Adafruit learning system Pa1010d User manual

Adafruit Mini GPS PA1010D Module

Created by Kattni Rembor

Last updated on 2021-10-22 11:38:03 AM EDT

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Guide Contents
Guide Contents
Overview
Pinouts
GPS Module
Power Pins
I2C Data Pins
Other Pins
UART Serial Data Pins
LEDs
Optional Coin Cell
Arduino I2C Usage
Wiring
Installation
Echo Test Demo
Arduino UART Usage
Wiring
Installation
Echo Test Demo
Hardware UART
CircuitPython & Python Setup
CircuitPython Microcontroller Wiring
I2C Interface
UART Interface
Python Computer Wiring
I2C Interface
UART Interface
USB-to-Serial Cable Interface
Hardware UART Interface
CircuitPython Installation of GPS Library
Python Installation of GPS Library
Python Docs
CircuitPython & Python I2C Usage
CircuitPython Microcontroller Usage
Linux, Computer or Raspberry Pi Usage
Echotest Example
CircuitPython & Python UART Usage
CircuitPython Microcontroller
Linux/Computer/Raspberry Pi with Python
Example Parsing Code
GPS Example Code Explained
Downloads
Files:
Schematic
Fab Print
© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-mini-gps-pa1010d-module Page 2 of 35

Overview

This miniature GPS breakout is only 1" x 1" (~ 25mm x 25mm) but houses a complete GPS/GNSS solution

with both I2C and UART interfaces. There's even an antenna on top so it's plug and play!

Support for GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS

-165 dBm sensitivity, up to 10 Hz updates

Up to 210 PRN channels with 99 search channels and 33 simultaneous tracking channels

5V friendly design and only 30mA current draw

Breadboard-able, with 4 mounting holes

UART

and

I2C interfaces, pick whichever you like most!

RTC battery-compatible

PPS output on fix ±20ns jitter

Internal patch antenna

Low-power and standby mode with WAKE pin

The breakout is built around the MTK3333 chipset, a reliable, high-quality GPS module that can handle up

to 33 simultaneous tracking channels, has an excellent high-sensitivity receiver (-165 dBm tracking!), and a

built in antenna. It can do up to 10 location updates a second for high speed, high sensitivity logging or

tracking. Power usage is incredibly low, only 30 mA during navigation.

Best of all, we added all the extra goodies you could ever want: a ultra-low dropout 3.3V regulator so you

can power it with 3.3-5VDC in, 5V level safe inputs on UART and I2C, a footprint for optional CR1220 coin

cell to keep the RTC running and allow warm starts, a green power LED and a tiny red PPS LED. The LED

blinks at about 1Hz when a fix is found and is off when no fix.

Unlike our Ultimate GPS modules, this module does not have the ability to connect an external antenna,

it's designed to be as small as possible for compact projects.

As with all Adafruit breakouts, we've done the work to make this GPS module super easy to use. We've

put it on a breakout board with the required support circuitry and connectors to make it easy to work with,

and is now a trend we've added SparkFun Qwiic (https://adafru.it/Fpw) compatible STEMMA

QT (https://adafru.it/Ft4) JST SH connectors that allow you to get going without needing to solder. Just

use a STEMMA QT adapter cable (https://adafru.it/FA-), plug it into your favorite micro or Blinka supported

SBC and you're ready to rock!

Comes with one fully assembled and tested module, a piece of header you can solder to it for bread-

boarding, and a CR1220 coin cell holder. A CR1220 coin cell is not included, but we have them in the

shop if you'd like to use the GPS's RTC (http://adafru.it/380)

Pinouts

This GPS module can be used with I2C or UART. Let's take a look!

GPS Module

The PA1010D GPS module with built-in antenna is

located in the center of the board. It has all kinds of

features!

Support for GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS

-165 dBm sensitivity, up to 10 Hz updates

Up to 210 PRN channels with 99 search channels

and 33 simultaneous tracking channels

UART

and

I2C interfaces, pick whichever you like

most!

PPS output on fix ±20ns jitter

Internal patch antenna

Low-power and standby mode with WAKE pin

Note: Due to the sensitivity of the built in antenna, the

PA1010D Mini GPS module may need a more

unobstructed view of the sky than other GPS modules. If

you are having trouble getting a fix, try moving the

module to a clear spot with the antenna pointing up at the

sky.

Power Pins

VIN - power input, connect to 3-5VDC. It's important

to connect to a

clean and quiet

power supply. GPS's

are very sensitive, so you want a nice and quiet

power supply. Don't connect to a switching supply if

you can avoid it, an LDO will be less noisy! This

module only draws 30mA current during navigation

GND - power and signal ground. Connect to your

power supply and microcontroller ground.

