The best homemade antenna for a jps navigator tablet. External GPS receivers. Testing within the apartment

An external GPS receiver, aka a portable GPS module, aka an external GPS antenna, aka an external GPS unit, whatever you call it, in any case, this is a unique device that can turn any computer, PDA or tablet into a full-fledged navigator . Modern mobile devices rarely boast good welcome GSM or GPS signal. And laptops are generally extremely rarely able to pick up GPS signals. It's all about the antenna. And if it is not there, then it can be purchased and installed separately external GPS receiver. And one of best solutions in this matter - GlobalSat!

If for some reason the classic navigator does not suit you (for example, the display is not large enough, or functionality that you simply do not need), then you can simply buy an external one GPS module; and the required navigation map (topographic, road or depth map) and that’s it - your computer, which you know like the back of your hand, will turn into a navigator. You can take your laptop in the car or travel with it while tracking yourself by Google services.

GPS receivers there are different ones. There are Bluetooth devices on sale, as well as wired ones. There are different connection connectors and different conditions operation. Check out our range and if you are still in doubt, call us!

A friend asked me to find him a tablet with GPS for driving through forests and cities, so as not to get lost and that it also had Bluetooth to connect an external GPS receiver. The choice fell on one with an external GPS antenna, a resistive 10" screen, a normal hole for a USB device and even an Ethernet interface. (ATTENTION this is a repost from Habr)

Characteristics

CPU: 1GHz CORTEX A9
GPU: Mali 400
RAM: 512MB or 1024MB (depending on the age of the model)
ROM: 8GB (of which 6 GB are available to the user in the form of a nand flash drive and about 1GB more for programs), versions with 4GB and 16GB are also available
Screen: 10.2" 1024x600 resistive multi-touch (in fact, it just understands gestures in software, like pinch to zoom)
Connection: WiFi b/g/n, Ethernet and 3G modems via USB-host
GPS: built-in, but external antenna on a long wire
Interfaces: USB-Host, USB-OTG, RJ-45, HDMI, 3.5mm audio, microSD memory card slot
Multimedia: built-in stereo speakers, front 0.3 megapixel camera for Skype
Battery: I couldn’t find out, but it seems that depending on the model/seller it ranges from 3Ah to 7Ah and judging by the weight, I didn’t get a model with 7Ah
Dimensions: 270 x 170 x 16 mm
Weight: 700 grams (it seemed less to me)

The official website of the manufacturer, there are also new firmware versions and, judging by the dates, support for the tablet has not been abandoned, as is usually the case, but has been discontinued (according to the manager of the buysku.com store), but it looks like this is its clone or twin.

Appearance and interfaces

When the box with the tablet arrived, I was a little surprised by the size, after all, 10" is too much. On the front panel there is a screen, a back button and a 0.3Mpx camera peephole.

On the right side are all the interface connectors: DC-in, Ethernet (probably useful for someone, I just tried it - it works great), HDMI, USB-OTG, microSD, USB-host (very tight, if a device gets in there, you can’t accidentally pull it out will work), 3.5mm headphone jack.

On top of the device: an incomprehensible switch (I thought it was hold, but it doesn’t block anything), speakers (left and right), lock button, menu, volume rocker, power button, microphone, connector for an external GPS antenna and a stylus (I was nostalgic, really useful and handy thing).

Nothing interesting was found on other sides.

Accessories: external GPS antenna (for which everything was started), Charger with a USB cable and an adapter for a European socket, as well as instructions for using version 4 of Android.

Performance testing

Here I apologize in advance, I didn’t have much time to test the tablet properly and make beautiful pictures, and I also didn’t notice that you can take normal screenshots, and not “screenshots”.



Electopia

AnTuTu

Quadrant

As you can see, the performance is not bad at all and most games work, but the controls are not so great, since most are designed for multi-touch.

Browser, Skype and other information

But surfing the Internet is a real pleasure - sites look the same as they do on a large computer.

Skype supports video calls, but the picture slows down noticeably (5-10fps to the eye) and the camera of the tablet itself looks higher than it should, as a result the interlocutor sees the top of my head.

Example of a photo from a camera

Multitouch is implemented in software, since the screen technology does not allow us to normally determine the number and coordinates of clicks. Therefore, only one touch fully works. I thought that with this large size there will be a lot of screen false positives, and in general it will work poorly, but it turned out to be completely wrong - any poke on the screen works very accurately, and with the stylus you can at least write calligraphically.

System information:

GPS

It's time to talk about GPS; in fact, this is the only reason I bought the tablet for a friend. The rest of the story is from him, but sometimes I’ll chime in.

Based on the seller’s description, you can’t clearly understand what the built-in GPS module is, so testing comes down to comparative analysis with external wireless GPS module Holux M1000.

