Interfacing of Arduino Uno with GPS Module by Using a TinyGPS++ library

Do you want to Learn how to interface a GPS (Global Positioning System) module with Arduino? Yes, you are in a right place, in today article we will Discuss that how to interface Ublox 6M GPS module with Arduino UNO. 

After Successful completion of this project, you would be able to read a Real-time Data of your current Location right on your Arduino IDE Serial Monitor.

Parts Required :

1. Arduino UNO x 1 —>  Click Here To Buy This Product Online from Our Official Store
2. GPS Module x 1 —->  Click Here To Buy GPS Module Online from Our Official Store
3. DC-DC Adjustable Step-Down Module Power Supply —Click Here To Buy This Module Online from Our Official Store 
4. Jumper Wires —Click Here To Buy now from Our Official Online Store 

Ublox 6M GPS module Connection Pinout:

As we can see that there is a total of 4 pins coming out from GPS Module as shown below in the given image which is

1.  VCC —>  5V DC Power Supply, we can easily provide a 5v DC direct from Arduino Uno Board
2. GND —> Connect to GND of Arduino Uno Board 
3. TX —> This Pin is responsible for The Transmission of Data from GPS Module to Arduino Uno Board
4. RX—-> This Pin is responsible for the Reception of Data back from Arduino UNO

Arduino Uno and GPS Module use RS232 Serial Communication for the exchange of string under popular text protocol known as “NMEA” (National Marine Electronics Association)  standard.  Most of the time the manufacturers of GPS modules use NMEA a standard Text Protocol for communication purposes. The First and initial step of this project is to connect the Antenna to the GPS module. You need a total of jumper wires to connect each pin of GPS Module to Arduino Uno.

Connecting the GPS Module to Arduino

As we have already discussed how to turn ON the GPS module by providing power from the bulletin 5v Source present at Arduino Uno Board. The Next step is to Assign communication pins such as TX RX in Arduino Board, in this project, we have used Pin No 3 as a TX while Pin No 4 as an RX.

• Connect pin 3 of the Arduino Uno Board to the RX pin of the GPS Module.
• Connect pin 4 of the Arduino Uno  Board to the TX pin of the GPS Module.

Schematic Diagram 

Final Look After Everything is Done 

Reading Raw Data of GPS Module on Arduino IDE

Make Sure that what is the Right Baud rate of your GPS module but most of the time All GPS Modules use 9600 as a Baud rate.  Connect Your Arduino Uno Board to your laptop and set Com Port when a successful connection is established between Arduino Board and Your Laptop then Copy the given source Code and paste it inside Arduino IDE and click on Upload

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
 
static const int RXPin = 4, TXPin = 3;
static const uint32_t GPSBaud = 9600;
 
// The serial connection to the GPS device
SoftwareSerial ss(RXPin, TXPin);
 
void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(115200);
  ss.begin(GPSBaud);
}
 
void loop()
{
  // Output raw GPS data to the serial monitor
  while (ss.available() > 0){
    Serial.write(ss.read());
  }
}

Click On Serial Monitor inside Arduino IDE and you will see something like this as shown below

This gibberish is the “native language” of your GPS and contains all the information a GPS can provide: time, latitude, longitude, GPS satellites in view… However, there is no need to dig deeper into this, as the community has long jumped in to provide libraries that are able to decode and interpret automatically these strings of characters. In this tutorial, we will focus on TinyGPS++.

Using a TinyGPS++ library for GPS Module to Interface with Arduino

While it is entirely possible to work with GPS raw data, you might want to consider using one of the numerous libraries first. On Arduino, the reference and most advanced GPS lib are Mikal Hart’s TinyGPS++. Head over to GitHub and download the latest release first. Once complete, unzip the content into your “libraries” subfolder of your Arduino IDE installation and restart the IDE itself.

You should now have a new set of “Examples” under File/Examples/TinyGPSPlus.

“DeviceExample” has all the information you need. Don’t forget to set the correct baud rate, RX and TX pins and you are ready to go!

Troubleshooting

If you have troubles getting any data coming out of your module; let it stay plugged at 5V for about a minute. GPS modules have really slow “cold start” times. When it’s ready, some modules have a blinking LED indicating it’s sending data. Make sure to check this out before thinking your device is faulty.

• You can Also read this Data on LCD by doing a little change inside the source code 

For now, enjoy playing with your new toy!