Optional:

3Vo - is the output from the onboard 3.3V regulator.

If you have a need for a clean 3.3V output, you can

use this! It can provide at least 100mA output.

I2C Data Pins

SCL - this is the I2C clock pin, connect to your

microcontroller or computer's I2C clock line.

SDA - this is the I2C data pin, connect to your

microcontroller or computer's I2C data line.

These pins have 10K pullups to Vin. They are level shifted

so you can use 3 or 5V logic

On both sides in the middle are the Sparkfun

Qwiic (https://adafru.it/Fpw) compatible STEMMA

QT (https://adafru.it/Ft4) JST SH connectors, for

using with I2C. Use with any of the STEMMA QT

cables available in the Adafruit shop to connect this

breakout to your project without needing to solder!

Other Pins

RST - When pulled to ground, this will put the chip

in the module into reset. Handy when you want to

start with a completely clean setup.

PPS is a "pulse per second" output. Most of the time

it is at logic low (ground) and then it pulses high

(3.3V) once a second, for 50-100ms, so it should be

easy for a microcontroller to sync up to it

WAKE - This pin works with low power and standby

modes. Check the datasheet for more information!

UART Serial Data Pins

TXO - the pin that transmits data

from

the GPS

module to your microcontroller or computer. It is

3.3V logic level. Data comes out at 9600 baud 8N1

by default

RXI - the pin that you can use to send data

the

GPS. This pin is level shifted so you can use 3-5V

logic. By default it expects 9600 baud data by

default.

LEDs

There are two LEDs on the board.

ON - Green power LED. Lit when the board is

powered

PPS - Red PPS LED, blinks at about 1Hz when a fix is

found and is off when no fix.

Optional Coin Cell

The back has a footprint for an optional coin cell battery.

The board ships with a CR1220 coin cell holder that can

be soldered onto the back. CR1220 battery not included.

Arduino I2C Usage

Wiring

If you have a STEMMA QT breakout cable (https://adafru.it/FA-), then you can wire like this:

RED to 3.3

BLACK to GND

BLUE to SDA

YELLOW to SCL

If you want to solder pins to the header connectors and use a breadboard, then wire like this:

VIN to 3.3

GND to GND

SDA to SDA

SCL to SCL

Installation

The Adafruit GPS Library includes support for the Mini GPS PA1010D module. You can install it from the

Arduino IDE via the Library Manager:

Click the Manage Libraries... menu item, search for Adafruit GPS, and select the Adafruit GPS Library:

Echo Test Demo

We can test basic functionality using one of the examples from the library. This won't do any parsing. It

simply dumps the raw data sentences as received from the GPS module.

Open up File -> Examples -> Adafruit GPS Library -> GPS_I2C_EchoTest and upload to your Arduino

board with the GPS module connected.

Once the sketch is uploaded, open up the Serial Monitor ( Tools -> Serial Monitor) at 115200 baud. You

should see something like this:

If you see this, then you are successfully talking to the GPS module. Once it obtains a lock on the GPS

satellites, which can takes several minutes, there will be more information in the sentences. To see that

information in a more user friendly format, try running the GPS_I2C_Parsing example from the library.

Arduino UART Usage

Wiring

Note that the breakout has pins on two sides. Be sure to use the side with the UART pins. They are

labeled TXO and RXI. We'll demonstrate using SoftwareSerial on the Metro 328. Here's the wiring:

3.3 to VIN

GND to GND

8 to TXO

7 to RXI

Installation

See the Arduino I2C Usage section for details about installing the Adafruit GPS Library. The same library

is used for UART.

Echo Test Demo

We can test basic functionality using one of the examples from the library. This won't do any parsing. It

simply dumps the raw data sentences as received from the GPS module.

Open up File -> Examples -> Adafruit GPS Library -> GPS_SoftwareSerial_EchoTest and upload to your

Arduino board with the GPS module connected.

Once the sketch is uploaded, open up the Serial Monitor ( Tools -> Serial Monitor) at 115200 baud. You

should see something like this:

If you see this, then you are successfully talking to the GPS module. Once it obtains a lock on the GPS

satellites, which can takes several minutes, there will be more information in the sentences. To see that

information in a more user friendly format, try running the GPS_SoftwareSerial_Parsing example from the

library.

Hardware UART

The above example demonstrated UART usage via SoftwareSerial. If you have a board with an available

hardware UART, you can use that also. Simply connect to the TX/RX pins for the hardware UART for your

particular board and then see the examples in the Adafruit GPS Library with HardwareSerial in the name.

