SparkFun GPS Breakout - Chip Antenna, SAM-M10Q (Qwiic)

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-center). 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.

The SparkFun Qwiic Connect System is an ecosystem of I²C sensors, actuators, shields and cables that make prototyping faster and less prone to error. All Qwiic-enabled boards use a common 1mm pitch, 4-pin JST connector. This reduces the amount of required PCB space, and polarized connections mean you can’t hook it up wrong.

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)

Documents:

• 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