SparkFun Launches GNSS Dead-Reckoning Navigation Boards for Qwiic, Raspberry Pi Projects

With built-in IMU, these navigation boards claim a 0.2m accuracy and tracking even following the complete loss of GNSS reception.

Gareth Halfacree
4 years ago β€’ Sensors / Robotics / Automotive
A pHAT version boasts easy integration with a Raspberry Pi or compatible. (πŸ“·: SparkFun)

SparkFun has launched a pair of GPS devices with a difference: They include on-board sensors for dead-reckoning navigation, for when a GNSS satellite lock isn't available.

Both of SparkFun's new navigation modules are built around the u-blox ZED-F9R module, a 184-channel global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver supporting GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou constellations, with a claimed 0.2-metre (around 0.7') accuracy under ideal conditions β€” a claim aided by its ability to receive positioning data from four constellations at the same time.

It's the dead-reckoning functionality that sets the module apart, however. The design features a 3D inertial measurement unit (IMU) which, combined with wheel-tick data and a vehicle dynamics model, allows for continuous positioning even when a GNSS signal isn't available β€” when the vehicle passes through a tunnel, for example, or enters a built-up area.

SparkFun's board designs include the module itself plus a battery back-up for the real-time clock β€” an addition which, the company claims, drops the time-to-first-fix from 24 seconds to just two seconds.

The module is available fitted to two boards. The first is a relatively compact breakout designed for use with the company's I2C-based Qwiic ecosystem; the second adds a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) header compatible with the Raspberry Pi GPIO pinout β€” and any other single-board computer which shares the same GPIO header.

Both board designs are now available, priced at $249.95 for the Raspberry Pi-compatible pHAT variant and $289.95 for the Qwiic variant.

Gareth Halfacree
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.
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