 2133 MHz Storage – 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash Storage […]

December 8, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Android’s 3D mapping aided GPS enables improved urban GPS accuracy

One of the best features of smartphones is GNSS location with standards like GPS that allows you to get directions or share your location with friends or business contacts. It works great in most cases, but getting an accurate location may be challenging in urban areas due to tall buildings that block the signal to the satellites and create reflections. This can be an issue for ride-sharing apps for example, as the applications may detect the wrong side of the street you are on, either forcing the client to cross the street (when possible) or the driver to take a detour to reach your location. This problem may soon go away in Android phone thanks to 3D mapping aided GPS corrections. So how does that work exactly? Google explains: The 3D mapping aided corrections module includes tiles of 3D building models that Google has for more than 3850 cities around the world. Google Play services 3D mapping aided corrections currently […]

October 26, 2020October 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Modberry 500 CM4 DIN Rail Industrial Computer Features Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4

We’ve been writing about Techbase Modberry industrial embedded computers with DIN-Rail enclosures such as Modberry M500 or M2000 for several years. Most of their systems are powered by SBC’s like Raspberry Pi 4 or AAEON Up Squared, but they’ve also made models based on Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+, and with the launch of Raspberry Pi CM4, the company has now introduced Modberry 500 CM4 industrial computer powered by Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with up to 8GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash. Modberry 500 CM4 key features and specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 1 to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash. Storage – Optional NVMe SSD via PCIe 2.0 (mini PCIe or optional M.2 slot) Video Output – Optional HDMI port Connectivity Optional Gigabit Ethernet port Optional Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac) & Bluetooth 5.0 Optional 5G, 4G/LTE, 3G, or NB-IoT modem plus on-board SIM card socket […]

October 16, 2020October 16, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Raspberry Pi Gets 5G Cellular Connectivity with Snapdragon X55 Powered HAT

The Raspberry Pi board has long been able to connect to cellular networks either via USB dongles or 3G or 4G LTE HATs that often include GPS as a bonus. But you can now connect your Raspberry Pi 4 or other RPI SBC with a 40-pin header to 5G networks thanks to Waveshare SIM8200EA-M2 5G HAT for Raspberry Pi powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 multi-mode multi-band modem offering 5G/4G/3G cellular connectivity. As we can see from the photo, the 5G add-on comes as part of a cool-looking kit with bottom and top acrylic plates, spacers, a cooling fan plus five antennas for cellular and GNSS connectivity. But the HAT itself integrates a SimCOM SIM8200EA-M2 M.2 module and offers the following specifications: Compatibility – Works with Raspberry Pi boards with a 40-pin GPIO extension header Cellular Connectivity SIM8200EA-M2 core module based on Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 platform with multi-mode multi-band support 5G/4G/3G networks support SIM card slot compatible with 1.8V / 3V […]