GPS data logger uisng U-blox M8N gps, Arduino Nano, and SD card reader
The goal for this project is a cheep and simple high frequence (10Hz) GPS datalogger that I can use during different activitis like motocrossing and mountain biking. I based it on Arduino Nano with U-blox M8N GPS, microSD card module, and a small 2s(7.4V) lithium battrey. I wanted the data to be saved in a way that it could be imported to "DASHWARE" http://www.dashware.net/ . DASHWARE is a free software that let you overlay video with data like speed, laptime, distance, map, etc. collected form a GPS but also other logged data like heartrate etc.
I searched the webb for a good M8N gps parser library and struggled to find one that could read the UBX-NAV-PVT protocol. I tried iforce2d's "10Hz U-blox binary GPS data in 66 lines of code (arduino)" https://youtu.be/TwhCX0c8Xe0 on youtube that did some of what I wanted but I could not modifie it for the PVT protocol. I came across a few more libaries and sattled for code shared by Jordi Muñoz and Jose Julio, DIYDrones.com. I made a few changes to adopt to the PVT protocol and it worked really well.
Two LED's give feedback on SD card and GPS status. A push button starts and stopps the data logging and it's saved to a new file for each log. The GPS sends only the UBX-NAV-PVT protocol 10 times per second (10Hz). The Arduino Nano parse recieved GPS data and save it to a log file on the microSD card.
All info from the PVT protocol could be saved but I choosed some and formed the output to look like this.
| Time | Date | Clock | Latitude | Longitutde | Speed | Altitude | Numb of Sats | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XXX.X | XX-X-XXXX | X:XX:XX | XX.XXXXXXX | -XXX.XXXXXXX | X.XX | XX.X | X | X |
| 528.4 | 11-2-2015 | 8:59.39 | 33.1946182 | -117.2495269 | 4.15 | 77.82 | 4 | 3 |
| 528.5 | 11-2-2015 | 8:59.39 | 33.1946258 | -117.2495269 | 4.14 | 77.32 | 4 | 3 |
GPS M8N $30 http://www.readytoflyquads.com/ublox-m8n-gps-module-no-mounting-backplane
Arduino Nano $5.50 eBay
microSD card module $3 eBay
Neo Ublox M8N
Website https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/neo-m8-series
Protocoll sheet https://www.u-blox.com/sites/default/files/products/documents/u-bloxM8_ReceiverDescrProtSpec_%28UBX-13003221%29_Public.pdf
