10-10-2016 | Alpha Micro Components | Design & Manufacture
Alpha Micro Components today announced the availability of evaluation kits for the newest U-blox M8 series and U-blox 8 GNSS positioning technology modules. These comprehensive kits allow easy evaluation of the modules’ performance, in both real-world and test conditions, and provide an ideal base for application development. Each kit includes everything needed – hardware, software, drivers, documentation, and accessories – to quickly integrate these modules into a typical Windows-based testing and development environment. The M8 is designed for applications that require the best navigation performance and the highest accuracy. The 8 provides a very similar feature set, but with more emphasis on power sensitive applications. Evaluation kits are available to support all the M8 product variants. Both series of modules support assisted GNSS (A-GNSS) for fast location fix and greater accuracy, via a connection to the company’s AssistNow service. When you’re ready to implement your application, the 8 and M8 modules are also available from Alpha Micro. A rugged and versatile engineering testbed Each evaluation kit packages the module plus support electronics in a sturdy but compact (105mm x 64mm x 26mm) enclosure that provides easy access to standard inputs and outputs as well as internal pins. There are external reset and boot buttons, and a GNSS fix indicator LED. Connectors include a USB 2.0 port for power input and high-speed data transfer (cable included), and a 9-pin D-SUB UART port for RS232. There is also a combined I²C or SPI port (selectable via an external switch) – this 14-pin ESD-protected connector allows direct access to internal interface pins, for signal monitoring and current measurement. “These new u-blox modules are among the most powerful and versatile positioning modules around,” said Tim Bonnett, director at Alpha Micro Components, “and now Alpha Micro can support them with the EVK-M8 and EVK-8 evaluation kits, which provide the perfect environment for developers to minimise cost and time to market.”
