L70EVB-KIT - QUECTEL WIRELESS SOLUTIONS

L70 EVB User Guide

GPS Module Series

Rev. L70_EVB_User_Guide_V2.0

Date: 2013-05-31

www.quectel.com

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Our aim is to provide customers with timely and comprehensive service. For any

assistance, please contact our company headquarter:

Quectel Wireless Solutions Co., Ltd.

Room 501, Building 13, No.99, Tianzhou Road, Shanghai, China, 200233

Tel: +86 21 5108 6236

Mail: info@quectel.com

Or our local office, for more information, please visit:

http://www.quectel.com/support/salesupport.aspx

For technical support, to report documentation errors, please visit:

http://www.quectel.com/support/techsupport.aspx

GENERAL NOTES

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PROVIDED IS BASED UPON CUSTOMERS‟ REQUIREMENTS. QUECTEL MAKES EVERY EFFORT

TO ENSURE THE QUALITY OF THE INFORMATION IT MAKES AVAILABLE. QUECTEL DOES NOT

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ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY INJURY, LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED BY USE OF OR

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About the document

History

Revision

Date

Author

Description

1.0

2013-02-21

Dishon ZHOU

Initial

2.0

2013-05-28

Ada LI

Hardware upgraded

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Contents

About the document ................................................................................................................................... 2

Contents ....................................................................................................................................................... 3

Table Index ................................................................................................................................................... 4

Figure Index ................................................................................................................................................. 5

1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 6

2 Introduction to EVB Kit ....................................................................................................................... 7

2.1. EVB Top and Bottom View .......................................................................................................... 7

2.2. EVB Accessories ......................................................................................................................... 9

3 Interface Application ......................................................................................................................... 10

3.1. USB Interface ............................................................................................................................ 10

3.2. UART Interface.......................................................................................................................... 11

3.3. Antenna Interface ...................................................................................................................... 12

3.4. Switches and Buttons ............................................................................................................... 13

3.5. Operating Status LEDs ............................................................................................................. 14

3.6. Test Points ................................................................................................................................. 15

4 EVB and Accessories ........................................................................................................................ 16

5 Install Device Driver ........................................................................................................................... 17

6 Starting PowerGPS ............................................................................................................................ 18

7 Appendix A Reference ....................................................................................................................... 24

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Table Index

TABLE 1: PINS OF UART PORT ....................................................................................................................... 11

TABLE 2: SWITCHES AND BUTTONS ............................................................................................................. 13

TABLE 3: OPERATING STATUS LEDS ............................................................................................................ 14

TABLE 4: PINS OF J106 ................................................................................................................................... 15

TABLE 5: EXPLANATIONS OF POWERGPS WINDOW .................................................................................. 19

TABLE 6: REFERENCE .................................................................................................................................... 24

TABLE 7: ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................................. 24

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Figure Index

FIGURE 1: EVB TOP VIEW ................................................................................................................................ 7

FIGURE 2: EVB BOTTOM VIEW ........................................................................................................................ 8

FIGURE 3: EVB ACCESSORIES ........................................................................................................................ 9

FIGURE 4: MICRO-USB INTERFACE .............................................................................................................. 10

FIGURE 5: UART INTERFACE .......................................................................................................................... 11

FIGURE 6: ANTENNA INTERFACE .................................................................................................................. 12

FIGURE 7: LNA LAYOUT .................................................................................................................................. 12

FIGURE 8: SWITCHES AND BUTTONS .......................................................................................................... 13

FIGURE 9: OPERATING STATUS LEDS .......................................................................................................... 14

FIGURE 10: TEST POINTS J106 ...................................................................................................................... 15

FIGURE 11: EVB AND ACCESSORY EQUIPMENTS ...................................................................................... 16

FIGURE 12: POWERGPS TOOL ...................................................................................................................... 18

FIGURE 13: MTK COMMAND .......................................................................................................................... 20

FIGURE 14: STATIC TTFF TESTING ............................................................................................................... 21

FIGURE 15: STATIC TTFF TESTING CONFIGURATION OPTIONS ............................................................... 22

FIGURE 16: STATIC TTFF TESTING CONFIGURATION ................................................................................ 23

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1 Introduction

This document defines and specifies the usage of L70 EVB (Evaluation Board). You can get useful

information about L70 EVB and GPS demo tool from this document.

