I'm having trouble getting my gps shield to work with my arduino

Hello everyone!

So this week i got a Neo-6M GPS shield in the mail, because I need it for a school project. However I'm a newbie when it comes to arduino programming, so I grabbed some code on the internet that said it'd function with this module.

But bad luck; I can't get this gps module to work and display my location, instead it gives me a bunch of characters on the serial monitor that I can't understand...

Could it be a problem with the program? Or maybe the antenna, or the GPS shield itself?

Could you give me some advice to test out?

Thank you!

Here's the page I grabbed the code from: Tutorial to Communicate Neo-6M GPS to Arduino : 7 Steps (with Pictures) And some pictures of my hardware:

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Parents

gadget.iom over 7 years ago

Code as attached:

#include <TinyGPS++.h>
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
/*
  This sample code demonstrates the normal use of a TinyGPS++ (TinyGPSPlus) object.
  It requires the use of SoftwareSerial, and assumes that you have a
  4800-baud serial GPS device hooked up on pins 4(rx) and 3(tx).
*/
static const int RXPin = 30, TXPin = 31;
static const uint32_t GPSBaud = 9600;


// The TinyGPS++ object
TinyGPSPlus gps;


// The serial connection to the GPS device
SoftwareSerial ss(RXPin, TXPin);


void setup()
{
 Serial.begin(115200);
 ss.begin(GPSBaud);


 Serial.println(F("FullExample.ino"));
 Serial.println(F("An extensive example of many interesting TinyGPS++ features"));
 Serial.print(F("Testing TinyGPS++ library v. ")); Serial.println(TinyGPSPlus::libraryVersion());
 Serial.println(F("by Mikal Hart"));
 Serial.println();
 Serial.println(F("Sats HDOP Latitude   Longitude   Fix  Date       Time     Date Alt    Course Speed Card  Distance Course Card  Chars Sentences Checksum"));
 Serial.println(F("          (deg)      (deg)       Age                      Age  (m)    --- from GPS ----  ---- to London  ----  RX    RX        Fail"));
 Serial.println(F("---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"));
}


void loop()
{
 static const double LONDON_LAT = 51.508131, LONDON_LON = -0.128002;


 printInt(gps.satellites.value(), gps.satellites.isValid(), 5);
 printInt(gps.hdop.value(), gps.hdop.isValid(), 5);
 printFloat(gps.location.lat(), gps.location.isValid(), 11, 6);
 printFloat(gps.location.lng(), gps.location.isValid(), 12, 6);
 printInt(gps.location.age(), gps.location.isValid(), 5);
 printDateTime(gps.date, gps.time);
 printFloat(gps.altitude.meters(), gps.altitude.isValid(), 7, 2);
 printFloat(gps.course.deg(), gps.course.isValid(), 7, 2);
 printFloat(gps.speed.kmph(), gps.speed.isValid(), 6, 2);
 printStr(gps.course.isValid() ? TinyGPSPlus::cardinal(gps.course.value()) : "*** ", 6);


 unsigned long distanceKmToLondon =
   (unsigned long)TinyGPSPlus::distanceBetween(
     gps.location.lat(),
     gps.location.lng(),
     LONDON_LAT,
     LONDON_LON) / 1000;
 printInt(distanceKmToLondon, gps.location.isValid(), 9);


 double courseToLondon =
   TinyGPSPlus::courseTo(
     gps.location.lat(),
     gps.location.lng(),
     LONDON_LAT,
     LONDON_LON);


 printFloat(courseToLondon, gps.location.isValid(), 7, 2);


 const char *cardinalToLondon = TinyGPSPlus::cardinal(courseToLondon);


 printStr(gps.location.isValid() ? cardinalToLondon : "*** ", 6);


 printInt(gps.charsProcessed(), true, 6);
 printInt(gps.sentencesWithFix(), true, 10);
 printInt(gps.failedChecksum(), true, 9);
 Serial.println();

 smartDelay(1000);


 if (millis() > 5000 && gps.charsProcessed() < 10)
   Serial.println(F("No GPS data received: check wiring"));
}


// This custom version of delay() ensures that the gps object
// is being "fed".
static void smartDelay(unsigned long ms)
{
 unsigned long start = millis();
 do
 {
   while (ss.available())
     gps.encode(ss.read());
 } while (millis() - start < ms);
}


static void printFloat(float val, bool valid, int len, int prec)
{
 if (!valid)
 {
   while (len-- > 1)
     Serial.print('*');
   Serial.print(' ');
 }
 else
 {
   Serial.print(val, prec);
   int vi = abs((int)val);
   int flen = prec + (val < 0.0 ? 2 : 1); // . and -
   flen += vi >= 1000 ? 4 : vi >= 100 ? 3 : vi >= 10 ? 2 : 1;
   for (int i=flen; i<len; ++i)
     Serial.print(' ');
 }
 smartDelay(0);
}


static void printInt(unsigned long val, bool valid, int len)
{
 char sz[32] = "*****************";
 if (valid)
   sprintf(sz, "%ld", val);
 sz[len] = 0;
 for (int i=strlen(sz); i<len; ++i)
   sz[i] = ' ';
 if (len > 0)
   sz[len-1] = ' ';
 Serial.print(sz);
 smartDelay(0);
}


static void printDateTime(TinyGPSDate &d, TinyGPSTime &t)
{
 if (!d.isValid())
 {
   Serial.print(F("********** "));
 }
 else
 {
   char sz[32];
   sprintf(sz, "%02d/%02d/%02d ", d.month(), d.day(), d.year());
   Serial.print(sz);
 }

 if (!t.isValid())
 {
   Serial.print(F("******** "));
 }
 else
 {
   char sz[32];
   sprintf(sz, "%02d:%02d:%02d ", t.hour(), t.minute(), t.second());
   Serial.print(sz);
 }


 printInt(d.age(), d.isValid(), 5);
 smartDelay(0);
}


static void printStr(const char *str, int len)
{
 int slen = strlen(str);
 for (int i=0; i<len; ++i)
   Serial.print(i<slen ? str[i] : ' ');
 smartDelay(0);
}

