Astra A5040 User manual

A5040 FLUXGATE COMPASS GYRO USER MANUAL
A5040 manual.doc
April 2016

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Table of Contents
1 Introduction and description of fluxgate compass.
1.1 Description of compass
1.2 Connections
1.2.1 Normal
1.2.2 Variants -CP
1.3 Switches
1.4 Indicator light
1.5 Power supply.
1.6 Mounting
2 Connecting the compass to your application.
2.1 To a NMEA-0183 instrument.
2.2 To a PC serial port.
3 Output formats available from compass.
3.1 NMEA-0183
3.2 Furuno AD-10
4 Calibrating the compass.
4.1 Why the compass needs calibrating.
4.2 Starting calibration.
4.3 Aborting a bad calibration.
4.4 Setting reference NORTH heading
4.5 Set-up suggestions
5 NMEA Inputs and Outputs
6 References

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1. Introduction and description of fluxgate compass.
1.1 Description of compass.
The Astra Yacht NMEA compass unit is a complete component for a compass system indicating,
RADAR ‘North-up’ input or autopilot. It is housed in a water-resistant enclosure so it can be
mounted outside a steel hull. It delivers heading data in two industry-standard forms.
The A5040 contains a fluxgate with floating core surrounded by high-precision interface circuits, which,
together with the special clockwise/anticlockwise and offset nulling sequence allow a
microprocessor to acquire a binary value from two orthogonal sensors of the horizontal component
of the Earth’s magnetic field. The processor calculates the vector from these values, uses a
calibration table to correct for local field disturbance errors, offsets the result and then presents the
data in a manner which has been requested. Such requests alter the frequency of the data, the
degree of filtering and the offset value. Calibration sequences can also be commanded.
1.2 Connections
1.2.1 Normal
Conductor
Colour
Type
Function
1
Red
P
+Supply 8-30v
2
Yellow
O
Furuno AD-10 Clock
3
Brown
I
NMEA IN-
4
White
I
NMEA IN+
5
Black
P
GND
6
Green
O
NMEA OUT+
7
Blue
P
GND
8
Violet
O
Furuno AD-10 Data
9
Screen
NOTE Conductors 5 and 7 are connected together inside the A5040
1.2.2 Variants with suffix -CP
Conductor
Colour
Type
Function
1
Red
P
+ Supply
2
Yellow
I
NMEA IN +
3
Blue
P
GND and NMEA IN -
4
Green
O
NMEA OUT +
NOTE Cable foil and drain wire internally connected to GND

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1.3 Switch Inputs
S1
S2
Fig 1
Except for variants with suffix -S, two push-button switches are provided for calibrating the
compass in the field.
When the A5040 is viewed from the front face with the LED facing, then Switch 1 is on the right and
Switch 2 is on the left.
1 Switch 1: Start the auto-calibration process
2 Switch 2: Set reference NORTH heading. The A5040 must be mounted upright
but at any azimuth. Pressing S2 sets the heading to zero and so can be done when the
whole installation is headed North.
3 Both together Pressing both together for at least one second causes the auto-
calibration process to halt and restores the previously saved calibration values. (Equivalent
to sending the XCL command (see section 5.2)
1.4 Indicator light
A blue light indicates four states of the A5040 by the patterns of its flashing.
After the reset command, $PATC,IIHDG,0CV<CR><LF>, the A5040 is uncalibrated and the blue
indicator will show a VQF3 flash.
Note that the LED can be turned off and on by the DLED command – see section 5.
The indicator can show the following patterns:
VQF1 Fluxgate calibrated A single flash repeated
VQF2 Fault. A double flash repeated.
VQF3 Fluxgate not calibrated – the flashes are grouped in threes
VQF4 Fault. The flashes are grouped in fours.

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1.5 Power supply
The compass is compatible with any DC power supply of between 8 and 30 Vdc. Typical supply current
during operation is approx. 25mA. The compass is protected against reversed polarity.
Note that the operation of the LED adds another 10mA and that during auto-calibration the
consumption can be as high as 60mA.
Care should be taken to make sure the compass is not situated too close to the power supply, as it’s
accuracy may be affected by either the iron in the mains transformer, or by magnetic field ‘noise’
from a switching power supply. It is not possible to cover all possible scenarios here, and it
remains up to the user to determine the suitability of a possible location for the compass.
Note that the output from the A5040 takes several seconds to stabilize after a power is applied; the time
taken depends on the damping settings. There is a command - see section 5 – which can be
used to suppress the output after power-up.
1.6 Mounting
The compass is fixed to the chassis of the vessel or vehicle in the upright position using the fixing holes
shown in the data sheet. It does not matter which way it faces as the azimuth can be set to North
at any time the chassis is orientated North. Alternatively if the azimuth of the chassis is known,
then the A5040 may be rotated before fixing to North using a protractor. S2 is then pressed and
then the compass can be mounted on the chassis.