Testing within the apartment.

The module built into the tablet performed well and, with the antenna hung on the window, easily caught up to 10 satellites and was quite stable.


Lyrical digression: the tablet was initially purchased only to be used as a navigator with an external module connected via Bluetooth. The manufacturer stated that the VT will be built-in (actually I stated this, the seller wrote strange support, which meant possible support, as with 3G modems, but I hoped that support=built-in), but upon receipt of the parcel a USB-BT-dongle was detected (which I took out from the bins of my homeland, there was nothing in the kit), which is inserted into USB and accordingly sticks out, causing a lot of inconvenience.
Let's get back to our testing. We connect an external GPS Holux M1000 via BT, there were no problems with this, the tablet happily paired with it without a single delay.


Holux also caught 10-11 satellites, but with a more stable signal than the built-in module. Although the difference is not particularly noticeable.

Testing in city navigation conditions.

During this test, there was a big disagreement between the built-in module and the external one. The built-in one caught 5-6 satellites, compared to 11-12 for Holux"a.

Testing in nature, far outside the city.

Outside the city, on outdoors both navigators showed approximately the same results as in the city, with only a slight difference: the receiver built into the tablet sometimes lost the signal. Actually, there wasn’t much opportunity to take photographs; I’ll attach just a couple of photos from the last testing site.

Impression.

The GPS module built into the tablet should be used only if you are within the city; it receives satellites stably and works well with navigation programs such as

An external GPS antenna allows the GPS receiver to determine the geographic position at a specific point in time through the received signal. On the territory of the Russian Federation, the GLONASS navigation system is widely used, the accuracy of a person’s location with a GPS receiver reaches 3 meters, for older commercial models the position accuracy is about 150 meters in conditions of a poor signal from the satellite, on open area- about 3 meters. Exist additional systems corrections (SBAS), applying which the accuracy is determined by one or two meters.

Description of antenna operation

The GPS antenna is a component device in the wireless detection structure system geographical location object. Right choice the signal receiving element (antenna) ensures the ability of the entire system to operate in such indicators as: range of signal reception from the satellite, throughput(communication channels), other parameters.

An antenna that is chosen incorrectly will show its negative qualities only in bad weather conditions: rain, snow, this will be reflected in the deterioration of the signal or the cessation of operation. Under normal conditions it will show good parameters communications. Designing a great antenna requires a lot of effort, no less than designing electronic products.

Additional information. GPS stands for Global Positioning System, which was developed in the early 70s of the last century for the US military, but already in the mid-90s of the last century it began to be used for civilian needs. Initially there were 24 satellites in this system; as of this year there are already 31 satellites.

The purchased smartphone or tablet has a built-in GPS antenna; it communicates with the software through the driver ( software). For this reason, experts identify three possible factors errors in determining a geographical location are:

• number of GPS satellites over a specific area;
• what quality of antenna is in the device;
• how well the drivers work.

Antenna classification

GPS antennas are classified as: active or passive, built-in or external. Experts focus on the fact that the antenna plays an important role in this system. Even a powerful device, but with an incorrectly selected antenna, can show parameters much lower than the passport data.

Active GPS antennas are a standard antenna with a signal amplifier built into the circuit. They are often used in receivers where there are no internal devices, but there is an output for connecting an external antenna. The active elements of the system are more sensitive, namely the signal level to the surrounding noise is higher, and in addition there is a decrease in interference.

A passive GPS antenna is characterized by its surroundings electromagnetic radiation: the higher it is, the weaker the signal will reach the receiver. It is recommended to install active antennas in the car, with a larger amplitude; the choice depends on the installed receiver and the presence of an antenna amplifier.

Manufacturers of GPS antennas offer customers a large selection of internal and external models of these devices; there are differences in supply voltage, from 3 volts to 5 volts; in addition, the devices also have additional bandpass filters for removing a signal (cutting) that is outside the desired range.

The car GPS antenna for the navigation unit has a frequency range of 1575.42 plus or minus 3 MHz. Taking into account the operation of the bandpass filter, this results in 10 MHz, with a gain of 4 Decibels and a power dissipation of one watt. These devices show stable work with the following temperature fluctuations: minus 40 degrees – plus 100 degrees Celsius, humidity is considered 100%.

Except large selection antenna manufacturers offer different configurations for them according to cable brands and types of connectors, which makes it possible to use them with different types devices. An important indicator The cable included in the package includes its length; now it reaches five meters. Antenna optimization is carried out according to different indicators, these are: gain, reduced power consumption, reduced cost of devices, reduced overall dimensions devices.

