mRobotics M8N GPS

[Havoc818]

1st flight test after installing mRo M8N GPS board:
Test conditions were not ideal. Winds were variable from the SW at 7-9 mph after the recent storm that came through the Los Angeles area. I can say that for the short 8 minute flight that I was able to get in, it did appear that Solo was holding position better with the new M8N board installed. There was very little drift in hover and Orbit and CC modes appeared smoother. Acquired 18 satellites with an HDOP of 0.7 in clear terrain within 20 seconds of start up. I'm definitely satisfied with the upgrade so far.

 

[Stealth]

Sorry for my delayed reply, my altitude is pretty much +-1' at take off and landing without motors running. Went through 5 batteries yesterday and made a mental note for your request.

Fwiw, like Jublar, the altitude reading is a reference only in my opinion and regardless of brands flown. Air pressure, is air pressure...ground effect, speed of motion, temperature, gusting winds, large object wind-shears or tree lines influence air pressure.

As an example I was hovering 1' off the ground and had a alt of 9' in the app. Once I landed and shut off the motors it went +-1'...

Appreciated!
My Solo never shows a reading close to 0 when landed. I fly different locations (in a 100 km. radius) and different altitudes (550-2300 m. ASL). Still the result is almost the same - altitude inaccuracy in the range of +5 to +9 m AGL.

 

[JDaerial]

Just out of curiosity how does something like this compare? I'm assuming same components doesn't equal same performance in this case... Mini uBlox M8N GPS GLONASS W/ (35x35mm) Mounting backplane and Compass V2

 

[User Name]

Just out of curiosity how does something like this compare? I'm assuming same components doesn't equal same performance in this case... Mini uBlox M8N GPS GLONASS W/ (35x35mm) Mounting backplane and Compass V2

It's a knockoff uBlox GPS... not even genuine, can't update the firmware, I tried and bricked one. They're perfectly fine... for a small, cheap DIY quad. I have several and they've always worked fine, but there's no way I'd trust the Solo to one. Not only wouldn't I want to risk loosing the Solo and my camera, but the whole purpose of the Solo (aerial video and the smartshots) depends on a precise GPS fix, so cheaping out on a GPS receiver defeats the point.

If you didn't want to spend the money on the mRo GPS, at least buy a Drotek, shipping will be longer but it's basically the same price, it's a genuine uBlox, the quality and performance will be drastically better: Ublox NEO-M8 GPS breakout board

 

[JDaerial]

Thanks for the link, I just spotted it and I was curious.

 

[hackbard23]

someone hooked up USB and U-center with the mRo already ?

 

[Dmitry]

I connected, configured and updated via usb

 

[hackbard23]

did you see which GNSS were activated ? (GPS, Glonass etc...)

 

[Dmitry]

To enable GNSS need to update the firmware NEO-M8N GPS module

 

[Dmitry]

Get the maximum out of your 3DR Solo GPS - Hackster.io
Site search

 

[hackbard23]

Do you have the mRo M8N or the one from Drotek ?

 

[Dmitry]

Ublox NEO-M8 GPS breakout board

 

[hackbard23]

i asked if someone configured the mRo not the Drotek

 

[cynfab]

Yes, I have connected the mRo M8N board to u-center 8.23. It comes with firmware 3.01 and uses a u-blox NEO M8N-0-10. which is the newest production module. Solo reconfigures the M8N upon startup to send only UBX format messages as well as setting the baud rate to 38400. The M8N comes from mRo without a custom configuration.

 

[pyrate]

Or just get the one from Jordi and not mess with it

 

[hackbard23]

What GNSS are in use ? Glonass, GPS, Gallileo ? or is it Beidu ?

UBX Format, interesting - thought it would be NMEA

 

[cynfab]

Jordi is mRo.

Here is the configuration for the Solo, the m8N out of the box, and then after the Solo had reconfigured it
Looking at just the GNSS configuration, we see:

$ cat mRo_box.txt |grep -i gnss
CFG-GNSS - 06 3E 3C 00 00 20 20 07 00 08 10 00 01 00 01 01 01 01 03 00 01 00 01 01 02 04 08 00 00 00 01 01 03 08 10 00 00 00 01 01 04 00 08 00 00 00 01 03 05 00 03 00 01 00 01 05 06 08 0E 00 01 00 01 01
$ cat mRo_after.txt |grep -i gnss
CFG-GNSS - 06 3E 3C 00 00 20 20 07 00 08 10 00 01 00 01 01 01 01 03 00 01 00 01 01 02 04 08 00 00 00 01 01 03 08 10 00 00 00 01 01 04 00 08 00 00 00 01 03 05 00 03 00 01 00 01 05 06 08 0E 00 01 00 01 01
$ cat Solo.txt |grep -i gnss
CFG-GNSS - 06 3E 24 00 00 16 16 04 00 04 FF 00 01 00 00 00 01 01 03 00 01 00 00 00 05 00 03 00 01 00 00 00 06 08 FF 00 00 00 00 00

As you can see the first two are the same:
GPS, GLONASS and SBAS are enabled BieDou is not.

The config for Solo is different in that it is for protocol 15 version of the command for the M7N, and while compatible with the version 18 found in firmware 3.01, leaves out a bunch of configurations.

Read the u-blox receiver protocol spec. for details.

The long & short, the Solo's reconfiguration of the M8N upon first connection did NOT alter the factory default GNSS configuration that enables
GPS, GLONASS and SBAS.

 

[pyrate]

OK that is way over my head, but with 30 second or less locks at < 1 HDOP why mess with it.

 

[cynfab]

OK that is way over my head, but with 30 second or less locks at < 1 HDOP why mess with it.

Exactly...

 

[aCiDjEsUs]

Morning all aCiD here, this will be my first post here so please bare with me. I just picked up Solo from Best Buy (Never owned or flew a drone before), bought some extra Alfa antennas for extra range got the gimbal and an extra battery as a deal from BB, ordered the mRo GPS and my question is do I have to mess around with any settings of the GPS? Or is it a straight plug and play, get the old gps out put the new one in connect the cables and that's it right? is that correct or am I missing something?