Accessing BG96 debug port

Cellular Boards RAK5010
1

I’m trying to access the BG96 debug/aux/uart2 port and wondered if this should work?

The GB96 documents describe using the “auxnmea” port which is the UART2 port by using the command:

AT+QGPSCFG="outport","auxnmea"

to output data continuously, this seemed like a good option since the other uart isn’t connected and the USB output would mean replacing the RAK usb (and also wouldn’t then be readable by the RAK)

The RAK5010 appears to have the uart2 pins connected to the test points TP1 & TP2 I have connected these up to a uart but I am not seeing any data at all… but also, the AT CFG command to “outport” doesn’t appear to be effective at all (the value is unchanged).

Should this work? has anyone managed this? is there some additional config I need to do to get the debug port active? I have also asked on the quectel forum in case this is a known problem (https://forums.quectel.com/t/bg96-auxnmea-port-silent/13138) but I wondered since the pins are routed to test pins then I assumed someone must have used them successfully for some purpose!

2

Welcome to RAK forum @Ivor ,

You wont be able to access the GNSS data on UART2. These are your only option based on the AT command docs:

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I saw your post in quectel forum. Let’s see what will be their reply.

Also please note that the TP1 and TP2 voltage levels are 1.8V and not 3.3V.

3

Hi, ah thanks for the reply.
I was going off the BG96 doc from the Quectel site which has:
image
Perhaps this has been added in a later firmware to the one in the RAK, and yes appreciate the 1.8v pins. :+1:
Indeed, lets see what quectel say.

4

Right, figured it out… that was added to the later doc on 6/2020. So must be a more recent firmware, sounds like a useful feature lets see if there’s an available update.
(edit) found the version…

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I’ll see if I can get an updated version, but I guess I’ll be attaching the bg96 usb to do that.

5

Didn’t see any updates from Quectec, so just went ahead to experiment anyway.
Connected the BG96 to USB, updated with the 1.019 firmware… connected the TP1&TP2 to two GPIO ports…

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and we have streaming GPS data! So I can just set a background task to process the feed without polling.
(would paste an image of the capture but limited to one picture per post)

$GPGSV,2,1,07,02,25,046,,04,09,333,,05,,,,06,,,*77
$GPGSV,2,2,07,09,,,,12,13,094,,16,,,*4C
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*1E
$GPGGA,,,,,,0,,,,,,,,*66
$GPRMC,,V,,,,,,,,,,N*53
$GPGSV,2,1,07,02,25,046,,04,09,333,,05,,,,06,,,*77
$GPGSV,2,2,07,09,,,,12,13,094,,16,,,*4C

(inside so no signal! :slight_smile: will try when it’s not raining)

1 Like
6

BTW interestingly the “output” query now reports:

+QGPSCFG: "outport",("none","usbnmea","uartnmea","auxnmea","cmux1","cmux2","cmux3","cmux4"),

(whatever the cmux options are, no mention in the manuals)

7

Good work @Ivor . Glad it worked with the FW update :+1: