New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

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ddano007
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by ddano007 »

twincam1449 wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:53 am 1) The GPS has two leds.
One for power one for satellite fix.
When GPS has a good fix, the green LED starts to blink.
oXs does not send data via Smartport before GPS has a good fix
OK, you have another type...
twincam1449 wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:53 am 2) I would strongly advice NOT to buy the GPS I have.
I realy think it's counterfeit/fake.
- the QR code does not correspond to M8N (it says M6)
- deviation is bad ( up to 25m)
- seems to be best with 1 Hz only, 5Hz and 10Hz are bad.
- can not update from 2.01 to 3.xx firmware

Yes, I`ve read your post... In any case, GPS after fix SHOULD send to OXS data, no care, whether it is 6,7 or 8 family. You can have big deviation, but MUST have data. Does your GPS response to TX rate 1/ 5/ 10Hz change? Did you test GPS on open air?
twincam1449 wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:53 am Maybe @Mstrens can advice for a good genuine M8N GPS.
Does Hobbyking EU have a good genuine M8N that works with oXs?
Is there a (big) difference between M7 and M8? or is a M7 almost as good for us?

I have three M8N GPSs from Banggod
https://www.banggood.com/UBLOX-NEO-M8N- ... rehouse=CN
and they work well.
https://translate.google.sk/translate?s ... edit-text=
Have no experience with those from Hobbyking...

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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by twincam1449 »

The one I bought from Aliexpress is terrible.
Made my gear ready for tomorrow. Tested the GPS one more time.
No fix in open air after 5 minutes..... :-(
This one will go in the bin.

Opened a dispute and will get full refund and buy a new M7 or M8

BUT WHICH ONE ??
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by twincam1449 »

Still strange: I get good communication and fast GPS fix in U center with GPS connected to FTDI.
But still have BIG problems getting GPS telemetry when connecting GPS to Arduino and RX.

I remembered reading this post: viewtopic.php?f=86&t=7562&start=390#p126943
So I wrapped the Arduino and the GPS separate in alu foil and then combined them (also in alu foil).
This seems to help a lot : cold start GPS fix in 30 seconds

This indicates a lot of noise.
Maybe @msrens can give his opinion about the combined GND spoken in the GPS-thread.
Isn't GND already combined?


I will test more this evening and post the results.
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by mstrens »

I have no experience with GPS. I just wrote the arduino code for others.
Still I can imagine that the gps has to get very very low signal. When it sits just close to others electronic components (e.g. Rx sending strong 2.4Ghz) it could be that it can't recognise the satellites signals.
Putting a plate connected to ground between the GPS and the noise sources could probably help.
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by Carbo »

twincam1449 wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:36 amI will test more this evening and post the results.
There is definitely more data needed, i'm looking forward to your results. In my case a pcb connected to GND between RX and GPS worked. It is not clear in my pov, if the culprit is the RX cpu frequency, or 2.4GHz RF. Hopefully you can find it out, i was too lazy to investigate further ;)

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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by twincam1449 »

Am I correct that you only placed a metal plate between the RX and the GPS and connected that plate to GND.
You did not capsul the RX or the GPS?
RX and GPS already have a common ground, which now the plate is also connected to.
Carbo wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2017 1:09 pm There is definitely more data needed, i'm looking forward to your results. In my case a pcb connected to GND between RX and GPS worked.

I put the, completely in alu foil wrapped, package in a Multiplex Dogfighter.
I will take this to our flying club next time. Instead of testing at home.
Depending on the weather it can take some time before I post results here.

At least it's good that we both have, what seems to be, the same solution for the same problem.
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by Carbo »

Yep, there is a good match. But we do not know, if the CPU frequency or telemetry RF cause the GPS blocking. In my setup the grounded pcb was plced between RX and GPS, but it shielded also little bit against RX antenna. Maybe you can test more selective, to know for sure.
PCB.jpg
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by twincam1449 »

Just back home from flying the Dogfighter.
Without GPS.
It did not get a good GPS fix. Sensor lost constantly.
No room to place the GPS farther away from the RX in a dogfighter.
Even shielding with alu foil did not help in this situation.

We need further testing to find what is wrong.

At home I connected the GPS to a FTDI and started U center
Antenna placed 25cm from a window.
It had a fix within seconds and keeps that fix.

Accuracy is not 1.2m - 1.4m (more like up to 15m) but it would be useful on a plane..... if we could get the same GPS fix
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Carbo
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by Carbo »

The GPS sits on top of the RX, the antennas can be seen on the left. The PCB shield did the trick. But maybe there is another issue with your setup. Did you measure the power supply voltage on the GPS connector, while GPS is running?
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by pierrotm777 »

Hello,
Thanks all guys that help to have debug this fantastic project.
I want buy a gps module. What would be the best to buy please. The cost us important for me.
Thanks for your help.
Pierre
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by mstrens »

This is the type of gps I am currently using (BN-220). It wotks fine. It is a ublox neo8M inside.
The conector/wires toconnect itto arduino are delivered too.
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/small-si ... 6c37F5cVG7.