How to connect a GPS antenna to a tablet

Modern mobile devices and tablets have an internal GPS antenna, but they cannot be equated to a navigator, since these devices cannot always pick up a signal from a satellite, when reception conditions are poor, namely:

1. Coated car windows that do not allow full signal transmission;
2. The overall dimensions of the tablet do not allow it to be placed under glass;
3. A small review.

A simple way out of this situation is to make a connection; A GPS antenna for a tablet will become almost 100% a navigator. You can do this work yourself or contact the service.

Important! The external antenna is presented in miniature form, it is placed in a special box, which has dimensions no larger than ½ a box of matches, a special cable comes out of it, shielded along the entire length, which can be different, it depends on the modification of the antenna, generally about 3500 millimeters is installed. The antenna unit is connected to the tablet through a special connector; this type of antenna can be connected to a desktop PC or smartphone.

How to connect an external antenna to your device

When purchasing an outdoor GPS antenna, you must clearly explain to the seller what device you are purchasing it for; this must be done, since modern amplifiers signal can be applied using USB port, as well as Bluetooth, namely, connect it yourself:

• A signal amplifier with a Bluetooth connection is ideal for a smartphone; all parameters will be transmitted using a special protocol, you do not need additional connectors;
• PCs and laptops now have a USB/PS2 connector, so you can choose an external amplifier with a connection through it;
• Not on some tablets USB input, then the solution would be to connect via Bluetoot, the effectiveness of this antenna is achieved by an autonomous power supply and the need to correctly install the antenna mount.

How GPS works in a car

To simplify the understanding of the operation of the car positioning system, specialists have made a simple algorithm of concepts that represents the following:

1. An external GPS antenna receives and amplifies the signal received from satellites, transmits it to the navigator receiver;
2. The navigation unit contains a signal receiver that calculates the location of the car based on the signal received from the GPS antenna, then to clarify the position, the parameters are transmitted to the navigation system control unit;
3. The task of the navigation block is the final calculation of your location; it should show the route to the point of destination. The block adjusts the loaded road map and calculates the distance to the selected destination. The navigation unit controls voice commands, the DVD device, and shows the desired map fragment on the display;
4. The direction of movement in the navigation unit is calculated based on data obtained from the angular velocity of the wheel and the VSP signal parameter of the car, which comes from the ECM of the computer.

For correct definition To determine the position of the car, you need to set up a road map, which marks the location of the car. Road map through the DVD device it is transmitted to the navigation unit and compared with the position of the car. You cannot configure the map when the car is in motion, or when the car is on a road not marked on the map.

How to make an outdoor amplifier yourself

Knowing your own location is important in some cases, so navigation is increasingly becoming part of daily life. Very often, users are faced with a weak GPS signal when it is needed, or even its complete absence. An antenna can be a way out of this situation self-made for any device with a GPS module.

A device of Chinese origin with a GPS module often suffers from a lack of signal; The reason is a weak signal receiving module. The antenna is powered by a patch placed on outside devices. It should be noted that this device works outdoors, but the signal disappears if poor reception conditions are created (bring the device into the house, put it in the car). Procedure:

• We determine how difficult or easy it is to get to the GPS module;
• Let's take it copper wire with a cross section of 5/2 millimeters square, length 46 millimeters * 4, where 4 are the sides of the square, it is a square;
• We make a regular square out of wire, use pliers, we need to keep the dimensions exactly, how the antenna will work depends on this;
• Solder the antenna to the external GPS patch.

For convenience, the antenna can be attached to the device body with tape. The result of the work performed is stable signal reception by the device indoors and in the car.

An example of a homemade GPS antenna makes it possible to receive a signal even in bad conditions weather conditions and inside the car. Travel enthusiasts often use navigation when they need to plot a short route from one point to another. An outdoor GPS antenna guarantees stable signal reception.

Video

Modern smartphones are equipped with a GPS chip, which greatly simplifies our travels or searches for a specific address. However, there are often cases when GPS does not work well. And it's not always enough to blame good build smartphone. You can often improve the functioning of the navigation module by tinkering with the settings.

Many motorists have a full-fledged GPS navigator. Some of these devices have back wall or the side end there is a connector for the antenna. This allows you to enhance signal reception several times - you just need to get the appropriate antenna.

As for modern smartphones, we hasten to disappoint you. You will never find a special antenna connector in their composition. You can improve GPS reception on Android only using software methods. If they don't work, then you'll have to live with current situation business As you might guess, budget devices work worst with GPS satellites. This is explained by the fact that they are equipped with the cheapest and oldest navigation chips that have low speed work and weak signal receiver.

Visiting the settings section

In many smartphones and tablets, the GPS chip is completely disabled by default. In this case, the device determines its location using cell towers and Wi-Fi networks. To enable the navigation chip, you need to configure the device. To do this, do the following:

Step 1. Go to the section " Settings».

