Adding a Bluetooth GPS

[h-g-t]

Bluetooth GPS units are now 'cheap as chips' and I was wondering about adding one to my photographic project (NXC) to record location and direction.

After spending an afternoon searching I can only find support for this by using pblua or an Arduino-style intermediate processing unit.

Can anyone point me to a site which has achieved this just using NXC?

[mattallen37]

The NXT BT module only supports virtual COM, so you need to be sure that the BT GPS uses that protocol.

[mattallen37]

I remember seeing an NXC program on NXTasy, and fortunately I saved it.

gps_library_v0.3.nxc

(17.44 KiB) Downloaded 498 times

Edit: I believe it is the work of Benoit Parsy.

[h-g-t]

Thanks Matt, that is just what I was looking for!

[pbenco]

Hello

h-g-t: may you give me the model and brand of the BT GPS you are experimenting on?
mattallen37: thank you very much, you're nice guy!

I wrote an article dealing with BT GPS: http://freelug.org/spip.php?article1174 It's in french, but lot of photos, and you can use google translate...

Best regards
Ben

[h-g-t]

Depends on which one I win on ebay!

No particular model in mind as long as it is cheap. This is an experiment so I don't want to lay out too much cash in case it is a waste of time.

My photographic program creates a log file and I was wondering whether I could include the GPS co-ordinates.

Also, if I wanted to see if I could use the NXT as a datalogger to record the locations of photos in a file which is updated. That way I would not have to leave the NXT on all the time.

GPS units don't cost too much on ebay (if you are patient) so I thought I would try it and see what happened.


Update - just landed a solar-powered one (Model: FXPXSBT01 S/N: S06040056) for £2.99; will keep you informed of developments.

Finally tracked down the user manual and the baud rate is 9600 so it might not work (if so I'll give it to my daughter to use with her phone). http://www.proporta.com/F03/pdf/GpsBT_U ... V2_Eng.pdf

[pbenco]

Dear h-g-t

Finally tracked down the user manual and the baud rate is 9600 so it might not work

Why, 9600 is the standard baudrate, so it's OK.
Give it a try, and let us know.
Best regards
Ben

[pepijndevos]

Am I missing something, or did you just manage to get a GPS unit for the NXT for a few dollar, compared to $90 for the dGPS?

This could save me some serious money for my NXT UAV project, if there aren't any massive downsides.

[h-g-t]

If you look at ebay there are units going for less than £20.

Don't know if they work with the NXT, or are as accurate as the dgps, but they are cheap!

Just go into ebay, enter 'gps (wireless,bluetooth)' and set the search to look for the lowest price inc p&p.


Update - Out of interest, I went back and looked for 'usb gps', found some units around £20 but they need an adaptor to fit the NXT and I have no idea if they are compatible.

Update - These were the cheapest I could see today - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LATEST-SUPER- ... 519e0a7427

Don't know why they are described as for laptops, something to do with the aerial orientation? Or do they only work outside?

[pepijndevos]

The NXT BT module only supports virtual COM, so you need to be sure that the BT GPS uses that protocol.

Is that the same as Serial Port Profile? As far as I can tell, it is.

http://download.tomtom.com/open/manuals ... 5_MOB5.pdf

It also says "Class II Version 1.2", but I read somewhere the NXT only does Bluetooth 1.1?