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A5022
COM PORT D
CONNECTOR
2
3
5
4 NMEA IN +
3 NMEA IN -
5 GND
6 NMEA OUT +
7 GND
+
POWER
SOURCE
-1 +8-30V
2 Connecting the compass to your application
2.1 Compass to a NMEA-0183 instrument
The hardware on which the NMEA-0183 standard is based on is a balanced serial protocol called
RS422. This means that two wires are need for send and two for receive.
Fig 2
Note that the GND wire is used for the current return path. This might be shared with the
NMEA- wire in some installations.
2.2 Compass to a PC serial port
In many cases the wires can be joined directly as shown in Fig 2. Alternatively use the Astra
Yacht A3036 serial interface unit.
Fig 3
External NMEA device
6 NMEA OUT +
4 NMEA IN+
3 NMEA IN-
5 GND
NMEA current
source
+
-

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3 Output formats available from compass
3.1 NMEA-0183
The serial output format is: 4800 Baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.
The compass sends information using the standard NMEA-0183 sentence ‘HDG’: Magnetic
Heading, Deviation, and Variation. But note that the information of Deviation and Variation is
not sent and so blank fields are defined by consecutive commas. In the A5040 the sentence
may have one of several forms typically of the general form:
$HCHDG,hhh.h etc
Where hhh.h is the magnetic heading from 000.0 to 359.9 degrees
Also the Rate-of-turn data is sent either with or without the heading sentence.
For a complete list of output formats available see Section 5
3.2 Furuno AD-10
The compass has a separate, dedicated output in Furuno AD-10 format. This is a proprietary
4 character serial format, which gives heading in degrees and tens of minutes. The string
0872 represents the heading 87° 20’ so that the precision is to 1/6 of a degree. At the
same time the A5040 would be also sending the NMEA data to a precision of 1/10 of a
degree.
480µs
100ms minimum
Duration of data is 16 clocks each
high=low=30µs. Total = 480µs.
Frequency of data packets is set by
the interval command. Max = 10Hz
Clock
Data
Fig 4

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4 Calibration
4.1 Why the compass needs calibrating
When any compass is installed the magnetic characteristics of the whole installation affect the
way the Earth’s field reaches the detector inside the device. Each individual installation
will be different and so the A5040 is equipped with an auto-calibration routine which
corrects for these installation distortions.
4.2 Starting calibration
-A NMEA-0183 command can be sent to initiate the process.
OR
-Switch 1 can be pressed to start it.
There are two compass calibration techniques in common use:
1 Constant angular velocity
2 Double rotation without constant velocity.
The A5040 uses the first method. The process consists of rotating the whole installation in the
Earth’s field so that both permanent magnets and induced magnets are corrected. The
method used is the single turn at a constant rate and this rate should be in range 60 to
180 seconds for the full 400 degrees needed. The whole arrangement is turned at
constant angular velocity because the method relies on applying a correction when the
heading measured is uneven with time.
The second method is not used in the A5040. Astra Yacht has evaluated the method which
uses a mathematical model of an ideal compass and treats errors as arising from
distortion due to magnetic objects. The ideal error plot of the field vector would be a circle
with no offset from the origin. Permanent magnets (‘hard’) have the effect of shifting the
centre from the origin and induced magnets (‘soft’) modify the circle into an ellipse. The
results of our investigation show that there is always a residual error due to the fact that
real magnetic objects do not behave exactly according to the model outlined. Astra Yacht
is aware that the need for a constant angular velocity is onerous but the benefit is that it
provides a very low residual error – less than 0.5°.
Note that the calibration is different if the unit is mounted upside-down.
Calibration must always be done with the unit in its final mounted position. The essential point
of the calibration is remove the influence of external magnetic components in the vicinity
– the nearby pieces of iron and steel –so it is essential that these remain unchanged after
calibration. If any significant iron component is altered – such as the installation of new
equipment or replacement of equipment such as winches or engines – then the
calibration must be re-done.

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4.3 Terminating a bad calibration
If the process is faulty in any way – such as would happen if the manoeuvre cannot be
completed, the process can be terminated by the NMEA command listed and the original
factory default (linear) table is restored. Alternatively this can be done by pressing both
Switches together for at least 1 second.
NOTE that there should be a delay of at least 5 seconds after termination before a new
calibration process is initiated.
4.4 Setting reference NORTH heading
Switch 2 (and also a NMEA command) is provided to set ‘zero’. The A5040 should
a. first be auto-calibrated
b. then be aligned to North
4.5 Set-up suggestions
When the A5040 is fixed in place and connected it can be calibrated as described above.
Choose a calm day and a region of water where there are no currents. Set the boat
turning to left or right at a slow rate and fix the wheel or tiller. Then, when the turning is
steadily under way, press the auto-calibrate button and watch the LED.
When calibration is completed the boat can be on its way and the next task is to set North.
This is best done by identifying transits on a chart and heading the boat on the transit.
Again this should be done in the same conditions so that the heading can be lined up on
the transit and maintained while the set-zero button is pressed.
4.6 Gyro Calibration
There is a factory only command to calibrate the gyro and it is not published

