SARA-R5 | ozzmaker.com

u-Center from u-Blox is a graphical interface which can be used to monitor and configure all aspects of the GPS module on a OzzMaker SARA-R5 LTE-M GPS + 10DOF

u-Center only runs on Windows. It can connect over the network to a Raspberry Pi. This will require us to redirect the serial interface on the Raspberry Pi to a network port using ser2net.

Pi Setup

You will first need to have multiplexing enabled for the serial interface and have GPS data streaming to the /dev/ttyGSM2 virtual serial interface, which is covered in these two guides

Then, do an upt-get update and then install ser2net;

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get update
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get install ser2net

Edit the ser2net config file and add the serial port redirect to a network port. We will use network port 6000

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo nano /etc/ser2net.yam

And add these line at the bottom;

connection: &con1197
    accepter: tcp,6000
    enable: on
    options:
      banner: *banner
      kickolduser: true
      telnet-brk-on-sync: true
    connector: serialdev,
              /dev/ttyGSM2,
              115200n81,local

you can now restart ser2net using;

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo systemctl restart ser2net

If you need to disable it, you can disable it using;

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo systemctl disable ser2net

And you can use the below command to check if it is running by seeing if the port is open and assigned to the ser2net process;

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo netstat -ltnp | grep 6000

If it is running, you should see something similar to the output below;

Windows PC Setup and Connecting to the GPS module

You can download u-Center from here.

Once installed, open u-Center. You will get the default view as shown below. No data will be shown as we are not connected to a GPS.

The next step, is to create a new network connection and connect to the GPS which is connected to our Raspberry Pi. You can create a new connection under the Receiver and then Network connection menus.

In the new window, enter the IP address of the Raspberry Pi and specify port 6000. This is the port we configured in ser2net on the Raspberry Pi.

This is what the default view looks like when connected and the GPS has a fix.

u-Center

Below I will list of the more useful windows/tools within u-Center.
You can also click on the images below for a larger version.

Data View
This window will show you the longitude, latitude, altitude and fix mode. It will also show the HDOP, which is the Horizontal Dilution of Precision. Lower is better, anything below 1.0 means you have a good signal.

Ground Track
This window will show you where the satellites are as well as what time.

Skye View
Sky view is an excellent tool for analyzing the performance of antennas as well as the conditions of the satellite observation environment.

Deviation Map
This map shows the average of all previously measured positions.

Continue reading Using u-Center to connect to the GPS on the OzzMaker SARA-R5 LTE-M GPS + 10DOF →

What do you do if you have a poor or no GNSS signal, such has being indoors, inside a parking garage or in urban canyons? You could try CellLocate.

CellLocate

In a nutshell

CellLocate provides an estimated location based on visible network cell information reported by the cellular module. When CellLocate is activated, a data connection to the CellLocate server is established and the network cell information is passed to the server which provides an estimation of the device position based on the cell information.

CellLocate is fully integrated into the SARA-R5 which is on the OzzMaker SARA-R5 LTE-M GPS 10DOF board. The technology enables stand-alone location data based on surrounding mobile network information as well as hybrid technology that works in conjunction with GNSS. Through the single AT command interface, it is possible to define all the location settings for optimized performance.

When using CellLocate, the position accuracy is not predictable and is determined by the availability in the database of previous observations within the same area. CellLocate does not require a GNSS receiver to be present or active.

CellLocate requires a data connection (PDP) from the SARA-R5 module to the carrier.

Getting started

Connect to the SARA-R5 cellular module

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ minicom 115200 -D /dev/serial0

Setup the Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context.

First task is to setup the connection parameters for the PDP context using AT+CGDCONT. Any setting applied with this commend is persistent over power cycles. This means it only needs to be done once. You will however need to enter it again if you do a factory reset.

First, turn off the radio

AT+CFUN=0

Then set up a connection profile with the APN for your network operator, using the AT+CGDCONT command (Packet Switch Data configuration). In this example we are using a Hologram SIM, so the APN would be hologram.

AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,””hologram”

Now turn the radio back on;

AT+CFUN=1

Once your SARA-R5 connects to the carrier, you can use AT+CGDCONT? to get your current IP address

AT+CGDCONT?
+CGDCONT: 1,”IP”,”hologram.mnc050.mcc234.gprs”,”10.170.92.244″,0,0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

Now active the PDP context

AT+CGACT=1,1

Set the PDP type to IPv4

AT+UPSD=0,0,0

Profile #0 is mapped on CID=1

AT+UPSD=0,100,1

Activate the PSD profile

AT+UPSDA=0,3

Your SARA-R5 should now have internet access. If you want to test the data connection, you can use AT+UPING

AT+UPING=”www.google.com”
OK
+UUPING: 1,32,”www.google.com”,”142.250.179.228″,113,617
+UUPING: 2,32,”www.google.com”,”142.250.179.228″,113,637
+UUPING: 3,32,”www.google.com”,”142.250.179.228″,113,636
+UUPING: 4,32,”www.google.com”,”142.250.179.228″,113,637

Using CellLocate

When using CellLocate, There are two modes to choose from:

normal scan: the cellular module reports the serving cell and the neighboring visible cells designated by the network operator, which are normally collected by the module during its “network” activity. This configuration is suggested for a quick update of location

deep scan: the cellular module scans and reports all visible cells providing in addition to serving and neighboring cells by the serving network operator, also the cells of all other available (visible) network operators, thus increasing the probability of obtaining a successful position estimation. Although this takes a bit longer (approximately 30 sec to 2 minutes is needed to perform a deep scan), uses more data (each reported cell requires a few bytes), and more power, coverage and reliability are potentially better in corner cases.

Continue reading Using CellLocate with OzzMaker SARA-R5 LTE-M GPS + 10DOF →

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Using u-Center to connect to the GPS on the OzzMaker SARA-R5 LTE-M GPS + 10DOF