by Web FishJan 4, 2013 @ 10:47am
Provides current position (and optionally direction/speed).
- Current selection: Adafruit Ultimate GPS Breakout board
- Status: Finalized
- Criteria: Reliable satellite signal acquisition when installed inboard, standard I/O, small physical footprint, cost
- Finalists: Adafruit Ultimate GPS v.3, Sparkfun GPS LS20031
- Main decision factors: External antenna connector (makes board mounting position and packaging less relevant), standard I/O on two GPIO pins, sensitivity

(click image for larger view)
Spec highlights:
- -165 dBm sensitivity, 10 Hz updates, 66 channels
- 5V friendly design and only 20mA current draw
- PPS output on fix
- Internal patch antenna + u.FL connector for external active antenna
Caveats:
- Will not know for certain if external antenna is needed until the navionics bay design and mounting is finalized
- As an added bonus module provides current time-stamp for syncing Netduino internal clock after reboot (no battery back-up for the clock on the Netduino board - anyone remembering early Apple II days?)