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2 Introduction to EVB Kit

2.1. EVB Top and Bottom View

Figure 1: EVB Top View

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

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Figure 2: EVB Bottom View

A: UART port

B: Serial port alternation switch

C: RESET button

D: POWER switch

E: Micro-USB port

F: Indication LEDs

G: Antenna interface

H: L70 Module

I: STANDBY switch

J: Test points

A

J

E

F

G

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2.2. EVB Accessories

Figure 3: EVB Accessories

A: USB cable

B: GPS active antenna (3.3V)

A

B

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3 Interface Application

3.1. USB Interface

Figure 4: Micro-USB Interface

The main power is supplied via Micro-USB interface. Quectel provides two ways for data communication:

Micro-USB and UART interface which are controlled by serial port alternation switch (S2). Both of RS232

and Micro-USB cable are necessary, if you want to use UART in order to output NEMA. So the easy way

is that use Micro-USB cable which both provides the power and output NEMA. You can make alternation

between UART port and Micro-USB interface via switch (S2).

If you want to use PowerGPS Tool, UART interface is recommended for data communication.

NOTE

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3.2. UART Interface

Figure 5: UART Interface

Table 1: Pins of UART port

Signal

I/O

Description

2

RXD

I

Receive data

3

TXD

O

Transmit data

5

GND

.

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3.3. Antenna Interface

Figure 6: Antenna Interface

Figure 7: LNA Layout

Antenna

R118

C109

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For choice of external antenna, both of active antenna and passive antenna can be selected. Please note

the LNA is installed in the EVB by default, so you have to move C109 to R112 and R118 to R105, when

you want to remove the LNA for test.

3.4. Switches and Buttons

Figure 8: Switches and Buttons

Table 2: Switches and Buttons

Part

Name

I/O

Description

S1

POWER

I

Control power supply via Micro-USB.

S2

Serial port

alternation switch

I

QUECTEL EVB supplies two communicative

ways: Micro-USB and UART which are controlled

by switch.

S1

S2

S3

K1

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S3

STANDBY

I

The module will enter into standby mode when

switching from OFF to ON, and exit from standby

mode in the opposite operation.

K1

RESET

I

Press and release this button, then the module

will reset.

3.5. Operating Status LEDs

Figure 9: Operating Status LEDs

Table 3: Operating status LEDs

Part

Name

I/O

Description

L1

TXD1

O

Flash: turn on successfully. Micro-USB or UART1

port can output messages.

Extinct: fail to turn on the module.

L2

1PPS

O

Flash: fix successfully. The frequency is 1Hz.

Extinct: no fix.

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3.6. Test Points

Figure 10: Test Points J106

Table 4: Pins of J106

Signal

I/O

Description

1/10

GND

Ground

2

STANDBY

I

Enter or exit standby mode

3

1PPS

O

1 pulse per second

4

AADET_N

I

Active antenna open circuit detection

5

32K/DRIN

Reserved

6

TIMER(FORCE_ON)

O

Logic high will force module to be waked

up from backup mode. Keep this pin open

or pulled low before entering into backup

mode. If unused, keep this pin open.

7

RESET

I

System reset

8

TXD1

O

Transmit data

9

RXD1

I

Receive data

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

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4 EVB and Accessories

The EVB and its accessories are equipped as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: EVB and Accessory Equipments

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5 Install Device Driver

Please note that you need to install the driver of Micro-USB, when use Micro-USB for data communication.

The driver has been stored in our FTP server. The driver of CP210x also can be download from internet.

The download path of our FTP server is as below:

Overseas customer: /d:/FTP/OC/Overseas_Technical/Overseas_Module Official Documents/GNSS

Module/Common/04 Tool Kit/ GNSS_EVB_Micro-USB_Driver_CP210x.

