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Mediatek GPS problem

Posted by Florin Mingireanu on October 23, 2010 at 4:21am
Hi there,

I was trying to use Ardupilot (2.7 software version- latest from the server), with Ardushield V2 (airspeed sensor and thermopiles (including the Z sensor).

I successfully flew this setup with Ublox GPS. I wanted to make a change and explore the MediaTek GPS. I got a MediaTek GPS, configured it for Ardupilot (following instructions given here: http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot/wiki/MediaTek ).
However, my MediaTEK module gets a lock (its blue LED becomes solid) while the blue LED on Ardupilot keeps on blinking without ever getting a lock...

Yes, I did change the configuration file telling Ardupilot to use MediaTek GPS module. I checked wiring between GPS module and Ardupilot- no problem at all with the wiring.

What else should I do?

More than this, I tried to re-flash the MediaTEK GPS module and I would get the error: Fail!!(Download) BROM_CMD_START_FAIL

So it seems right now that I can't re-program the GPS module. Also right now after trying to re-flash the GPS module and getting the above described error (Fail!!(Download) BROM_CMD_START_FAIL), the GPS module wouldn't get a lock anymore- the blue LED from its adapter board is not becoming solid blue anymore...

Any ideas on what might cause this sort of strange (at least for me) problems?

Thanks!

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Replies

  • Preston December 29, 2010 at 6:36am
    Using the newly revised instructions...(no pass through code, use the FTDI cable only)...I was able to update the firmware and am now getting accurate location information in the longitude.
  • Ron Holley December 28, 2010 at 1:38pm

    Is there a performance difference between the Ublox v.s. MediaTek GPS. First time UAV setup about to happen. I hope this is correct forum.

    Ron

  • Florin Mingireanu October 25, 2010 at 1:55pm
    So, in the end... I see that the code line that tells MediaTek GPS to go into binary mode is already included where it should be. In this case, the reason for not getting a lock through the Ardupilot (although the GPS module itself gets a lock) should be other...
    Did anybody actually manage to make MediaTek GPS work with Ardupilot?
    And did anybody actually manage to fix the error (Fail!!(Download) BROM_CMD_START_FAIL) that I get when I try to re-flash the GPS module second time? (as I said I was able to re-flash the module the first time; second time I got the error (Fail!!(Download) BROM_CMD_START_FAIL) ).


    Thanks!
  • Serge October 23, 2010 at 4:37am
    Hey,

    concerning the flash, you mght want to try to swap the RX and TX pins. I had the same error, and reversing them solved the problem and resulted in the green donut rather then the red cross.

    Regardin the no-lock in the ardu, I think the output of the GPS is NMEA instead of binary. You have to tell it to go into binary at startup using: the $PGCMD,16,0,0,0,0,0*6A command

    GL with it
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