The SparkFun GPS ZED-F9K takes advantage of dead reckoning for navigation. The u-blox ZED-F9K is a powerful GPS-RTK unit that uses a fusion of IMU, wheel ticks, a vehicle dynamics model, correction data, and GNSS measurements to provide highly accurate and continuous position for navigation in the difficult conditions. We will quickly get you set up using the Qwiic ecosystem through Arduino. so that you can start reading the output!
The SparkFun ZED-F9K GNSS Breakout is a high precision geospatial board that takes advantage of u-blox's Automotive Dead Reck…
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Required Materials
To follow along with this tutorial, you will need the following materials at a minimum. You may not need everything though depending on what you have. Depending on your application, you may need additional parts for a correction source or connecting to you a vehicle to obtain wheel tick/direction information. Add it to your cart, read through the guide, and adjust the cart as necessary.
If you are using the breakout board and programming in Arduino, we recommend the SparkFun Thing Plus - ESP32 WROOM with the associated USB cable to start.
These 2m cables have minor, yet genius modifications that allow both ends (the A & Micro-B) to be plugged into their ports re…
$6.50
Antenna
We recommend using the magnetic mount antenna for the full RF reception and mounting it on top of a vehicle. The antenna uses an SMA connector so you can direclty connect it to the breakout board. Link for that is below in the antenna accessories. The length of the antenna cable was also useful in mounting it.
The BT-560 antenna is a small, very light weight GNSS/GPS L1/L2 multiband antenna for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou const…
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Note: If you want to try different chip antennas, you can try the The following antennas. However, these antennas will not provide the full RF reception for the ZED-F9K.
This tri-band GNSS antenna is ideal for GPS L1, GLONASS L1, and Beidou B2 reception.
$64.50
GPS Antenna Accessories
Depending on your antenna, you will need an adapter to connect to the GPS-RTK's u.FL connector. If you need more than the metal from the top of a vehicle or are mounting it on a robot that does not have the necessary ground plane, you can use the GPS antenna ground plate to improve your GPS antenna's performance. If you are using the GNSS Multi-Band L1/L2 Surveying Antenna (TNC) - TOP106, you'll need to grab the interface cable.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is an engineering marvel that we all have access to for a relatively low cost and no subscription fee. With the correct hardware and minimal effort, you can determine your position and time almost anywhere on the globe.
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