Facet L-Band

GPS/GNSS Development Boards
1

Hello Everyone -

I am a student, so please be understanding if I am not using the correct terms or describing my issue as well as someone with more experience may be able to.

Bought the L-Band Facet a couple of months ago and have had success using it with ArcGIS Field Maps and Field Genius. I was getting between .5" to 1" accuracies pretty reliably. Now I cannot get anything under a foot. I allow for the keys to register with PointPerfect on the “home” wifi. I have tried different areas, different times of day, always have good DOPS and plenty of satellites but my accuracy will not drop below a foot.

Any ideas???

2

1 ft = ~25cm = 0.250m which is what I regularly get with our RTK products without corrections. Sounds like your L-Band corrections are not getting applied.

What is your L-Band device ID? https://docs.sparkfun.com/SparkFun_RTK_ … ntperfect/ With that I can look up your device and see if something is going wrong when it tries to get keys.

From the PointPerfect menu, how many days do you have until keys expire? This will also appear on the main screen when powering up (but depends slightly on what version of the firmware you have).

Assuming you have valid keys, then the next thing to check is whether the device is receiving the L-Band signal. Do you see a single pronged satellite dish, or three prong?

https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/learn_t … icator.jpg

Single means no L-Band was decrypted. 3-prong means L-Band corrections where applied. If you’ve got L-Band keys, but are seeing only 1 prong, then be sure you have a clear view of the southern sky (where the Inmarsat geosynchronous satellite resides).

Finally, it’s possible you have a firmware issue with the ZED-F9P GNSS receiver itself. Did you change the firmware on the ZED recently? If you haven’t messed with the firmware on the ZED-F9P, then you should be fine. But in the off chance you changed the firmware, the ZED needs to be v1.30 or above (https://docs.sparkfun.com/SparkFun_RTK_ … x-firmware) to allow SPARTN packets to flow from the NEO-D9S to the ZED-F9P correctly.

3

Device ID: C049EF0AF9E2

Days until keys expire: 217

When I power it on it does not display how many days until my keys expire…it flashes a screen before heading into “Rover” mode. In the PointPerfect Menu it says 217 days but that runs counter to the documentation that says they must be renewed monthly (can’t remember exact number of days).

Finally, there is not the three-pronged satellite dish you referred to. It has crosshairs and a single circle around the outside…no inner circle like the one in the picture you provided.

I think you are correct - the L-Band corrections are not being applied. I did not mess with the firmware.

4

The max number of days for a set of keys is 60. 217 is very wrong so I suspect something went wrong when the unit was getting the keys.

Please try:

https://docs.sparkfun.com/SparkFun_RTK_ … 20Menu.png

If that doesn’t do anything, please do a factory reset on the unit (https://docs.sparkfun.com/SparkFun_RTK_ … em_status/). You’ll need to re-enter your home WiFi credentials, then the unit should obtain keys.

It looks like your unit got keys on August 26th which would expire on October 25th so that is likely why you are not able to get RTK fix.

TS Unit Status.png

5

So I manually updated the keys in Tera Term. It did not work. Well, it worked for a minute and indicated that I had 51 days (or something like that) left. Once I restarted it reverted back to the 217 days. I did a factory rest and re-entered the wifi credentials. The device updated the keys but now it indicates 171 days until they expire but I am still not receiving L-Band corrections.

6

Can you let me know what firmware version you are running? I’m not aware of any issues like this but I will try to replicate.

7

RTK Facet L-Band Firmware: v2.2-Jun 8 2022

ZED-F9P Firmware: HPG 1.32

Something else that is odd is that it normally shows how many days until keys expire when starting up, right? It does not do that anymore. It flashes a screen that I cannot read then goes into Rover mode.

8

Please connect over serial, open the system menu by pressing ‘s’, then debug ‘d’, then device reset ‘r’. This will cause the unit to reset (not factory defaults, just a power on reset). Please copy/paste the output to the forum.

9

rst:0xc (SW_CPU_RESET),boot:0x13 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)

configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee

clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00

mode:DIO, clock div:1

load:0x3fff0030,len:1240

load:0x40078000,len:13012

load:0x40080400,len:3648

entry 0x400805f8

ZED-F9P firmware: HPG 1.32

LittleFS Started

SparkFun RTK Facet L-Band v2.2-Jun 8 2022

Reset reason: ESP_RST_SW

Display started

Profile ‘Profile1’ loaded

MAX17048 configuration complete

Batt (82%): Voltage: 4.04V Discharging: 0.00%/hr Green

GNSS configuration complete

Accelerometer configuration complete

System time set to: Friday, December 02 2022 19:15:06

State: Keys L-Band Configure

State: Rover - Not Started

Batt (82%): Voltage: 4.04V Discharging: 0.00%/hr Green

Bluetooth broadcasting as: Facet L-Band Rover-F9E2

State: Rover - No Fix

Batt (82%): Voltage: 4.04V Discharging: 0.00%/hr Green

10

You are v2.2 of the firmware. My apologies but it had a bug that caused L-Band problems. Please update to latest firmware v2.5 here: https://docs.sparkfun.com/SparkFun_RTK_ … re_update/

11

Could have sworn I looked for updated firmware and did not see 2.5! Thank you for the link.

Getting L-Band corrections again.

Cheers!

