Advice?: Not getting GPS lock

Troubleshooting
1

Howdy All

Just got the Swan and have the latest firmware and Circuit Python on it, with note carrier F. At this point I am able to connect to the cellular network and send data to NoteHub, but not able to get a lock on GPS. I have put it near a window as well as moved in to my deck with a clear view of the sky (clear, cold evening and day) .

I have followed this link the GPS tutorial and this link – (performed all the steps).

For comparison, I do have a small GPS module that I got from AMZN also. It is able to get a lock (it’s not 100% perfect, but it does latch on to GPS - even near the window). I also tried swapping the antennae w/o any luck.

I am curious are there any other troubleshooting steps that I could take? I also tried both
continuous mode and the periodic mode (60 seconds) and trying moved the swan a bit, such that it knows that it made some motion…

I am powering the swan with exactly 5V using an external power supply with a dial.

P.S I’ve also included some sample uPython code below (periodic gps) to show what I’m doing…

Any help would be great, thanks!
John

######################## Sample Code ########################

import notecard
import board
import busio
import time
import json

prodid="$my_prod_id"
port = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)
card = notecard.OpenI2C(port, 0, 0, debug = True)

##Setup mod
req = {"req": "hub.set"}
req["product"] = prodid
req["mode"] = "continuous"
rsp = card.Transaction(req)

while True:
    #Check the time
    req = {"req": "card.time"}
    rsp = card.Transaction(req)
    if rsp['zone'] is not 'UTC,Unknown':
        print("OK - Cellular Data Gotten")
        break
    else:
        print("NOTOK - Cellular Data not Gotten - trying again")
        time.sleep(2)
    
def send_data_notehub(data):
    req = {"req": "note.add"}
    req["file"] = "sensors.qo"
    req["sync"] = True
    req["body"] = data
    rsp = card.Transaction(req)
    
req = {"req": "card.location.mode"}
req["mode"] = "periodic"
req["seconds"] = 60
rsp = card.Transaction(req)
        
while True:
    req = {"req": "card.location"}
    rsp = card.Transaction(req)
    lat = rsp.get('lat')
    lon = rsp.get('lon')
    if lat and lon:
        print(f"OK - GPS Data lat: {lat} lon: {lon}")
        #send_data_notehub({ "lat": lat, "lon": lon})
    else:
        #send_data_notehub({ "No": "GPS"})
        print('NOTOK - No GPS data')
    print("rsp:",rsp)
    print(time.localtime())
    time.sleep(60)
2

As an update, I am now getting:

|Mon 06:50:09 PM|$mycity|dev:860322068102265|_geolocate.qo||
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
||{“country”:“US”,“location”:“$mycity”,“radios”:{“wifi”:16}}|

in Notehub. I don’t recall seeing that in NoteHub before, But I do recall seeing it trying to get location via cellular… I am not explicitly sending that to NoteHub, so maybe that’s something the Swan does on it own like the boot messages.

3

For GPS you need to connect first to the cellular network. Then only it will start and get the fix.
I had the same issue before, but I then desided to use GPS data from cellular network only.

4

Hey John, and welcome to the Blues community!

What you have there looks reasonable, so to start, can you tell me:

  • What Notecard SKU are you using?
  • You said you’re running the latest firmware, but can you quickly confirm that by running {"req":"card.version"} and ensure you have 5.3.1?
  • What specific anteanna(s) have you tried?

And just for some background, the _geolocate.qo Notefile is automatically created when triangulation is enabled on the Notecard. (See System Notefiles - Blues Developers) Wi-Fi triangulation is enabled by default on Notecards with Wi-Fi capabilities.

