Dear Friends,
I'm very happy to present the result of latest VirtualRobotix's development: the new VRX GPS NEO-M8 .
I'ts the first Virtualrobotix's Multi Constellation GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and SBAS), engine, using Ublox NEO-M8 receiver.
The NEO-M8 is a 72-channel high sensitive engine that boasts a Time-To-First-Fix (TTFF) of less than 1 second.
The dedicated acquisition engine, with over 2 million correlators, is capable of massive parallel time/frequency space searches, enabling it to find satellites instantly.
Innovative design and technology suppresses interference sources and mitigates multipath effects, giving NEO-M8 GPS receivers excellent navigation performance even in the most challenging environments.
VRX GPS NEO-M8 is equipped with a Panasonic Amplifier for better reception and a backup battery for quicker warm restarts.
The VRX GPS NEO-M8 also integrates Honywell's latest high precision digital mag (HMC5983).
The HMC5983 can be used either in SPI or in I2C (selectable via a solder Jumper), it has a 200Hz output rate and it's temperature compensated, giving the best experience for our vehicles.
The VRX GPS NEO-M8 is fully compatible with APM:Copter's firmware and it's plug and play on VRBRAIN5, VRuBRAIN5, APM 2.5+, PixHawk and all boards that mount the DF13 connectors.
If you don't have a DF13, you can easly solder standard servo pins on the exposed pads.
Now The order is open at:
VRX GPS NEO-M8: http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/accessories/gps-ublox-8-detail
VR uBrain 5: http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/autopilot/vrbrainmicro51-detail
The delivery time could be 3/4 weeks
If you are interested in more info to the product send a mail to info@virtualrobotix.com
The VRX GPS NEO-M8 has been tested in the field with our VRX300 "Personal Fly Robot SDK Platform" here are some photos and graphs from latest flights.
Flight Controller: VR Micro BRAIN
GPS: VRX GPS NEO-M8
Compass: HMC5983 mounted on GPS board
ESC: 12 A Kiss ESC
Motors: RCX - ZMR
Propellers: APC 6x4
Lipo: 2200 mAh
Radio: Taranis with SBUS receiver X8R
These are the vibration graphs on the VRX300
The number of satellites during this flight started at 11 and arrived to 15, the hdop was from 1.3 to 1.5.
During my tests we have seen up to 18 satellites with an hdop of 0.7 .
With standard GPS module some times it is possible to see only 5 with an high HDOP
Here is possible to see the Altitude from Baro vs Altitude from GPS is not so bad :)
Some RTL and Loiter tests in the Field with precision of less than 1 meter.
Features and Specifications:
- ublox NEO-8 module
- Concurrent reception of GPS/QZSS, GLONASS, BeiDou
- Industry leading –167 dBm navigation sensitivity
- 3,3V or 5V Inputs, with low noise 3.3V regulator.
- 5 Hz update rate
- Rechargeable 3V lithium backup battery for high efficient warm start
- Panasonic Low Noise Amplifier for antenna signal with high gain (19dB)
- EPCOS SAW high quality low-loss RF filter for GPS application
- 25 x 25 x 4 mm ceramic patch antenna
- Dedicated I2C EEPROM for receiver configuration storage
- High resolution compass (2 milli-gauss) and high speed (2 milli-gauss)
- Power and fix indicator LEDs
- ArduPilot Mega compatible 6-pin JST connector
- Exposed pads for simple soldering connection
- 38 x 38 x 8.5 mm total size, 19 grams.
- Receiver type NEO 8
- 72-channel u-blox M8 engine
- GPS/QZSS L1 C/A, GLONASS L10F
- BeiDou B1
- SBAS L1 C/A: WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS
- Navigation update rate:
- Single GNSS up to 18 Hz
- Concurrent GNSS up to 10 Hz
- Position accuracy: 2.0 m CEP
- Acquisition (NEO-M8Q/N)
- (Default mode, GPS/SBAS/QZSS+GLONASS with TCXO)
- Cold starts: 26 s
- Aided starts: 2 s
- Reacquisition: 1.5 s
- Sensitivity
- (Default mode, GPS/SBAS/QZSS+GLONASS with TCXO)
- Tracking & Nav: –167 dBm
- Cold starts: –148 dBm
- Hot starts: –156 dBm
- Connector : Serial Bus , I2C Bus and SPI as option plug and play fully compatible with : VR Brain , APM 2.x , PX4 and Pixhawk Flight Control . Available also solder pad for OEM Application .
