Sensors

Navigation receivers

All standard position receivers sending NMEA 0183 data can be used to deliver information to the system. Most modern receivers utilize GPS, Galileo or/and Glosnass. Old ground station based Loran C is also possible, but it is less accurate. Most modern (GPS) receivers are provided with SBAS or GBAS which makes them more accurate and reliable.

GPS Receivers

Any standard NMEA 0183 GPS receiver can be used (quality differs among models).

Some tested GPS-devices listed below:

Holux GR-213: (Sirf Star III) ***
G.Mouse BU-353USB: (Sirf Star III) **
Holux GM210: (Sirf II) **
iGPS-M: (uNav) *

All have wide temperature ranges down to -40C and all are SBAS (WAAS/EGNOS) enabled (New Holux M-215 is also MSAS enabled). Sirf Star seems to be some kind of guarantee of quality.

The following link (gpsd project) shows some test results of different GPS receivers.

Helmuth Aichinger & Josef Breitfelner/GPS-Mouse among others ships GPS items all over Europe (C.O.D.) and the world.

Garmin USB GPS receivers (Model 18 USB for an example) can be used via Franson GpsGate virtual ports.

High Accuracy Using StarFire Correction

High accuracy and small delays can be achieved all over the world using StarFire corrected GPS receivers. Accuracy can be 4.5 cm and update rate 25/s. This technology was developed by NavCom.

Attitude and Magnetic Direction Sensors

Attitude sensors that send their information using NMEA0183 are directly usable. Also, sensors that send their data in ASCII format CR-LF separated are easy to connect. Sensors that use some special binary format might need some additional software or protocol changers. Here are some examples of attitude sensors that can be directly connected:

USB-connection

Some USB-connectors are sensitive to vibrations, and may break during operation. Sometimes changing the USB cable may cure this problem. Using older type screw secured serial connectors (RS-232C option) also fixes this problem. Bluetooth is also an option (no connectors at all).

If the application needs longer connector for the USB port, an additional active USB cable might be needed.

All above mentioned items are available from Conrad Electronics International. NOTICE, that the international server does not list all items. Go to Conrad Germany to find them all.

Power Supplies

12/24 V power supply adaptors are available from Voltcraft among others.