12

Glad to hear it! Sorry for the hassle.

13

I seem to be having this same issue. I appear to be running 2.2. I downloaded 2.6 and used the Windows GUI v1.5.2 to update to RTK_Surveyor_Firmware_v2_6.bin. But it does not seem to have taken effect… See outputs below

UPLOADER OUTPUT

ESP32 Flash Size Detection

Command: [‘–chip’, ‘esp32’, ‘–port’, ‘\\.\COM6’, ‘–baud’, ‘115200’, ‘–before’, ‘default_reset’, ‘–after’, ‘no_reset’, ‘flash_id’]

esptool.py v3.3

Serial port \.\COM6

Flash detection complete. Uploading firmware…

Flash size not detected! Defaulting to 16MB

Uploading firmware

ESP32 Firmware Upload

Command: [‘–chip’, ‘esp32’, ‘–port’, ‘\\.\COM6’, ‘–baud’, ‘115200’, ‘–before’, ‘default_reset’, ‘–after’, ‘no_reset’, ‘write_flash’, ‘-z’, ‘–flash_mode’, ‘dio’, ‘–flash_freq’, ‘80m’, ‘–flash_size’, ‘detect’, ‘0x1000’, ‘C:\Users\17703\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI104562\resource\RTK_Surveyor.ino.bootloader.bin’, ‘0x8000’, ‘C:\Users\17703\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI104562\resource\RTK_Surveyor_Partitions_16MB.bin’, ‘0xe000’, ‘C:\Users\17703\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI104562\resource\boot_app0.bin’, ‘0x10000’, ‘C:/Users/17703/Downloads/RTK_Surveyor_Firmware_v2_6.bin’]

esptool.py v3.3

Serial port \.\COM6

Firmware upload complete. Resetting ESP32…

Resetting ESP32

TERMINAL OUTPUT

rst:0xc (SW_CPU_RESET),boot:0x13 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)

configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee

clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00

mode:DIO, clock div:1

load:0x3fff0030,len:1240

load:0x40078000,len:13012

load:0x40080400,len:3648

entry 0x400805f8

ZED-F9P firmware: HPG 1.32

LittleFS Started

SparkFun RTK Facet L-Band v2.2-Jun 8 2022

Reset reason: ESP_RST_SW

Display started

Profile ‘Profile1’ loaded

MAX17048 configuration complete

Batt (97%): Voltage: 4.20V Charging: 9.78%/hr Green

GNSS configuration complete

Accelerometer configuration complete

System time set to: Tuesday, January 03 2023 19:48:51

State: Keys Needed

State: Keys L-Band Configure

State: Rover - Not Started

Batt (97%): Voltage: 4.20V Charging: 9.78%/hr Green

Bluetooth broadcasting as: Facet L-Band Rover-F976

State: Rover - No Fix

State: Rover - Fix

Rover Accuracy (m): 1.5179

Batt (97%): Voltage: 4.20V Charging: 9.78%/hr Green

14

You’re doing all the right things!

Perhaps you have the wrong COM port selected? The RTK Facet enumerates as two COM ports (https://docs.sparkfun.com/SparkFun_RTK_ … #rtk-facet) (well, really one COM port that is the ESP32, and a 2nd COM port once you have the ublox driver installed (https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/ge … ll-drivers)).

15

I’m using COM port for Serial CH340

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/F6CpN … authuser=0

16

I’ve also attempted the Firmware v2.5 update as well. same result.

17

Hello @BamaBronco,

The update will not work if you have TeraTerm open. Please close TeraTerm and try again.

Best wishes,

Paul

18

The update worked, once I closed Tera Term.

I’m still not getting 14mm Accuracy as promised.

I have a clear view of the southern sky from North Alabama.

I was getting 160-600mm accuracy with Fix Type: DGPS

Now I am able to get into the 30mm range if I stand still and wait a minute, I’m mostly seeing 40mm range with a Fix Type: RTK Float. While it’s a major improvement with the firmware update and L-Band Keys, I’m still not close to the advertised readings with an RTK FIX.

What else is there to do to improve the reading?

19

I was getting 160-600mm accuracy with Fix Type: DGPS

That sounds about right.

Now I am able to get into the 30mm range if I stand still and wait a minute, I’m mostly seeing 40mm range with a Fix Type: RTK Float.

Very good. Sounds like your unit is correctly decoding the L-Band signal. You may need to provide the unit with additional time to obtain an RTK Fix.

I’m still not close to the advertised readings with an RTK FIX.

I’m really sorry and don’t ever want a customer to feel misled. You’re welcome to return the unit. 30 to 40mm HPA is within the advertised range of 1.4 to 6cm accuracy for L-Band assisted positioning (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/20000). For a faster and more accurate RTK Fix I recommend setting up a base station if possible. A PPP surveyed in base will always surpass what can be achieved using corrections over L-Band.

20

Sorry for being so green on this topic.

If I were to have 2 GPS-17370 RTK Surveying Kits one set as base and the other a rover. This would, in theory, provide 14-30mm accuracy in the field, given the base has a clear view of the sky and the rover is within 300M?

Also the WRL-19032 SiK Telemetry Radio is needed to transmit between base and rover?

This would also be the most akin to an L-Band Facet set up without the need for a point perfect subscription after 12 months of initial purchase.