CircuitPython & Python Setup

It's easy to use the Adafruit Mini GPS PA1010D breakout with Python or CircuitPython and the Adafruit

CircuitPython GPS (https://adafru.it/BuR) module. This library allows you to write Python code that reads

the date, time, location and more from the breakout.

You can use this sensor with any CircuitPython microcontroller board or with a computer that has GPIO

and Python thanks to Adafruit_Blinka, our CircuitPython-for-Python compatibility

library (https://adafru.it/BSN).

CircuitPython Microcontroller Wiring

The Adafruit Mini GPS PA1010D can be wired up in multiple ways. We recommend I2C as it is the

simplest. There are two ways you can connect the GPS to a microcontroller using I2C.

I2C Interface

Here is an example of the module connected to a Feather M0 Express for I2C using the STEMMA

connector and a STEMMA cable:

Feather 3V to STEMMA red wire (VIN)

Feather GND to STEMMA black wire (GND)

Feather SDA to STEMMA blue wire (SDA)

Feather SCL to STEMMA yellow wire (SCL)

Here is an example of the module connected to a Feather M0 Express for I2C using jumper wires:

Feather 3V to module VIN

Feather GND to module GND

Feather SCL to module SCL

Feather SDA to module SDA

UART Interface

Here is an example of the module connected to a Feather M0 Express using UART:

Feather 3V to module VIN

Feather GND to module GND

Feather TX to module RXI

Feather RX to module TXO

Python Computer Wiring

Since there's

dozens

of Linux computers/boards you can use we will show wiring for Raspberry Pi. For

other platforms, please visit the guide for CircuitPython on Linux to see whether your platform is

supported (https://adafru.it/BSN).

I2C Interface

Here's the Raspberry Pi wired with I2C using the STEMMA connector and a STEMMA cable:

Pi 3V to STEMMA red wire (VIN)

Pi GND to STEMMA black wire (GND)

Pi SDA to STEMMA blue wire (SDA)

Pi SCL to STEMMA yellow wire (SCL)

Here's the Raspberry Pi wired with I2C using jumper wires:

Pi 3V to module VIN

Pi GND to module GND

Pi SCL to module SCL

Pi SDA to module SDA

UART Interface

For UART, you have two options: An external USB-to-serial converter or the built-in UART on the Pi's

TX/RX pins.

USB-to-Serial Cable Interface

Here's an example of wiring up the USB-to-TTL serial converter (https://adafru.it/dDd), and the FTDI serial

TTL-232 USB cable (https://adafru.it/dNN) (also available in USB-C (https://adafru.it/H3d)):

For USB to TTL serial cable:

USB 3V (red wire) to module VIN

USB GND (black wire) to module GND

USB TX (green wire) to module RXI

USB RX (white wire) to module TXO

For FTDI serial TTL cable - the FTDI cable pinout matches

the pinout on the UART side of the PA1010D Mini GPS

Module. Connect the cable so that the wires align as

follows:

FTDI black wire to module GND

FTDI brown wire to module PPS

FTDI red wire to module VIN

FTDI orange wire to module RXI

FTDI yellow wire to module TXO

FTDI green wire to module WAKE

Hardware UART Interface

Here's an example using the Pi's built-in UART:

For single board computers other than the Raspberry Pi, the serial port may be tied to the

console or not be available to the user. Please see the board documentation to see how the

serial port may be used.



Pi 3V to module VIN

Pi GND to module GND

Pi TX to module RXI

Pi RX to module TXO

If you want to use the built-in UART, you'll need to disable the serial console and enable the serial port

hardware in raspi-config. See the UART/Serial section of the CircuitPython on Raspberry Pi

guide (https://adafru.it/CEk) for detailed instructions on how to do this.

CircuitPython Installation of GPS Library

Next you'll need to install the Adafruit CircuitPython GPS (https://adafru.it/BuR) library on your

CircuitPython board.

First make sure you are running the latest version of Adafruit CircuitPython (https://adafru.it/Em8) for your

board.

Next you'll need to install the necessary libraries to use the hardware. Carefully follow the steps to find

and install these libraries from Adafruit's CircuitPython library bundle (https://adafru.it/ENC). For example,

the Welcome to CircuitPython guide has a great page on how to install the library

bundle (https://adafru.it/ABU).

To install the libraries, you'll need to copy the following files from the bundle to the lib folder on your

CIRCUITPY drive:

adafruit_gps.mpy

adafruit_bus_device

Before continuing make sure your board's lib folder has the adafruit_gps.mpy and adafruit_bus_device

files and folders copied over.

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