Hi everyone,3689619101?profile=original


Today we present our first product - Zubax GNSS. It is a high-performance open source positioning module for outdoor environments with doubly redundant UAVCAN bus interface. It's the right choice for any UAV or robotic application where safety, positioning accuracy and cost efficiency are paramount.

Being UAVCAN-interfaced, Zubax GNSS can be used out of the box with any UAVCAN-enabled controller, such as Pixhawk. Detailed instructions about how to configure Pixhawk for use with Zubax GNSS can be found at our documentation portal (see the links below). At the moment, the native PX4 stack already has complete UAVCAN support implemented in the stable branch. The APM stack doesn't have support for UAVCAN at the moment, but there were some successful experiments with it earlier so it will be there soon as well. By the way, any cooperation from the APM developer community is highly welcome!

Features

Sensors

  • High performance concurrent GPS/GLONASS receiver u-blox MAX-M83689619120?profile=original
    • Full RF shielding of the GNSS circuits ensures reliable operation in high-EMI environments
    • 35 mm high gain patch antenna with large ground plane for reliable reception even in urban canyons
    • Analog front end with LNA and SAW ensures high noise resilience
    • Rechargeable backup battery enables low time-to-first-fix (a few seconds)
    • Up to 15 Hz update rate
  • High precision digital barometer Measurement Specialties MS5611
    • Altitude resolution 10 cm
  • 3-axis digital compass Honeywell HMC5883L

Interfaces

  • Doubly redundant UAVCAN with standard connectors
    • Sensor measurements at configurable rates
    • Continuous self diagnostic and failure detection outputs
    • Configuration
    • CAN bus bitrate up to 1 Mbps
    • Can be used in non-redundant mode as well (one interface will be inactive)
  • Auxiliary serial port
    • Direct access to the u-blox module
    • Firmware update
    • Diagnostics and configuration via command-line interface

General

  • 3689619043?profile=originalExtensive, continuous self diagnostics and failure detection make Zubax GNSS a favorable choice for safety-critical applications
  • Multiple redundant units can be used concurrently on the same UAVCAN bus
  • Sources are open and freely available for everyone:
    • Firmware sources
    • Schematics
    • 3D printable models of protective case and mounts
  • Low cost

Performance

The image below shows the performance of Zubax GNSS in comparison with another popular GPS receiver (u-blox LEA-6H with 25 mm patch antenna). Notice the deviation map, position accuracy estimates and SNR. This was captured in a shallow urban canyon of a large city. Zubax GNSS is on the left (click to enlarge):

3689619210?profile=original

This video features a highly precise, fully automatic landing of a Pixhawk-powered quadrotor with Zubax GNSS:

Links


P.S. Stay tuned for more UAVCAN-interfaced avionics. UAVCAN-enabled ESC and a UAVCAN-enabled something-quite-important are on their way to the market. Developers, please consider moving towards UAVCAN-centered ecosystem by supporting this protocol in your projects - learn more at uavcan.org.

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Comments

  • Hi Ben, no, schematics is not open.

  • Hi:

        I can not find schematics of Zubax GNSS, is the schematics not open.

  • hey guys,

    i was able to get a part of the rinex data from my flight (pichawk arducopter 3.3) but i wanted to postprocess it with rtklib. Now the Problem i have is that i dont get the nav data, i just have the observation file, can anyone help me with that ??
  • Adding 2 GPS for one Pixhawk will help with glitch...but I also need to have second autopilot(also Pix) connected with special board .. I just got one...

    New law in Croatia will be the same like in Austria..two autopilots its a must for commercial fly in town or over people..and everything else must be double(btt ,gps,failsafe on autopilot and remote....)

  • Zubax Thx...great news

  • Emin, Naish: Yes, there will be the next revision; yes, it will be smaller and it will be equipped with an enclosure. We can't provide any information on when it'll be available.

  • @Emin: consider the fact that adding 2 or 4 boards, will not give you redundancy.  To be truly redundant ( pixhawak is not ) you need different firmware on each board.  You can improve safety using a 3DR gps and and a Zubax Gps, will give you a better result. Surely Zubax has to work on the size of the board.. everyone that owns one, complains about how big it is. 

  • I don't see reason not to make it smaller...maybe two boards on top of each other...is ground plane really that important?where on multi to find space for 2 of this boards?or even 4 maybe since in my country redundant (double)Autopilot is needed...

  • Any news on this?what is the difference between v1 and vo version?does v1 coming with enclosure?

  • Francis, thank you for the feedback.

This reply was deleted.