Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Thomas J Coyle III on June 23, 2010 at 9:43am

Graham,

I would buy it now as there is a limited number of the interface boards available at this time. As you know, when you do decide to buy it, it will be on backorder and you will have to wait.

I originally bought the MediaTek GPS in anticipation of the interface board becoming available and now it is. Mine should be waiting in my mailbox when I get home today.

Also, this interface board is much more robust than the fragile Ublox interface board.

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

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Permalink Reply by Faisal Shah on June 24, 2010 at 1:25pm

Where is the documentation to interpret the binary messages the MT3329 is spitting out? The datasheet only includes the NMEA string output - not the 'compressed' binary data output.

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Permalink Reply by Lew Payne on June 24, 2010 at 1:30pm

I asked about this in an email to the diydrones store (at the contact address specified in their "contact us" link), and received the following reply from Edna:

"Jordi will be publishing the protocol and insturctions soon. Please check diydrones.com for an update."

So, basically, the product is being offered for sale (at this time) without full documentation.

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Permalink Reply by Matthew M on June 24, 2010 at 6:03pm

It is out putting NMEA 183 protocol and it is specifically spelled out in the documentation I linked to at the start of the thread.

Example coming from mine "$GPGGA,002249.037,,,,,0,,,,1GA1,,,,EGC287,0,,0,N" matching verbatim from the documentation as expected.

I did set about playing with some protocol analysis based on your erroneous input so in that regard thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Thomas J Coyle III on June 24, 2010 at 3:47pm

Hi all,

I ordered the MediaTek MT3229 Adapter board on Sat June 19th, but the DIY Drones Store sent me another MediaTek MT3229 GPS instead. I have contacted the Store customer return email address about the mixup, but so far no response!

Regards,
TCIII

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Permalink Reply by Matthew M on June 24, 2010 at 6:04pm

Waiting for mine and hoping there was no mistake! :D

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Permalink Reply by Lew Payne on June 24, 2010 at 5:07pm

Regarding the MT3329 GPS, the DIYdrones store says the following:

"Note that the new MediaTek has custom and exclusive 'DIYDrones' firmware that allows the unit to output an efficient and very compressed binary protocol. You can still change between NMEA and Binary protocol with standard MTK messages, and switch the refresh rate between 1hz to 10hz, or set any standard serial baud rate (by default is set to 38400 bps and custom binary protocol)."

As I pointed out earlier, no documentation exists for this "exclusive" firmware with regard to the format of the "very compressed binary protocol." I'm curious how a small store like DIYDrones got the manufacturer to code an "exclusive" firmware version for them. Normally, it would require a very large quantity commitment on the part of the purchaser.

Being somewhat cautious when it comes to certain kinds of claims, I'm curious to find out more about the "exclusive" nature of the firmware, who coded it (since it's probably not based on a RISC chip that DIY folks are familiar with, nor would they have the capability of producing a mask for it), and its origins. At this time, I have trepidation toward making purchases from the store. Some honest and open communication regarding these things will help change my mind (but please, folks... no speculation... we have enough of that already).

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Permalink Reply by Grunt on November 30, 2011 at 8:56pm

If it helps any, found this wording on the GPS manufactures website:

 

"Firmware customization services available for all GlobalTop MTK GPS modules"

 

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Permalink Reply by Ricardo Madera on June 30, 2010 at 6:49am

Hello,

I just purchased one of these with the shield from the store. I hooked it up to my ardupilot mega and loaded the example code. The blue status light on the shield is always blinking and the gps never returns anything other than 0's. Am I missing something here? Im only using the EM406 cable to connect to the gps shield to the ardupilot mega.

Regards,

Ricardo

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Permalink Reply by Ricardo Madera on June 30, 2010 at 2:50pm

Nevermind, I got it to work. After a microscope inspection, 1 point was not touching the connector

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Permalink Reply by Matthew M on June 30, 2010 at 6:54pm

I soldered a cable directly onto the adapter I had bought the GPS earlier and set it up for bread boarding. Those via / pads are tiny. I continuity checked as I went to make sure I didn't run into the problem you just had. I used a magnifier to do the soldering also.

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Permalink Reply by Billouk on July 21, 2010 at 11:42am

Hello,

Could you please tell me where was the issue ?
I actually have the same problem.

...When i wrote this message, the blue led just stop blinking. I'm receiving datas.
So how long normaly takes the mediatek first start ?

(sorry for my bad frenchy english ^^)

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