SparkFun GPS Breakout – Chip Antenna, SAM-M10Q

The SparkFun SAM-M10Q GPS Breakout features the SAM-M10Q chip-antenna module from u-blox©. The M10Q line is the successor to u-blox’s M8Q found on the SparkFun GPS Breakout – Chip Antenna, SAM-M8Q (Qwiic), and is a drop-in replacement with updated features to reduce power consumption by almost half while also improving performance and accuracy. The SAM-M10Q can receive up to four GNSS constellations at once which improves time-to-fix and positional accuracy even in areas with a limited view of the sky.

The SAM-M10Q includes a built-in chip antenna and is compatible with the L1 band on all five GNSS constellations (GPS L1 C/A, QZSS L1 C/A L1S, GLONASS L1OF, BeiDou B1C, and Galileo E1B/C). It has a horizontal position accuracy of 1.5m, a max update rate of 18Hz when transmitting with just one GNSS constellation (max of 5Hz with four GNSS), and a cold start time to fix of 23 seconds. The board includes a rechargeable 3V/1mAh battery to provide backup power for up to four hours to maintain a hot start of just a single second.

We designed this board to integrate into the Qwiic system that requires no soldering to connect it to the rest of your I2C system. However, the board still breaks out 0.1′-spaced pins for users who prefer a soldered connection or prototyping on a breadboard.

U-blox-based GPS products are configurable using the Windows program called u-center2 (it is highly recommended to only use u-center2 with this board and not the original u-centre). This program lets you customize all sorts of settings for the SAM-M10Q including baud rates, update rates, geofencing, spoofing detection, external interrupts, SBAS/D-GPS, etc. We also have an Arduino library for configuring the SAM-M10Q.

Get Started With The Sparkfun SAM-M 10Q GPS Guide

Features

• u-blox M10 receiver
• Reception of up to four concurrent GNSS constellations
• Compatible GNSS Constellations
  • GPS L1 C/A
  • QZSS L1 C/A L1S
  • GLONASS L1OF
  • BeiDou B1C
  • Galileo E1B/C
• 1.5m horizontal position accuracy
• Update Rate
  • Max 5Hz (Four GNSS)
  • Max 18Hz (One GNSS)
• Time-to-Fix (Four GNSS)
  • Cold Start: 23 sec
  • Aided Start: 1 sec
  • Hot Start: 1 sec
• Max Altitude: 80,000m
• Max Velocity: 500m/s
• Velocity Accuracy: 0.05m/s
• Heading Accuracy: 0.3deg
• Time Pulse Accuracy: 30ns (RMS)
• 3.3V VCC and I/O
• Current Consumption (Four GNSS)
  • Acquisition: ~13mA
  • Tracking (Continuous): 10mA
  • Tracking (Power Save): 5mA (Max Three GNSS)
• Backup Battery: 3V/1mAh
• Two Qwiic Connectors
• PTH Connections
  • 3.3V/GND
  • Serial UART
  • I²C
  • Interrupt (INT)
  • Safe Boot (SAFE)
  • Reset (RST)
  • Time Pulse (PPS)

Resources

• Schematic
• Eagle Files
• Board Dimensions
• Hookup Guide
• Datasheet (SAM-M10Q)
• Integration Manual (SAM-M10Q)
• Product Summary
• M10 SPG 5.10 Firmware Interface Description
• u-center Software
• SparkFun u-blox GNSS Arduino Library – v3
• Building a GPS/GNSS System
• GitHub Hardware Repository