My application is an outdoor robot for experimentation. I am hoping to have 5M accuracy outside with a good view of the sky. I hope that is reasonable.
I am getting one of the sub-$100 Sparkfun GPS boards and there is a choice of antennas. Right now I am looking at SparkFun GPS Breakout - NEO-M9N, SMA (Qwiic). But which of the SMA antennas (costing $30 or less) is a good choice? Or is the “chip antenna” good enough?
Hey pitosalas,
This is one of those questions where many factors about how, and where, you will use it determine its suitability. You already answered the most important question though, that you will have a clear view of the sky!
The on-chip antenna variant of our NEO-M9N breakout board (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15733) has the Pulse Electronics W3011 antenna. You can find the datasheet for it here: https://productfinder.pulseelectronics. … heet/W3011
From reading the specs, it seems like it would be suitable for your application. The downsides to the on-chip configuration are that you’ll have to be careful about both the orientation of the board (it will receive better in some axes than others), as well as keeping it with a clear view of the sky. A metallic housing or a micro controller mounted above the reception plane of the board could degrade signal quality. On page 12 of the datasheet there are charts showing the reception characteristics from various GNSS clusters and orientations of the antenna.
The SMA variant of the NEO-M9N breakout board (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/17285) does not include an on-chip antenna. I personally like the flexibility of having the SMA connector; you can pick whatever antenna you like, and you aren’t constrained by orientation or location of the board. The downside of this configuration is that it is BYOA, Bring Your Own Antenna.
My advice is that if you aren’t sure after looking at the spec sheets, and if you don’t know for certain how your robotics application will come together (where the board and surrounding components will sit), to go with the SMA variant, which gives more flexibility to your project. A larger antenna will have better reception in most situations than a smaller one, and you can upscale or downscale to fit your needs.
For an antenna <$30, I recommend this one: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14986
The datasheet for this antenna: https://sparkle.sparkfun.com/sparkle/fi … 0Sheet.pdf
If you have any more questions, or just want to share about your project is going, please let us know!
I have a similar question. Intending to buy the SparkFun GNSS L1_L5 Breakout - NEO-F10N, SMA - GPS-24114, I wonder which antenna of these would be best for it:
GPS-23814 plus ground plate GPS-17519
GPS-21801
GPS-17383
No preference costwise, but looking for the best accuracy.
Thanks, Tom
GPS-23814 would be the best bang for the buck. You probably don’t need the ground plane as long as you stick it to something metal.
With the GPS you’ve chosen I don’t see any advantage in getting the more expensive antennas and GPS-17383 doesn’t cover the L5 band anyway so would be a waste of money.
Thank you!