Drivers Library We know a lot about PC drivers. Sierra Wireless NMEA Port (COM4). HP un2430 Mobile Broadband Module Network Device. In this example, the SeaTalk Nmea Bridge has been attached to /dev/ttyUSB0 Windows: On a Windows System it will be necessary to install driver software. If you already have used a FTDI USB Serial Converter on your system, this driver may already be installed. The driver software can be found on the CD in subdirectory /DRIVERS. Com Port assignment.
Hi, I am trying to import raw GPS nmea sentences from my GPS module and
export to google earth KML for real-time tracking on Windows XP. No success
yet after a few hours trying.
The module is connected via a generic USB to TTL level RS232 adapter and it
works perfectly. I can reliably vew the nmea sentences via any terminal
program and other GPS coms utilities. I am familiar with all aspects of
serial data comms and know the unit communicates on COM4 at 9600bpm by
default at power-up.
Sometimes I have had success occasionally with the output being written to
the .kml file but no long / lat co-ords are found. I see this by viewing the
.kml file in notepad and seeing near the end of the file:
<LookAt>
<longitude>0.000000</longitude>
<latitude>0.000000</latitude>
<range>25642901.611899</range>
</LookAt>
I can see the unit gets my current location with 4 sats in view (just using
it at the window from my kitchen table for now) when I view the nmea
sentences manually and I can cut them from the text and paste into google
earth and it centres great, but GPSbabel doesn't seem to find them.
Other times, with exactly the same settings, GPSbabel gui reports the
following:
C:PROGRA~1GPSBabel>gpsbabel -w -t -i nmea,date=0,get_posn,baud=9600 -f
COM4 -o
kml,deficon=test,lines,points,trackdata -F C:test2.kml
nmea: Unable to set baud rate 9600
I don't know why it would be trying to change / set the baud rate, it just
needs to listen. Imediately before and after babel reports this error I can
watch the nmea data stream in a terminal program, the unit is functioning
normally.
I have tried various settings and options, but usually I only get the above
error.
All help and any tips appreciated,
regards,
Mat
Amoi-a500 Nmea Device (com4) Driver Update
Many GPS-related programs require an NMEA connection to your GPS through a serial port. But many new computers don’t include a serial port anymore, while many new GPS models, particularly Garmin, only have a proprietary USB interface and not a serial NMEA interface. For computers that don’t have a serial port, you can always buy a USB to serial converter like those from Keyspan. And for Garmin USB-only GPS units, there’s a program called GPSGate from Franson that converts the USB connection to multiple virtual serial NMEA ports, $10-30 depending on how many ports you need. Garmin offers a similar program for free called “Spanner” for their GPS 18 model, a USB receiver/antenna that’s designed to plug in to a notebook’s USB port and interface with programs running on it. What Garmin doesn’t say is that “Spanner” will also work with some, albeit not all, of its other GPS receiver units; you’ll have to experiment to see if it works with your model. And even if your Garmin has both serial and USB interfaces, like my Garmin 60Cx, using this program can save you the expense of a GPS-to-serial cable, a USB to serial converter if your computer doesn’t have a serial port, or both. Note: Only works with XP; doesn’t work with Vista and Windows 7.
Download the Spanner program from the Garmin website, and install it. The program has only one configuration window:
You need to have your GPS turned on, connected to your computer via USB, and using the Garmin protocol; if any of these isn’t true when you start Spanner, make it so, then click “Find GPS”. At the bottom, use the “Add” button to add a virtual serial port to your computer for use by your software as an NMEA connection. Make sure you choose a number for your COM port that doesn’t conflict with any your computer currently has. I believe that Windows can handle COM1 through COM 255, but keep in mind some software programs won’t support ports higher than COM8, or even COM4.
I’ve had two programs running simultaneously, each one getting NMEA data from a different COM port, and given that COM ports are pretty slow, I’d guess that you could add a few more without putting a serious strain on your computer’s resources.
