Does anyone know of a little piece of software that will record the NMEA strings from my GPS receiver (GPS connected directly to a laptop while driving around in the car). So that I can later play it back (from the laptop) into the Basic stamp (and Google earth on another computer to see where it is) for testing. I know the altitude section of the program is working fine but I need an easier way to test the steering program. I wanted to avoid buying a flight simulator if I can.Thanks Guys

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  • I'm using hyperterminal right now over the breakout board from sparkfun/FTDI. I know it is a nono to load the ardupilot.pde with GPS connected, but I'm only monitoring the incoming data so I guess it's ok. I dont have a fix yet, but I know that because it is showing "waiting for fix position" @ 4800 baud. Interestingly, the GPSInfo from globalsat will also connect to ardupilot and shows the same message. I might load 2.0 and see what SirfDemo shows.
  • Guys,
    the easiest way to capture NMEA is using hyper terminal. Comes with XP, start the app. Give it some arbitrary name, click ok, click the Connect Using and select the port that your GPS is connected too. Click ok, set up your baud rate, data bits etc, and if you've got it right you should see streaming NMEA. To capture to text file click Transfer, Capture Text and start.
    That simple.

    Hope that helps you out Scott.
    Regards,

    Edan
  • Scott,
    I know this is not quite what you want, but I've been using Sailsofts free GPS generator to test my devices for a few years. Its nothing fancy, but has several $G strings it can output, and you can set a heading and speed.

    No recording capability, but a decent generator.
    http://www.sailsoft.nl/gpssimul.htm
    Paul
  • What kind of GPS device are you using? Is it connected via USB to your laptop? The USB drivers for my handheld GPS emulates a serial port so it's pretty easy to write software that talks to it. Sounds like what you're looking for might need to be custom made.

    FlightGear is a free flight simulator, and it can output NMEA strings over the serial port. You can download the simulator from:
    http://www.flightgear.org/

    There is a page on this site that describes how get FlightGear to output NMEA strings on the serial port:
    http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A20849
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