Serial LTE Modem + GPS

I am attempting to get GPS working on a custom board which uses a Fanstel m2 nrf52840 + nrf9160 module. I am also using a nRF9160-DK board, the one with the integrated GPS (Tagolas) antenna.

The nRF9160 on both devices has been loaded with the mfw_nrf9160_1.3.3.zip modem firmware. I've also downloaded the latest SDK version 2.3.0 and build and programmed the serial_lte_modem project.

The AT commands I'm using are:

```

AT%XSYSTEMMODE=1,0,1,0
AT%XCOEX0=1,1,1570,1580
AT%XMAGPIO=1,0,0,1,1,1574,1577
AT+CFUN=1
AT#XGPS=1,1

```

If I go outside, the DK board will eventually start to produce some GPS messages, while our Fanstel board does not.

In terms of hardware, there are a few differences between the devices. The DK is using an integrated Tagolas GPS antenna. The Fanstel is using some integrated internal antenna -- there is is some pad for a u.fl external antenna but it is not populated.

Looking at the schematic, the Fanstel has am amplifier which has its GPS_EN connected on the nrf9160 to MAGPIO0. On the DK, older schematic also had this arrangement, while some newer schematic had GPS_EN connected to COEX0.

At this point, I am just using the default unmodified code for the serial_lte_modem project. I'm hoping the issue is something like the GPS_EN but am not sure. I'm not sure what to do to get the GPS up and running on the Fanstel. Outside of GPS, the unit works just fine.

  • Hi,

     

    If we take the GPGSV from just before a fix is produced (lines 3231-3232):

    2023-03-14T16:11:27.636Z DEBUG modem << $GPGSV,2,1,5,7,,,30,8,,,28,9,,,27,27,,,28,1*67
    2023-03-14T16:11:27.641Z DEBUG modem << $GPGSV,2,2,5,30,,,27,1*57

    Here you have 5 satellites with SNR of 30, 28, 27, 28, and 27.

    This is the CN0 (in dB/Hz), which is a number that you want to be >30 to ensure a good reception.

     

    This was from the DK, right? If you get the fanstel module logging these NMEA strings in the exact same position as you tested just now, we can compare the GPGSV strings between the two to see if there's an antenna performance difference.

     

    Kind regards,

    Håkon

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