We lately searched for a way to easily log the flight data of our planes and copters and found very cheap parts with good recommendations and combined those to the best lightweight GPS logger we could find.
We ordered the following products:
- Ublox NEO-6M GPS Modul (ebay)
- Micro SD Card
Both units work with 5VDC supply voltage, so they can be powered both together by the same supply. We connected the GPS TX channel to the Log RX channel. For power we use a Servo Connector, so it can be directly connected to a standard RC receiver with any free channel or connected via Y-cable to any servo channel in use (only V+ and GND are connected).
The interesting part is the baudrate. The logger needs to be set to the baudrate of the GPS module. This is done using the config file that is created by the logger on initial power up with the micro SD card. So power the Open Log once with SD Card, then remove the SD card again, read the config file on a PC and save the baudrate according to your required rate.
We use a baudrate of 57600 with the GPS and the logger.
The output is pure NMEA format. The GPS output (which NMEA messages to be transmitted) can be configured using the software uCenter . This can also be used to show the GPS data of a log file. For configuring the GPS Module you will require an FTDI / TTL-RS232 converter to connect it to the PC.
We configured to only transmit the GPGGA and GPRMC data.
Below you can see a log, analyzed with the u-center software (which includes google earth). For a flight visualization the software and the logger are very helpful.
$GPGGA,155101.50,5335.31465,N,00953.60034,E,1,10,0.86,15.4,M,45.1,M,,*6C
$GPRMC,155102.00,A,5335.31460,N,00953.60030,E,0.310,,130416,,,A*7B
All over, you will get this logger for a very low price:
- GPS Module - €16 (ebay)
- Open Log Module - €12 (ebay)
(- FTDI (if you dont have any yet) - approx €5)
Investing less than €40 leaves you with a great GPS logger module.
You can contact us (mail|at|provisionell|.|de) for any help or information on GPS logging. We can also produce and customize any logger to your needs if required.
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