For the arduino, you can take any arduino pro mini or nano that have a 328P processor and foreseen for 5V (so it runs at 16 mhz).
Here an example.
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/New-pro- ... 6c37IfID4O
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gastolectric
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

mstrens wrote: Wed Dec 05, 2018 8:01 am This is the type of gps I am currently using (BN-220). It wotks fine. It is a ublox neo8M inside.
The conector/wires toconnect itto arduino are delivered too.
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/small-si ... 6c37F5cVG7.

For the arduino, you can take any arduino pro mini or nano that have a 328P processor and foreseen for 5V (so it runs at 16 mhz).
Here an example.
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/New-pro- ... 6c37IfID4O
Hi mstrens,

I have just begun to dabble in using Arduino for FrSky Sport telemetry devices and finding it an extremely steep learning curve - any chance you can upload a wiring diagram of how you connect this BN-220 to a nano board and to the Sport - would be very much appreciated. And if you have the Arduino sketch handy that would be just fantastic.

Thanks in advance
Greg
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by kalle123 »

Hi Greg. Mstrens seems to be off at the moment, so I'll try to give an answer.

All of your questions are answered in 'oXs_config_description.h'. This is a text file for documentation.

You find it in the oXs package, you can download from here. https://github.com/openXsensor/openXsensor

OK, I understand, it would be more convenient to have a nice diagram and pictures. But I can reassure you, it is worth while taking your time with that documentation. That is the oXs 'bible' ;)

I have a BN-180 here and I can reassure you, you can connect those BN-180 and BN-220 as described in chapter '**** 9 - GPS (optionnal)'

br KH
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gastolectric
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

kalle123 wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:27 pm Hi Greg. Mstrens seems to be off at the moment, so I'll try to give an answer.

All of your questions are answered in 'oXs_config_description.h'. This is a text file for documentation.

You find it in the oXs package, you can download from here. https://github.com/openXsensor/openXsensor

OK, I understand, it would be more convenient to have a nice diagram and pictures. But I can reassure you, it is worth while taking your time with that documentation. That is the oXs 'bible' ;)

I have a BN-180 here and I can reassure you, you can connect those BN-180 and BN-220 as described in chapter '**** 9 - GPS (optionnal)'

br KH
Thanks KH

Yes I’ve been reading that doc several times and it’s beginning to percolate through so I think I could possibly give that a go but concerned with my limits on wiring it all up as to which resistor should go where and which input/outputs match the coding. I have seen a wiring sketch for a Neo just wondering if there’s any nuances with this BN-220 to take into account

Thanks again
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by kalle123 »

First of all I would advice using a setup on the fly, using a breadboard and jumper wires. When you got this setup running, you can heat up a soldering iron. ;)

With the BN-220, did you test it with a GPS software first? I use u-center from u-blox. And don't mess with the settings. Leave it with 9600 baud. You need an USB UART for this, can be a CP2102, FTDI or CH340 ... And for flashing a Arduino mini, you also need one of those. OK,you can also use an Uno, but those UARTs you can have for ~1$ from Aliexpress.

What type of Arduino do you have? Uno, Nano, Mini? The BN-220 has 4 wires. 5V, GND, TX and RX. 5V to 5V on Arduino, GND to GND, GPS Tx pin is connected to Arduino Rx pin and GPS Rx pin is connected to a resistor (e.g. 10k) and the other pin of the resistor is connected to Arduino pin 6 (digital pin 6). That's it.

br KH

PS. Besides - those BN-180 and 220 xxx are Chinese u-blox clones, the work with u-blox own u-center software!
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

You are a star thanks ever so much KH

And pin 6 would be the pin allocated to gps in the IDE sketch.
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

kalle123 wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:27 pm All of your questions are answered in 'oXs_config_description.h'. This is a text file for documentation.
KH,

One more silly question if I may, there are quite a number of files in the oSx folder and generally I would only open and edit the file oXs_config_basic.h and/or oXs_config_advanced.h;

and presuming I edit only the oXs_config_basic.h file in the IDE, do I then use this sketch as the Upload (and it refers automatically to all other files it may require)?

Or if I edit both oXs_config_basic.h and oXs_config_advanced.h do I then use oXs_config_advanced.h to Upload as well as having the sketch oXs_config_basic.h open too?

Thanks again
Greg

EDIT: It seems I've answered my own question - the idea is to Open the openXsensor.ino file in Arduino IDE and this populates the entire project, make changes to the basic.h and/or advanced.h folders/tabs that spread across the top of the screen within this project and then Upload from the openXsensor tab (though I'm yet to find out if it makes any difference which tab you happen to be on at the point of hitting the Upload button).
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by Kilrah »

Which tab is selected doesn't matter.
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

Kilrah wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 4:14 am Which tab is selected doesn't matter.
Brilliant thanks
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by Endorphin »

gastolectric wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:12 pm
EDIT: It seems I've answered my own question - the idea is to Open the openXsensor.ino file in Arduino IDE and this populates the entire project, make changes to the basic.h and/or advanced.h folders/tabs that spread across the top of the screen within this project and then Upload from the openXsensor tab ..............................
Greg,

How do you do this please? I found the file, took a lot of searching. This is the very first I have read mention of the .ino file.
What or why did I not know about this before? (I am asking myself..............don't bother answering!...........frustrating).

