GPS on Nico Maas

An active GNSS antenna for the CAM-M8Q breakout

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 14:00:00 +0000

I have been using multiple CAM-M8Q breakouts by Watterott and really am loving these units. They are small, reasonable priced and have the advantage of an integrated chip antenna. However, this also their small shortcoming: While the antenna is good enough for most outdoor jobs, you can run into sensitivity issues when deploying it indoors - if not setup next to a window. Luckily, the module has two additional u.fl connectors for RFin and RFout, meaning you can use an external antenna.

[PiAndRadio] Raspberry Pi GPS Time Server

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 10:15:00 +0000

Here is my presentation to the gpsTime Balena Project @ PiAndRadio 2021 (11.09.2021)

gpsTime_PiAndRadio2021.pdf

[Talk] IoT Happy Hour #63: balena Ambassador Projects

Sat, 31 Jul 2021 08:10:38 +0000

I took part in balena’s IoT Happy Hour #63 on 30.07.2021 to talk with balenas Marc and David - as well as DynamicDevices Alex about Bees, gpsTime and space communications.

You can watch the talk here on balenas Youtube channel.

gpsTime

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 20:05:33 +0000

I think there is nothing more pleasing than having extremely precise measurements at your fingertips. Like time. While in the past it was quite problematic to measure time accurately (not talking about sundials, but… why not? ;)) - mankind has created one precise time source as the byproduct (read: “waste”) for usage in accurate navigation: GNSS and their different kinds like GPS, Glonass, Galileo, BaiDou and others.

Taping into this time source and providing it to your local computer network via NTP has been done by countless people and is an extreme rewarding task. Is it necessary? Maybe not. Is it really cool? Yes. And now it is even easier as you don’t need to configure it yourself, but can use the balenaHub and the preconfigured gpsTime project.

[pRoToTyPe] iGPS-M Pro USB to Serial

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:22:42 +0000

As I wanted an better GPS Mouse for the pRoToTyPe, I did buy an iGPS M Pro USB Mouse ( http://www.transystem.com.tw/products/index_detail.php?mcat_no=2&cat_no=32&pno=10&ver=en ). I was certain that I could resolder it to Serial and use it on the Fonera Router. And thats how I did it: I did open up the Case, which was very easy, just unsnap it. You will find an socket were 4 wires do run out: Black (GND), Red (5V+), White (USB Data) and Green (USB Data) - I did cut these Wires and soldered them to an 8 Wire Cable. From the other 4 left Wires I did use only two: Under the Metal Shielding of the Mouse you will find an TX and an RX Solder Point - these are RS232 Connection Points. I did just pry open a bit of the shielding to run two wires into it, soldered it onto the points and did close the casing again. On the other end of the cable, I did solder on an RS232 Connector, Female. I did use the pRoToTyPe scheme with Phantom Power for that. Additionally, I did wire up Power and Ground a second Time to an USB Connector as well as the USB Datalines. So I have one RS232 Socket and one USB Connector and can use the Mouse for both occasions.

[pRoToTyPe] LaFonera OpenWRT/Kismet/GPS/SD-Mod

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:26:54 +0000

So, here is the Documentation of the Project that I have been working on the past Months. I called it “Prototype” for no other reason as not having another name ^^’. But actually its just an plain and simple Kismet Server running on an LaFonera 2100 and using GPS for Positing and Time aswell as an SD Card for the Log Files. So… there were many things to do on that project, so that thing will get quite a bit longer and get some pics.

Unbrick Royaltek RGM 2000 "Bluemouse" GPS Mouse

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:17:44 +0000

Hi there, I was working on an Serial GPS Mouse, Type Royaltek RGM 2000, also called “Blue Mouse”, which became famous for beeing deployed with an Medion GPS Kit Years ago. Its an really cool looking Mouse (Serial/Usb depending on the properitary Connector you attach), powered by an Y-Cable with 5 Pins, powered by an quite old SiRF 2 Chipset. I did solder my own Data and Poweradaptor, which worked great. But as I wanted to be “up-to-date”, I searched the Web for some more recent Firmware, stumbled upon some, flashed - and killed the Mouse .’’… (wrong Firmware for wrong Mouse… Couldn’t set it anymore to SiRF to Flash it or ANYTHING! )…