Domestic customer: /d:/FTP/CC/Domestic_Technical/Domestic_Module Official Documents/GNSS

Module/Common/04 Tool Kit/ GNSS_EVB_Micro-USB_Driver_CP210x.

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6 Starting PowerGPS

The PowerGPS version is V2.2.0. The PowerGPS tool can help user to view the status of

GPS&GLONASS receiver conveniently. When the tool is opened, the following window will be displayed:

Figure 12: PowerGPS Tool

After EVB accessories are assembled, turn on the module and start up the PowerGPS. Select a correct

COM port and baud rate (L70 module supports 9600bps by default), then click the button “Create

Connection”.

From the PowerGPS window, user can view CNR message, time, position, speed, precision and so on.

Explanations are listed in Table 5.

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Table 5: Explanations of PowerGPS Window

Icon

Explanation

SV with PRN 65. If the position of SV is near to the centre of the

Sky View, the elevation angle of SV is close to 90°. Dark blue

means this satellite is in tracking.

Light blue means this satellite is not in tracking.

The CNR of PRN 25 is 31dB/Hz. Light blue column means the

navigation data of this satellite is in use.

The CNR of PRN 70 is 32dB/Hz. White column means the

navigation data of this satellite is not in use. The range of

GLONASS SVID is 65-96.

UTC time

Latitude degree

longitude degree

Positing fix

Using the number of satellites

Horizontal Dilution of Precision

Altitude based on WGS84 Datum

UTC date

Fix type: No-Fix, 3D or 2D SPS

Using satellite

Position Dilution of Precision

Vertical Dilution of Precision

Speed of receiver

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PMTK Command

You can send PMTK command by PowerGPS. The format of PMTK command is included only characters

between „$‟ and „*‟, for example: PMTK869,0.

Figure 13: MTK Command

Automatic TTFF Testing

This tool allows you to measure the TTFF (Time to First Fix) under different testing conditions. You can

choose to test the TTFF from full start, cold start, warm start and hot start and the number of tests can be

chosen from 1, 10, 20, 100, 1000 and 10000. Click on the Run button to start the test and it can be

stopped by clicking on the Stop button. The configuration is as below:

Start “MTK” menu, and click “Static TTFF Testing”, then “Static TTFF Testing” as shown below:

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Figure 14: Static TTFF Testing

Click “Set reference point”, choose “Reference location”. After start positioning, click “Use Mean Position”,

then click “OK”. As shown in the screenshots below:

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Figure 15: Static TTFF Testing Configuration Options

Click “Config”, set “TTFF Time- out (sec)”, then click “OK”, shown as below:

In generally, if you choose hot start, “TTFF Time-out (sec)” sets 10s. If you choose warm start, the “TTFF

Time-out (sec)” sets 50s. If you choose cold start, the “TTFF Time-out (sec)” sets 100s. “TTFF Time–out

(sec)” can help you judge TTFF and save time.

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Figure 16: Static TTFF Testing Configuration

The above operation is completed. Click on the Run button to start the test and it can be stopped by

clicking Stop button.

After finishing the testing, you can see the testing result charts. Of course, the result also will be stored in

the tool installation path, and you can view the corresponding log.

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7 Appendix A Reference

Table 6: Reference

SN

Document name

Remark

[1]

L70_Hardware_Design

L70 Hardware Design

[2]

L70_Protocol_Specification

L70 Protocol Specification

[3]

L70_Reference Design

L70 Reference Design

Table 7: Abbreviations

Abbreviation

Description

CNR

Carrier-to-Noise Ratio

GPS

Global Positioning System

LED

Light Emitting Diode

PPS

Pulse Per Second

PRN

Pseudorandom Noise

SPS

Standard Positioning Service

SV

Satellite Vehicle

UART

Universal Asynchronous Receiver & Transmitter

UTC

Universal Time Coordinated

WGS84

World Geodetic System 1984

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