Reply

gadget.iom over 7 years ago

Code as attached:

#include <TinyGPS++.h>
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
/*
  This sample code demonstrates the normal use of a TinyGPS++ (TinyGPSPlus) object.
  It requires the use of SoftwareSerial, and assumes that you have a
  4800-baud serial GPS device hooked up on pins 4(rx) and 3(tx).
*/
static const int RXPin = 30, TXPin = 31;
static const uint32_t GPSBaud = 9600;


// The TinyGPS++ object
TinyGPSPlus gps;


// The serial connection to the GPS device
SoftwareSerial ss(RXPin, TXPin);


void setup()
{
 Serial.begin(115200);
 ss.begin(GPSBaud);


 Serial.println(F("FullExample.ino"));
 Serial.println(F("An extensive example of many interesting TinyGPS++ features"));
 Serial.print(F("Testing TinyGPS++ library v. ")); Serial.println(TinyGPSPlus::libraryVersion());
 Serial.println(F("by Mikal Hart"));
 Serial.println();
 Serial.println(F("Sats HDOP Latitude   Longitude   Fix  Date       Time     Date Alt    Course Speed Card  Distance Course Card  Chars Sentences Checksum"));
 Serial.println(F("          (deg)      (deg)       Age                      Age  (m)    --- from GPS ----  ---- to London  ----  RX    RX        Fail"));
 Serial.println(F("---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"));
}


void loop()
{
 static const double LONDON_LAT = 51.508131, LONDON_LON = -0.128002;


 printInt(gps.satellites.value(), gps.satellites.isValid(), 5);
 printInt(gps.hdop.value(), gps.hdop.isValid(), 5);
 printFloat(gps.location.lat(), gps.location.isValid(), 11, 6);
 printFloat(gps.location.lng(), gps.location.isValid(), 12, 6);
 printInt(gps.location.age(), gps.location.isValid(), 5);
 printDateTime(gps.date, gps.time);
 printFloat(gps.altitude.meters(), gps.altitude.isValid(), 7, 2);
 printFloat(gps.course.deg(), gps.course.isValid(), 7, 2);
 printFloat(gps.speed.kmph(), gps.speed.isValid(), 6, 2);
 printStr(gps.course.isValid() ? TinyGPSPlus::cardinal(gps.course.value()) : "*** ", 6);


 unsigned long distanceKmToLondon =
   (unsigned long)TinyGPSPlus::distanceBetween(
     gps.location.lat(),
     gps.location.lng(),
     LONDON_LAT,
     LONDON_LON) / 1000;
 printInt(distanceKmToLondon, gps.location.isValid(), 9);


 double courseToLondon =
   TinyGPSPlus::courseTo(
     gps.location.lat(),
     gps.location.lng(),
     LONDON_LAT,
     LONDON_LON);


 printFloat(courseToLondon, gps.location.isValid(), 7, 2);


 const char *cardinalToLondon = TinyGPSPlus::cardinal(courseToLondon);


 printStr(gps.location.isValid() ? cardinalToLondon : "*** ", 6);


 printInt(gps.charsProcessed(), true, 6);
 printInt(gps.sentencesWithFix(), true, 10);
 printInt(gps.failedChecksum(), true, 9);
 Serial.println();

 smartDelay(1000);


 if (millis() > 5000 && gps.charsProcessed() < 10)
   Serial.println(F("No GPS data received: check wiring"));
}


// This custom version of delay() ensures that the gps object
// is being "fed".
static void smartDelay(unsigned long ms)
{
 unsigned long start = millis();
 do
 {
   while (ss.available())
     gps.encode(ss.read());
 } while (millis() - start < ms);
}


static void printFloat(float val, bool valid, int len, int prec)
{
 if (!valid)
 {
   while (len-- > 1)
     Serial.print('*');
   Serial.print(' ');
 }
 else
 {
   Serial.print(val, prec);
   int vi = abs((int)val);
   int flen = prec + (val < 0.0 ? 2 : 1); // . and -
   flen += vi >= 1000 ? 4 : vi >= 100 ? 3 : vi >= 10 ? 2 : 1;
   for (int i=flen; i<len; ++i)
     Serial.print(' ');
 }
 smartDelay(0);
}


static void printInt(unsigned long val, bool valid, int len)
{
 char sz[32] = "*****************";
 if (valid)
   sprintf(sz, "%ld", val);
 sz[len] = 0;
 for (int i=strlen(sz); i<len; ++i)
   sz[i] = ' ';
 if (len > 0)
   sz[len-1] = ' ';
 Serial.print(sz);
 smartDelay(0);
}


static void printDateTime(TinyGPSDate &d, TinyGPSTime &t)
{
 if (!d.isValid())
 {
   Serial.print(F("********** "));
 }
 else
 {
   char sz[32];
   sprintf(sz, "%02d/%02d/%02d ", d.month(), d.day(), d.year());
   Serial.print(sz);
 }

 if (!t.isValid())
 {
   Serial.print(F("******** "));
 }
 else
 {
   char sz[32];
   sprintf(sz, "%02d:%02d:%02d ", t.hour(), t.minute(), t.second());
   Serial.print(sz);
 }


 printInt(d.age(), d.isValid(), 5);
 smartDelay(0);
}


static void printStr(const char *str, int len)
{
 int slen = strlen(str);
 for (int i=0; i<len; ++i)
   Serial.print(i<slen ? str[i] : ' ');
 smartDelay(0);
}

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