Prepare the GPS

You will need to do some preparation before starting the assembly.

Configure the GPS board

This assumes that you are using the Ardusimple F9P GPS board. Support for other GPS receivers is a work in progress.

Prerequisites

  • A Micro USB Cable
  • A Windows PC
  • Latest version of the u-center software:
    🔗 https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/u-center
    Don’t get u-center V2, you will need u-center v1 for the F9P.
  • The GPS configuration file
    🔗 Robot.txt
    This will open in the browser. Use CTRL+S to download the file.

Step 0: Update Firmware

Update the firmware of your Ardusimple board to version ZED-F9P HPG 1.32. There’s a guide on the Ardusimple Website.

Step 1: Open u-center and connect to your GPS

After installing u-center, connect your Ardusimple board using the “Power+GPS” USB socket to your Windows computer. You should see the blue LEDs of the board come on and Windows should recognize the device as a COM port. With the module connected to your PC, open the u-center software.

In u-center, first connect to your board by selecting the appropriate COM port in the Receiver > Connection menu.

Step 2: Transfer the configuration to the GPS

Transfer Settings to u-center

After successfully connecting to the board, you can transfer the previously downloaded configuration file Robot.txt by opening the window Tools > Receiver Configuration .... In this window you open the Robot.txt using the ... button and then transfer the configuration to the GPS by clicking the Transfer File -> GNSS button.

Step 3: Save configuration to Flash

Save Settings to Flash

In order to keep the GPS configured even after powering it down, you need to save the current configuration to Flash memory. In order to do this, select View > Configuration View. In the new window you need to select CFG (Configuration) in the list on the left side and then enable Save current configuration. Make sure that 0 - BBR and 1 - FLASH are both selected on the right side of the window. Once that’s done, click the Send button in the lower toolbar of the window.

Step 4: Done 🎉

Your GPS is now configured for use with the Open Mower software. You can disconnect it from your Windows PC.

Last modified May 10, 2023: docs: proofreading (ef620e5)