Best
Roberto and Emile
original blog post :
Comments
I see that in the page that you send to me there are info about the configuration ... so you can connect by Ublox Center set the right configuration and send and save it to the GPS .
The Paparazzi FC don't use magnetometer ?
best
Roberto
http://wiki.paparazziuav.org/wiki/GPS
I think yes, but for sure...
Hi Vladimir , could be , send me the link to your Paparazzi FC so i can check .
best
Roberto
Is this amazing device work with Paparazzi AP's?
Ah ok yes . I agree with you . Infact when we work on VR GPS 8 the first point was integration of best magnetometer available on the market with best GPS Module :) I think that cgs shop develop general pourpose module adapt for a lot of application where the magnetometer is not so important in our application a good magnetometer is the must !
In the design is very important to have also a good low noise power conversion unit because this kind of sensor is very sensible to bad power supply.
best
Roberto
HI mP1
sorry i don't understand your first request. Do you mean why we don't have the enclosure ?
About second we have inside an aditional amplifier to improve quality of signal before to going inside the module . So you can have smaller antenna and a good quality ,too
So we prefer mantain same dimension so the antenna is plug and play is also possible with a small hack remove the actual board for original enclosure and put inside VRX GPS. We doing a test also with same antenna use on other module but with amplifier we don't have any kind of difference.
best
Roberto
Hi Emin,
the main difference respect of CSG Shop are the antenna with pre amp , with same dimension of standard 3DR GPS , the HMC5983 with double bus i2c and SPI and a lot of experience on GPS setup . Other advantages is the connector that are fully compatible with standard APM - PIXHWAK - VRBrain mag and GPS so the component is plug and play. We support user for fine configuration and optimization with our dev team :)
Then the component is ready for advanced CAN adapter that we are developing for VRBrain 5.
We are not an Electronic reseller we need also to pay the cost of development we have 12 eng inside virtualrobotix that work on new design and implement new products :) Now this is new and we don't sell a lot but if the number of GPS increase will be cut the cost.
For support i mean that if there are some problem of quality of loiter with our gps we try to help our customer to solve it because know the product and doing a lot of test on it. Check the log and doing some suggestion for solve the problem :)
So the target of our work is not only to sell a new gps , but is to improve the quality of flight of our drone based on APM project . In my last experience with this component i think that is a good step towards more reliable drone .
best
Roberto
Nice data,but what except magnetometer(3$) make you board better than same one from CSG Shop 1/3 cheaper?
http://www.csgshop.com/product.php?id_product=173
Hi wbal57,
so the new VRX GPS support four constellation at the same time :
GPS 24 Sat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System
Glonass 24 Sat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLONASS
Beidu available only in ASIA and ASTRALIA region
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beidou_Navigation_Satellite_System
Galileo in development stage only 4 satellite in the space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(satellite_navigation)
Basically with more of 40 satellite active in the space instead of only 24 gps the HDOP is a lot less and the number of satellite is very high .
The main advantage is that during the day you don't have a condition with less of 11 satellite visible at the same time and with a good HDOP .
The result is More fast to do fix and more accurate as position.
In my some test i use two sensor near and i see that the main difference is on number of satellite available and in HDOP infact in VRX GPS you have all gps available as for 3DR GPS plus the Glonass Satellite .
When i have spare time i try to record a video with two sensor in same condition .
best
Roberto
This looks very interesting. I have APM 2.5.2 FW 3.1 with CN06v2 GPS on 600mm quad and I routinely get +/- 1.5 feet land/loiter when HDOP is <1.6 (when they are not messing with GPS signals recently). I would think with all this new tech it would be better than "Some RTL and Loiter tests in the Field with precision of less than 1 meter". Anyways looking for new tech, thanks for sharing!
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