U-blox M10 Rom 5.00 Ultra Low Power Platform Instructions

u-blox M10 Rom 5.00 Ultra Low Power Platform

General information

Scope
This release note applies to u-blox M10 ROM firmware SPG 5.00.
This document covers the changes in the firmware compared u-Blox M8 SPG 3.01.

Related Documentation

1. u-Blox 8/M8 firmware v. 3.01 for standard precision GNSS, Release notes, UBX-16000319
2. u-blox M10 FW5.00 Interface description, UBX-20048810

Released firmware image

ROM firmware 
Released firmware image for u-blox M10

• Firmware version ROM SPG 5.00 (0dbd69)
• Protocol version PROTVER=34.00

Released Software
u-center
The u-center GNSS evaluation software will be provided by u-blox Field Application Engineers together with a product sample delivery.

Changed and improved features

Improved startup sensitivity and TTFF
The cold start acquisition sensitivity improved for Galileo / BeiDou (3 dB) and GLONASS (2 dB) over M8 receivers. Hot start sensitivity improved by 3 to 4 dB as well.
The TTFF figures at the reference signal level improved for Galileo (-7 s), BeiDou (-4 s) and GLONASS (-3 s).
Please refer to the datasheet for details.

QZSS L1S support
The receiver can use corrections provided via the QZSS L1S signal.
Users of the receiver can access the Disaster and Crisis Management report by enabling UBX-RXM-SFRBX and parsing it themselves. There is no dedicated output message for this purpose.

BDSBAS L1 C/A support
The receiver is prepared to use corrections for GPS L1 C/A provided via the BDSBAS L1 signal. These satellites are not enabled by default so the customer will need to do this explicitly. The functionality however has not been verified before release.

RF spectrum view 
Customers can use the UBX-MON-SPAN message to analyze their design and find interference signals via a simple spectrum analyzer implementation.

AssistNow Offline and Autonomous
The Offline and Autonomous variants of the u-blox AssistNow services now work alongside each other. The receiver intelligently selects the most reliable source of orbit prediction, eliminating the need for the host to predict access to the network and select which system to enable in advance.
Assist Autonomous is disabled by default.

Authentication of data output
The receiver can authenticate all output data using asymmetric key-based cryptographic signatures. Users need to provide a private/public key pair for this communication.

Location batching
The firmware supports storage of navigation solutions for up to 5 minutes within the receiver even without an external flash. This could be used to reduce system power consumption by allowing the application processor to stay in low-power mode for an extended time.

Altitude limit
The maximum altitude supported by this product has been increased to 80.000 m.

Configurable internal LNA
The internal LNA of the u-blox M10 chip can be configured in 3 steps (bypass, low gain, full gain) to adjust to the external antenna setup and to reduce the power consumption.

NMEA protocol
Support of standard deviation of the semi-major axis of error ellipse, the standard deviation of the semi-minor axis of error ellipse, and orientation of the semi-major axis of error ellipse in NMEA GST message (stdMajor, stdMinor and orient).
Display “P90” as the used datum in the NMEA DTM sentence when PZ90 is selected by the user.

Boot screen and version string
The boot screen has changed in two ways:

1. A unique chip ID (the same that is available by polling UBX-SEC-UNIQID) is output automatically as part of the boot screen.
2. The version string has changed slightly. Where previously the user would have seen “ROM CORE 5.00”, we now output “ROM SPG 5.00”. The content of the fwVer field in UBX-MON-VER has changed in the same way.

Dropped or reduced features compared to u-blox M8 FW3.01

The following features are reduced compared to u-blox M8 standard precision firmware.

• Power save modes are not supported.
• The geofence feature is not supported.
• The data logger feature is not supported.
• DGNSS: Processing of RTCM differential correction messages is not supported.
• QZSS IMES: IMES is not supported.
• Raw measurement output functionality was not verified before release. The output of UBX-RXM-MEASX can be enabled, but the data quality may vary.