I don't know how to open that file in Arduino IDE, can you describe please?

Jim.
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

Endorphin wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 9:21 am
I don't know how to open that file in Arduino IDE, can you describe please?

Jim.
Hi Jim,

Might be a case of the blind leading the blind here - from openXsensor GitHub site I clicked on Download .zip file and then unzipped this which gives a number of folders and all the files on the openXsensor page.

From Arduino IDE click File / Open and select the openXsensor.ino file - and voila it opens openxsensor and all the associated sketch files.

And I presume if you make any changes to any of the sketches then save this project as a whole new set of files/folders and keep the original .zip download from GitHub as a master set. Though I haven't got there yet in my quest to conquer this subject matter, so good luck you're one step ahead while I wait for the postie to bring some goodies I can play with

Edit: Had a quick play - yep if you make changes typically only to the oXs_confi_basic.h or ..._advanced_h sketches and you select 'save as' giving a new file name, it generates a new folder with this new name and presto the whole project is stored within..
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by Endorphin »

gastolectric wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 9:38 am .............................................
From Arduino IDE click File / Open and select the openXsensor.ino file - and voila it opens openxsensor and all the associated sketch files...........
]

Ok, I got that done ok.
And I presume if you make any changes to any of the sketches .........................
I am not clear on the editing process. Do you just place two forward slashed (//) in front of something to "uncomment it" and so render it non functioning?
Or do you delete the entire line?

Thanks for the reply.

Jim.
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by mstrens »

Adding // in front or removing the line is just the same when compiling.
If you think, it could make sense to reactivate the line later on, it is better to add //.
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

Hi guys, I'm hoping someone can help me narrow the search for the issue I'm having, being my first attempt at this..

I now have a BN-220 GPS and Arduino Nano.

Connected the GPS to U-Center and it appears to work perfectly

I have flashed the oXs to the nano having first checked that a simple flashing light sketch could be uploaded successfully. On oXs I have only set GPS to YES and all other sensors to NO (and tried also changing Tx pin from D4 to D2)

Wired up the GPS to Nano on a breadboard with a 5V power supply to an X6R receiver into Ch1. The Sport supplies power to the 5V pin on the Nano and GND to the adjacent pin. The signal line on Sport is connected to D2 (tried D4 default initially) via a (initially a 4k7) now using 5k6 resistor.

The GPS connects Tx(gps) to Rx0 pin on Nano and GND(gps) on adjacent pin GND pin to Rx0, D6 connects via 10K resistor to Rx(gps) shows 3.7V after resistor. 5V on gps connects to 5V pin on nano

On power up the red Pwr LED on nano light up solid and the GPS powers up. The blue Tx LED on GPS and red Rx LED on nano flash rapidly in sync.

I have tried repeatedly to discover new sensors on my Horus X12S running Opentx 2.3.5 but it only registers RSSI and RxBt but does not discover the GPS. Voltage output on pin D2 (initially D4) is only 0.27v at the pin.

Any suggestions as to what is preventing me from discovering the sensors on my radio??
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by mstrens »

Your work seems OK.

oXs does not send GPS data to Sport as long as the GPS does not get a good fix.
It can take several minutes to get the fix.
Please note that the BN220 has a led that shows when the GPS get a fix but there are several levels of fix.
Usually, you have to wait a little more (30 sec?) after the BN220 led begin to show that it get a fix because oXs a higher fix level before sending data

Did you wait long enough before asking discovering new sensors?
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

Admittedly I'm testing it indoors and comparing with the FrSky GPS which gets discovered irrespective of whether it has a fix or not.

I'll have to wait for the rain in Sydney to stop before I can take the test bench outside. 😂😉
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by mstrens »

I expect that if you put the sensor quite close to a window and if you wait long enough (perhaps 5 min), the GPS could get a fix and the sensor should start sending the data
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

I'll give it a go...

Is it necessary to drop the voltage from D6 to the Rx pin on the GPS to 3.3v? I'm sure I read somewhere that it can handle 5v but can't find where I saw that mentioned.

And I presume once data starts to flow that the D2/4 pin should start showing more than 0.3v?
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by mstrens »

I recommend using a resistor on the GPS RX pin in order to protect the GPS. I am not sure if it can support 5V. I know the some people seems not to use a resistor but I do not know if it is safe or not.

When the data starts to flow, the voltage on D2/D4 will not really increase. It is a digital signal at high frequency. I am not sure a voltmeter can measure a meaningful voltage for such a signal.
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Re: New to openXsensor - GPS and smartport question

Post by gastolectric »

Mstrens, you're a star thanks ever so much for the help.

Woke up early mounted the GPS onto an east facing window booted up the GPS via u-centre and made sure I had a good fix then did a rapid cross over to connect it with nano board, powered up and voila. Instant fix and flashing Tx light and Horus instantly found the new GPS sensors.

Happy camper :mrgreen:
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