Revision as of 15:30, 25 August 2016

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system that provides location and time information of the GPS device in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.
A GPS module is a device that uses Global Positioning System to determine the location of a vehicle or person. GPS receivers are used to provide reliable navigation, positioning and timing services to the users at anytime and anywhere on the earth. This Global positioning system uses a minimum of 4 satellites to provide the data to the receivers. If the GPS receiver is only able to get signals from 3 satellites, you can still get your position, but it will be less accurate. As mentioned above, the GPS receiver needs 4 satellites to determine the position in 3-dimensions.

GPS Frame Formats

The serial interface protocol is based on the National Marine Electronics Association’s NMEA 0183 ASCII interface specification.

GGA-GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM FIX DATA

Time, position and fix related data for a GPS receiver. $GPGGA,hhmmss.sss,ddmm.mmmm,a,dddmm.mmmm,a,x,xx,x.x,x.x,M,x.x,M,x.x,xxxx*hh<CR><LF>

GLL - LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE, WITH TIME OF POSITION FIX AND STATUS

Latitude and longitude of current position, time, and status. $GPGLL,ddmm.mmmm,a,dddmm.mmmm,a,hhmmss.sss,A,a*hh<CR><LF>

GSA - GPS DOP AND ACTIVE SATELLITES

GPS receiver operating mode, satellites used in the navigation solution reported by the GGA or GNS sentence and DOP values. $GPGSA,A,x,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,x.x,x.x,x.x*hh<CR><LF>

GSV - GPS SATELLITE IN VIEW

Numbers of satellites in view, PRN number, elevation angle, azimuth angle, and C/No. Four satellites details are transmitted per message. Additional satellite in view information is sent in subsequent GSV messages. $GPGSV,x,x,xx,xx,xx,xxx,xx,…,xx,xx,xxx,xx *hh<CR><LF>

RMC - RECOMMENDED MINIMUM SPECIFIC GPS/TRANSIT DATA

Time, date, position, course and speed data provided by a GNSS navigation receiver. $GPRMC,hhmmss.sss,A,dddmm.mmmm,a,dddmm.mmmm,a,x.x,x.x,ddmmyy,x.x,a,a*hh<CR><LF>

VTG - COURSE OVER GROUND AND GROUND SPEED

The Actual course and speed relative to the ground. $GPVTG,x.x,T,x.x,M,x.x,N,x.x,K,a*hh<CR><LF>

GPRMC - RECOMMENDED MINIMUM SPECIFIC GPS/TRANSIT DATA

We will be using this frame for GPS data (time, lat-long). Let's decode the GPRMC frame for GPS data. $GPRMC,hhmmss.sss,A,dddmm.mmmm,a,dddmm.mmmm,a,x.x,x.x,ddmmyy,x.x,a,a*hh<CR><LF> $GPRMC,110831.000,A,1304.8763,N,07733.6457,E,0.79,303.84,010116,,,A*68