Message interface

NMEA protocol
Four NMEA standards are supported. The default NMEA version is 4.10. Alternatively, versions 4.0, 2.3, and 2.1 can be enabled. The details on the NMEA talker identifier can be found in the Interface description [1].

New NMEA messages

Modified NMEA messages
This table contains a list of messages that have been modified compared to messages also available in protocol version 18.00.

UBX protocol
This firmware supports UBX protocol version 34.00. 5.2.1 New UBX messages

Modified UBX messages
This table contains a list of messages that have been modified compared to messages also available in protocol version 18.

Removed UBX messages

Deprecated messages
Support for the following configuration messages will be dropped in the next firmware releases, and they are only present in the current release to make transition to using only UBX-CFG-VALGET, UBX-CFG-VALET and UBX-CFG-VALDEL easier.

RTCM protocol
The firmware does not support any version of the RTCM standard for differential GNSS services.

Known limitations

• UBX-CFG-CFG support is not completely backward-compatible. This message has a variant in which the user does not specify which non-volatile medium they want to use as a storage device or as a source of loaded configuration. This variant does not save the configuration in flash memory.
  Workaround: use the message variant that specifies the storage medium, or use the UBX-CFG-VALET message.
• DC-coupled TCXOs are fully supported by this firmware. From a concept point of view, crystal oscillators are supported as well, but they have not been fully tested with this firmware. Customers are encouraged to contact u-blox support if they intend a design with a crystal oscillator.
• QZSS satellites are labeled incorrectly as GPS satellites in NMEA 4.10 GxGSV sentences when “extended SV numbering” is enabled.
• Fill level indicator of data batching cannot be mapped to GPIO 5.
  Workaround: Map it to another pin.
• In some situations, if Galileo is enabled along another GNSS, only few Galileo satellites are available for the first few minutes after startup. This may result in a degradation of positioning accuracy after startup and missed Return Link Messages (RLM). Mitigation: Use GNSS assistance service (online or offline), use Galileo-only configuration if RLM is the primary concern, and enable BeiDou or GLONASS reception if the power budget allows.
• When configured to not use BeiDou or GLONASS (default setting), the receiver may acquire and track imaginary GPS L1C/A signals in the absence of real signals. This may lead to very inaccurate position output during a signal outage or after a hot start if signals are not available. The problem is present in case of a passive antenna setup and if the internal LNA is configured to normal or low gain mode.
  Workaround/mitigation: Use an active antenna setup / external LNA or enable BeiDou or GLONASS.
• Software backup mode followed by disconnecting V_CORE (V_IO still connected) may cause a lockup of the receiver.
  Workaround: When using software backup, disconnect V_CORE and V_IO to power off the receiver.
• When entering software backup mode, the receiver may wake up immediately, if the UART Rx pin is enabled as a wakeup source even if no RX data has been received. Workaround: use another wakeup source (GPIO5, EXTINT).
• If a receiver runs for ~49 days without reset, in the default configuration, power consumption may increase by a significant amount, probably around 20%. Workaround: Perform hot start via hardware or command at a suitable time before the 49th day (but avoid “GNSS only” restarts by command).
• In rare cases after startup, the receiver will output valid position, but then for 1-3 (mostly
  1) epochs fails to output a position. After that the receiver will resume normal operation again. This has only been observed for aided cold starts.
• In some cases the receiver may report a failure to store SBAS data via the error message “SBAS alc X” where X is a number. There is no performance degradation and customers can ignore the error message.
• The data batching feature may not work after restarting the receiver, or enabling/disabling the feature. Currently, no workaround is available.
• I2C interface cannot be disabled in runtime via CFG-I2C-ENABLED. If this is attempted, an exception is thrown and the receiver restarts. Workaround: Use UBX-CFG-VALET to change the configuration on a non-volatile layer only, and then restart the receiver to apply the changes.
• Some devices may show poor performance with strong signals (40 dBm or better CN0) in the default “balanced” power mode. This degradation can be visible as loss of signals at the same time or reporting signals as weaker than they really are. Workaround: Change to “full power” mode (mode 0) in UBX-CFG-PMS.

References

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