SkyTraq Sup500f GPS module

First of all, I ported the arducopter v2.5.3 code  to my seeeduino mega board with succes! But because the code that I currently have is not my final release I'll publish it later when everything is finished.

So in this part I will connect my SkyTraq SUP500F Gps module to the seeeduino and see if arducopter works fine. The SUP500F gps module is a product from sparkfun, but at this moment they don't sell it any more:


65 Channel SUP500F 10Hz GPS Receiver with Smart Antenna
65 Channel GPS L1 C/A Code
Perform 8 million time-frequency hypothesis testing per second
Open sky hot start 1 sec
Open sky cold start 29 sec
Signal detection better than -161dBm
Multipath detection and suppression
Accuracy 2.5m CEP
Maximum update rate 10Hz
Tracking current ~33mA

Datasheets and software are available on the sparkfun website but also on my google docs page.
So first of all I connected this module to my usb ftdi board (see previous blogs). Then you can launch the gps viewer software and see if it works. After some testing it's time to configure the gps to work with the arducopter code.

You can fully configure the gps module via the gps viewer pc software. If you make sure that the gps module has the default firmware settings you don't have to configure a lot.
- Set the serial baud to 38400
- that's it!

Now you have to configure the arducopter software.
Place "#define GPS_PROTOCOL                    GPS_PROTOCOL_NMEA" in the APM_config.h file. Compile, upload and connect the GPS module to serial 1 on you arduino mega board. It works ! :)

If it should not work or if you would only like to do a simple test, the arducopter GPS library included a simple arduino test sketch. Go to the AP_GPS library folder, locate the NMEA example sketch. Upload and test the GPS.