mRobotics M8N GPS

[Dogman1973]

Correct... one cable, plug and play

 

[aCiDjEsUs]

Correct... one cable, plug and play

Thank you, appreciated.

 

[cynfab]

When you first power up the Solo with the mRo GPS installed, the Solo will reprogram the M8N to suit its' needs. You CAN adjust some settings using u-center after that, but is not necessary unless you like to fiddle with such things. Beware, fiddling too much can make things a lot worse than with the original GPS. But you could always do a reset to factory defaults in u-center and then let the Solo reprogram the M8N again if you muck things up too much. I do this just to get back to a known configuration, as I fiddle with the settings a lot.
Happy flying.

 

[aCiDjEsUs]

Got my M8N from mRo yesterday installed it and WoW! What a difference, inside my house I was getting 0 satellites with the stock GPS and with mRo module I'm getting 12-14 in side the house, went outside with Solo and was getting around 18-20 satellites within seconds if I remember correctly, 80 dollars well spend.

 

[enem178]

Just ordered mine

 

[Dadawada]

I can add to the positive reviews for this item. Ordered, shipped fast. installed, fly with 20 sats showing for the first time. Acquires enough sats to fly within about 30 seconds. Lands within feet of original position. Best upgrade so far.

 

[5r49cfu]

I believe the purpose of upgrading to the mRo M8N is for a more robust GPS fix, not for accuracy.

When I say "fix", I don't mean stronger GPS signal, I mean more satellites above the minimum needed to calculate position.

1. I get many more sats than with the original GPS.
2. I don't see any improvement on hover position hold.
3. I don't land any closer to take-off point with RTL

That said, I think it is totally worth it as you'll be less likely to lose GPS fix.

Agree? Comments?

 

[cynfab]

With the M8N you get 2 maybe 3 improvements.
1) the M8N has a "better" receiver chain ie. lower noise front end an better low signal level tracking. This Moore's Law at work.
2) You can receive GLONASS sats as well as GPS that results in more sats contributing to the NAV solution.
Potentially you will get a better geometry and consequently a more "accurate" solution.
3) The 3.01 firmware has better internal algorithms for processing the GPS/GLONASS fix.
4) although the M8N with 3.01 firmware can do 3 constellations simultaneously, Galileo is not fully deployed and the M8N can't process 3 at 5Hz.

 

[hackbard23]

mRo is now selling a mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N + HMC5983 Compass Module for the same price as the normal mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N.

Is there any benfit in the compass module ?
Am i wrong, or is the compass normally build inside the PH2 ?

 

[Stealth]

mRo is now selling a mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N + HMC5983 Compass Module for the same price as the normal mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N.

Is there any benfit in the compass module ?
Am i wrong, or is the compass normally build inside the PH2 ?

It is written in the description that the product "provides a higher gain compared to any of its predecessors (from 1.5dBi to 5dBi) and using the legendary Honeywell HMC5983 that is no longer in production."
The rest of the description is exactly the same as the one in the mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade, incl. sat fix and HDOP (which does not make sense having in mind the better signal strength described). Maybe it is better in polluted environment and/or near trees/buildings.

 

[hackbard23]

i think this means the Taoglas antenna in this new product provides a higher gain, but for what is the compass IC on the board ? maybe heading information ?

 

[Stealth]

i think this means the Taoglas antenna provides a higher gain, but for what is the compass IC on the board ?

I suppose that we could ask MRobotics all of these questions and receive and answer from the source.

 

[Anthony Horrigan]

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?

The upgrade GPS is a straight plug and go with the existing cable, no configuration settings changes are required.
The first time with the new GPS is powered up, it may take a few minute to acquire the satellites, so give it time (3 - 4 minutes), after which GPS lock will be less 30 seconds in future flights.
With the ALFA antennas, remember to fly with the antenna logo facing the drone.

 

[RichWest]

Is there any benfit in the compass module ?
Am i wrong, or is the compass normally build inside the PH2 ?

The Solo compass (magnetometer) is in one of the legs...

 

[cynfab]

The antenna on the mRo M8N receiver that lots of folks have been getting is identical to the one found on the Solo's original (and Rev B) GPS
Available from Digikey:
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/taoglas-limited/GP.1575.25.4.A.02/931-1015-ND/2332642
It is GPS only antenna, but according to Jordi works fine with GLONASS.
The antenna on the new mRo module is also available from Digikey:
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/taoglas-limited/GP.1575.25.4.A.02/931-1015-ND/2332642
It is a GPS/GLONASS antenna, and is hardly "difficult to get".
Digikey has lots of different Taoglas antennas:
http://www.digikey.com/product-sear...t=0&page=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25
Most are cheap, $US4-$US7 each.
Don't try and replace one yourself, the GPS/GLONASS antennas will not quite mount in the same spot as the GPS only ones. Si it would no longer fit in the Solo's GPS bay.

 

[healthyfatboy]

The new GPS module isn't for Solo. You'll notice the connector is completely different. It would be for using with other autopilots like a Pixhawk or APM.

 

[User Name]

The new GPS module isn't for Solo. You'll notice the connector is completely different. It would be for using with other autopilots like a Pixhawk or APM.

Yea, I'm sure it'd work if you build/splice a cable, but the magnetometer would be wasted as the Solo already has one (if not several). This is almost certainly for DIY multirotors, where you often want the GPS and compass integrated for simplicity in getting both away from RFI sources.

 

[Stealth]

The new GPS module isn't for Solo. You'll notice the connector is completely different. It would be for using with other autopilots like a Pixhawk or APM.

The product description of mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N + HMC5983 Compass reads: Our testings in SOLO gave us an average HDOP of '0.6', which is considered ideal conditions.
So it is compatible with Solo.

 

[healthyfatboy]

Copy/paste from their other description.

Sure, it's compatible with Solo once you buy the associated cables you need to convert it to actually work with Solo but it doesn't work as-is and why pay more for the extra cabling when you can get the one that's made for Solo? The performance is going to be nearly identical since it's the same design with different connectors. However, since it's touted to use a "better" GLONASS antenna, it has the potential to be a little better. Again, copy/paste for something with nearly identical specs but actually slightly different antennas will cause some confusion but in general, the referenced module is for other platforms while the "original" is plug and play with Solo.

All the other M8N modules for other things like Pixhawk, Pixracer, APM, etc. are also compatible with Solo too with a little work and questionable quality and much lower price.

 

[User Name]

All the other M8N modules for other things like Pixhawk, Pixracer, APM, etc. are also compatible with Solo too with a little work and questionable quality and much lower price.

Others are compatible, but I think quality is the key point here, at least it is for me. I have a 1/2 dozen M8Ns, and none of them perform like this one. Jordi indicates uBlox evaluated the design and he implemented all their suggestions. It's quality in construction, components and design.