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[ Electrical Division : Positioning Sensor Setup ]

Created by [ Rowan Dempster], last modified by [ Henry Wang] on Mar 05, 2020

This grouping contains everything people need to know about how to get our positioning sensors (GPS/IMU) to start outputting information. Examples of this type of information:

The NovAtel system consists of an antenna and IMU.

Configuration

We can configure the NovAtel through its web UI. Connect to the Wi-Fi network hosted by the NovAtel with SSID: PwrPak7 and password: AAUBEU35. The domain name is novatel.com, can be accessed via Firefox while rugged is connected to the PwrPak7 Wifi network. Don't use Google Chrome.

Calibration

TODO: Add this when you figure out how.

Networking

TODO: Figure out how to do this?

The NovAtel needs a persistent IP address. On Novatel Web UI terminal:

  1. ethconfig etha auto auto auto auto
  2. icomconfig icom1 tcp :3001
  3. ipconfig etha static 169.254.0.16 255.255.255.0 0.0.0.0

Driver

The original open source code is at https://github.com/ros-drivers/novatel_span_driver, we version control a mirror at https://git.uwaterloo.ca/WATonomous/novatel_span_driver

To launch:

  1. cd ~/integration. The integration folder in the home directory is where we keep the crystal rugged's (the car's computer) catkin workspace. If you don't know what a catkin workspace is, read some ROS tutorials!
  2. source ./devel/setup.zsh. Again if you don't know what this does, ROS tutorials.
  3. roslaunch novatel_span_driver example.launch ip:=169.254.0.16 . Unfortunately, the launch file requires knowledge of the NovAtel's IP address.

What should happen then:

  1. The positional sensor driver nodes will launch, start collecting positional readings over the network, and publishing them in ROS messages.
  2. You can view the positional ROS msgs being sent simply by doing rostopic echo /navsat/odom. If you don't know what rostopic echo does, read some ROS tutorials!

Resources

Configuring CANbus and NMEA messages on GPS:
https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Configuration/Configuring_the_CAN_Bus.htm

NMEA Formatting documentation for Novatel:
https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Commands/NMEAFORMAT.htm

Set the NMEA Talker ID for Novatel:
https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Commands/NMEATALKER.htm#oem7_fw_commands_2851160788_3485700

Configure the PPS commands in Novatel:
https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Commands/PPSCONTROL.htm

The GPS User Guide and Manual:
https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/PDFs/PreviousVersions/PwrPak7_Installation_Operation_Manual_v3.pdf

SPAN Installation and Operation Manual: https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/PDFs/OEM7_SPAN_Installation_Operation_Manual.pdf

Document generated by Confluence on Nov 28, 2021 22:40

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