TJ

5

Hi TJ,

Thanks for the replies and suggestions:

card.Transaction({"req":"card.version"})
{"req": "card.version"}
{'body': {'ver_major': 5, 'version': 'notecard-u5-5.3.1', 'ver_patch': 1, 'ver_build': 16292, 'ver_minor': 3, 'target': 'u5', 'org': 'Blues Wireless', 'built': 'Sep 17 2023 20:32:47', 'product': 'Notecard'}, 'version': 'notecard-5.3.1.16292', 'sku': 'NOTE-WBNAW', 'name': 'Blues Wireless Notecard', 'wifi': True, 'device': 'dev:860322068102265', 'gps': True, 'board': '5.13', 'api': 5, 'cell': True}
{'body': {'ver_major': 5, 'version': 'notecard-u5-5.3.1', 'ver_patch': 1, 'ver_build': 16292, 'ver_minor': 3, 'target': 'u5', 'org': 'Blues Wireless', 'built': 'Sep 17 2023 20:32:47', 'product': 'Notecard'}, 'version': 'notecard-5.3.1.16292', 'sku': 'NOTE-WBNAW', 'name': 'Blues Wireless Notecard', 'wifi': True, 'device': 'dev:860322068102265', 'gps': True, 'board': '5.13', 'api': 5, 'cell': True}
  • Antennas I tried were the shipped one of course but also a few ufl one’s like this - just for some data points:

PXL_20231017_134859698.MP
PXL_20231017_134859698.MP1920×2560 261 KB

Understood on the _geolocate.qo file…Thanks

6

That is my understanding as well. Thanks

7

Hey @jouell,

I did some asking around internally. The issue here is likely because you have your cellular connection set to continuous ({"req":"hub.set","mode":"continuous"}) AND have such a low interval for taking GPS readings through card.location.mode.

To test, can you try changing your cellular connection to periodic ({"req":"hub.set","mode":"periodic"}) and see if that helps you find a location?

TJ

8

Thanks TJ

I updated it to be:

##Setup mod
req = {“req”: “hub.set”}
req[“product”] = prodid
##req[“mode”] = “continuous”
req[“mode”] = “periodic”
rsp = card.Transaction(req)

also dropped the period to 10 (I thought 60 was low) :

req = {“req”: “card.location.mode”}
req[“mode”] = “periodic”
req[“seconds”] = 10
rsp = card.Transaction(req)

Unfortunately did not get the lock…The little gps device did get a lock though (via my window) :

PXL_20231017_183604689 (1)
PXL_20231017_183604689 (1)1920×2560 488 KB

9

Hey @jouell,

If you attempt to sample GPS every 10 seconds the Notecard is never going to have a chance to make a cellular connection.

Still though I would’ve expected you to have been able to get a connection by now. Could you try capturing a trace while running card.location in the in-browser terminal and seeing if you get any log messages that might help us debug this?

TJ

10

Howdy - does this help?

import notecard
import board
import busio
import time
import json
prodid="com.gmail.jouellnyc:gps"
port = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA) 
card = notecard.OpenI2C(port, 0, 0, debug = True)
req = {"req":"card.trace","mode":"on"}
card.Transaction(req)

{“mode”: “on”, “req”: “card.trace”}
{‘stop’: True}
{‘stop’: True}

req = {"req":"hub.set","mode":"periodic"}
card.Transaction(req)
{"body": {"os_family": "Swan R5 with STM32L4R5ZIY6", "req_interface": "i2c", "os_name": "circuitpython", "os_platform": "Swan R5", "agent": "note-python", "os_version": "3.4.0", "req_port": 0}, "mode": "periodic", "req": "hub.set"}
req = {'req': 'card.location.mode'}
req["mode"] = "periodic"
req["seconds"] = 60
card.Transaction(req)

{“seconds”: 60, “mode”: “periodic”, “req”: “card.location.mode”}
{‘seconds’: 60, ‘mode’: ‘periodic’}
{‘seconds’: 60, ‘mode’: ‘periodic’}

req = {"req": "card.location"}
card.Transaction(req)

{“req”: “card.location”}
{‘mode’: ‘periodic’, ‘status’: ‘GPS inactive {gps-inactive}’}
{‘mode’: ‘periodic’, ‘status’: ‘GPS inactive {gps-inactive}’}

req = {"req":"card.trace","mode":"off"}
card.Transaction(req)

{“mode”: “off”, “req”: “card.trace”}
{‘stop’: True}
{‘stop’: True}

import os
os.listdir()

[‘.fseventsd’, ‘.metadata_never_index’, ‘.Trashes’, ‘settings.toml’, ‘code.py’, ‘lib’, ‘boot_out.txt’, ‘main.py’]