Step 2. Here you should be interested in the item “ Location».

Step 3. On different devices This item may have a different name. For example, on Samsung tablets you need to select the “ Connections" and click on the item " Geodata", at the same time activating the corresponding switch.

Step 4. In this section you need to enable high accuracy location determination. The device must use all sources for this - GPS satellites, Wi-Fi networks and data from cell towers.

It should be noted that in this operating mode, energy consumption increases. And if this is practically not noticeable on new smartphones, then owners of budget and older devices will definitely feel the reduced battery life.

Compass calibration

If it’s impossible to enhance signal reception on smartphones, then no one can stop you from improving the performance of your digital compass. The fact is that on some devices it is not calibrated, as a result of which the navigation program cannot understand in time which direction of the world your smartphone is facing. At this moment it seems to you that the device does not pick up GPS.

To calibrate the compass you will need an app GPS Essentials. Download and install it, then do the following:

Step 1. Launch the program.

Step 2. Enter the mode Compass.

Step 3. If the compass works stably, then the problem is not with it. If the compass refuses to show the cardinal directions correctly, then calibrate it.

Step 4. First, rotate the smartphone around its axis with the screen facing up. Next, turn it over from bottom to top. Well, then turn it over from left to right. This should help. In some versions of the application, you must first select Calibrate in the section settings.

View the number of visible GPS satellites

In the same GPS Essentials you can look at how many satellites your smartphone connects to. If it is large enough, then the navigation chip should not be blamed - the problem is in one of the programs. To view satellites, you need to select the item in the application menu Satellites.

Resetting GPS data

A common problem with some devices is that they take a long time to lock onto specific GPS satellites, even when they have managed to move out of sight. The application can help in this case GPS Status & Toolbox. It will reset the GPS data, after which the connection to satellites will be made from scratch.

Step 1. Download and install the utility.

Step 2. Run installed application, agreeing to the terms of the license agreement.

Step 3. On the main screen of the program you will see readings from various sensors, as well as information about the number of GPS satellites overhead.

Step 4. Click anywhere on the display, after which you can pull out the curtain with the main menu on the left. Here you can calibrate the compass if this was not possible using the application discussed earlier. But now you need to click on the item “ A-GPS state management».

Step 5. In the pop-up menu, click the button " Reset».

Step 6. After the reset is complete, return to this pop-up menu by clicking the " Download».

What to look for when buying a new smartphone?

Now you know the answer to the question “How to set up GPS on Android?” But all this will not help you very much if you want to use your smartphone as a GPS navigator on a regular basis. It is better to get a good modern smartphone for these purposes. When choosing it, be sure to read the full technical characteristics. In them you need to find a mention of support for A-GPS technology - it greatly reduces energy consumption. The ideal smartphone for you will be one that also works with GLONASS satellites. Fortunately, with the support of the Russian navigation system Almost all devices that are imported into our country throughout last year. But, again, you still need to look at the specifications of the device before purchasing it.

GlobalSat ND-105C It is distinguished by its small size and weight (only 5 grams), low power consumption (40 mA), highly sensitive latest generation MTK chipset, and the ability to connect to both microUSB and USB ports.

GPS receiver GlobalSat ND-105C is a GPS receiver with a microUSB/USB interface (adapter included in delivery). Designed for users of smartphones, tablets, netbooks, laptops, PCs or PDAs with a USB host. A GPS receiver and an active antenna are combined in one housing. The receiver is based on the latest MTK GPS chipset, providing high quality and speed of determining coordinates. GlobalSat ND-105C is the only GPS receiver on the market that can be connected to Android devices without obtaining Root rights. GlobalSat ND-105C can be connected to a tablet, laptop or PC on which any navigation software is installed.

Features of GlobalSat NC-105C

• Compatible with Android, Windows and Mac OS
• MicroUSB interface
• MicroUSB-USB adapter included
• The latest MTK GPS chipset
• 66 parallel channels, All-in-View
• Built-in active high sensitivity antenna
• "Cold start" - 35 seconds
• "Hot start" - 1 second
• Excellent reception quality in urban canyons and forests
• Low current consumption - 40 mA
• LED displaying the operating status of the receiver
• Small dimensions and weight (33.9 x 17.99 x 8.1 mm, 5 g)

GlobalSat ND-105C delivery kit

• GPS receiver ND-105C
• microUSB/USB adapter
• CD with drivers and test software
• Warranty card

ATTENTION! Minimum Requirements for operation of GlobalSat ND-105C with Android devices: Android version 3.2 or later; USB host Be careful, check the characteristics of your Android device with the seller or manufacturer.