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5 NMEA-0183 command Lisd.
The compass can be configured by sending various proprietary sentences to its NMEA-0183
input. Once configured, the compass will remember those settings every time it is
powered up.
Response:
When any of the following input sentences are received the A5040 will reply with an
‘acknowledge’ output sentence of the format:
$PATC,HCHDG,ACK<CR><LF>
except where noted to be different
5.1 AHD - Set heading:
$PATC,IIHDG,AHD,fff.f<CR><LF>
Forces the heading to a certain value by supplying an offset which is stored and used
thereafter.
Where f is in degrees with a valid range of 000.0 to 359.9
When f = 000.0 the result is the same as pressing switch 2
5.2 Set the internal filtering: ('damping')
$PATC,IIHDG,DHD,ddd.d<CR><LF>
Valid range for d is 0 to 100.0%
5.3 TXP - Set the Output update period in ms:
$PATC,IIHDG,TXP,uuuu<CR><LF>
note, minimum resolution – 10ms; Range: 100 to 2500 ms
Valid range is u=100 to 3000 milliseconds. This is limited by max. data rate of NMEA-0183
output at 4800 baud.
5.4 Start Auto-Calibration
$PATC,IIHDG,IAC<CR><LF>
Same as pressing Switch 1
5.5 Abort Auto-Calibration.
$PATC,IIHDG,XCL<CR><LF>

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5.6 Resets all compass data to factory default values:
This command should never be used. It is for factory use only and we show what it does
because other instruments have this command and someone might try it. It is strongly
NOT advised because it reset all parameters including the gyro calibration which is
difficult to reset.
$PATC,IIHDG,0CV<CR><LF>
5.7 Request the serial number:
$PATC,IIHDG,RID<CR><LF>
A special proprietary reply sentence follows:
$PATC,IIHDG,RID,ssss<CR><LF> where ssss is the serial number in ASCII decimal.
5.8 Configure the output sentence structure and type:
$PATC,IIHDG,CFG,abc<CR><LF>
Note:
There must be three characters Ranges:
a = 0 to 5
b = 0 to 2
c = 0 to 4
[Replies with the standard acknowledge sentence $PATC,HCHDG,ACK<CR><LF>.]
Where 'a' is heading sentence type as follows:
a=0 : $HCHDG,hhh.h,,,,<CR><LF>
a=1 : $HCHDT,hhh.h,T<CR><LF>
a=2 : $HCHDM,hhh.h,M<CR><LF>
a=3 : $HCHCC,hhh.h<CR><LF>
a=4 : $HEHDT,hhh.h<CR><LF>
a=5: no heading data sent
hhh.h is the compass heading in degrees
(this compass heading field will be omitted when auto-calibration is in process)
and 'b' is sentence end structure as follows:

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b=0 : direction sentence will NOT include checksum nor unit ID serial number.
e.g. $HCHDG,hhh.h,,,,<CR><LF>
b=1 : direction sentence will include a checksum.
e.g. $HCHDG,hhh.h,,,,*cc<CR><LF> (cc is the checksum)
b=2 : include the serial number.
e.g. $HCHDG,hhh.h,,,,*ssss<CR><LF> (ssss is the unit’s serial number)
and where 'c' has the following significance:
c = 0 or is missing means no ROT
c = 1 ROT with 8s average
c = 2 ROT with 16s average
c = 3 ROT with 32s average
c = 4 ROT with 64s average
The form of the transmitted sentence is:
$HFROT,zxxx.x,A*cc<CR><LF>
Except when a=4 when the form is
$HEROT,zxxx.x,A*cc<CR><LF>
and where z = sign as follows:
+ (or missing) turning to starboard (i.e. heading value is increasing)
- turning to port (i.e. heading value is decreasing)
and cc = checksum
xxx.x = Rate of Turn in degrees per minute
5.9 Enable LED:
$PATC,IIHDG,ELED<CR><LF>
Replies with the standard acknowledge sentence ($PATC,HCHDG,ACK<CR><LF>).
Default: LED enabled.
5.10 Disable LED:
$PATC,IIHDG,DLED<CR><LF>
Replies with the standard acknowledge sentence ($PATC,HCHDG,ACK<CR><LF>).
Note : LED will be automatically enabled during calibration process.

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5.11 SR - Read device firmware version
$PATC,IIHDG,SR <CR><LF>
The unit responds as follows:
$SR,A5040,016,02<CR><LF>).
6 References
1 A5040 data sheet
2 NMEA-0183 specification