[ot] bluetooth gps receiver

[Roger Oberholtzer]

On Thu, 2006-09-21 at 12:31 -0500, Vu Pham wrote:
> I am looking for bluetooth gps receivers for a project in which the
> receiver talks "bluetoothly" with the pda and the pda will send the
> long/lat back to the server ( This server is a Linux server so I think
> it's ok to post the question here :))) )
> 
> This is mostly to determine vehicle positions so high accuracy is not a
> priority. I need something that is reliable, long-life battery and not
> very expensive. No map software/service is required with this receiver.

Interesting question. I use Trimble receivers in vehicles. We are after
better than 1 meter accuracy more than 95% of the time, even when moving
90 km/h. Of course, we augment the data with SAAB aerospace FO
gyroscopes. As we need the receiver's PPS signal for time
synchronization, we have stuck with RS-232.

I guess you want bluetooth so there are no cables between the receiver
and a PDA in the vehicle? Any chance of using USB? 

Have you looked for a serial->bluetooth converter? Some doodad that will
send RS-232 over bluetooth? Something like:

http://www.emulation.com/catalog/off-the-shelf_solutions/bluetooth/brainboxes/rs232/converter/

http://www.aaxeon.com/products/Productdetail.aspx?cate=7&modelno=BTD1000A

This way you can use a simple serial GPS.

I think you may need some server software with bluetooth. The device can
be found, but there must be some protocol beyond that. If only to
transfer data. This is where my knowledge ends. 

Please post whatever you find.

--
Roger Oberholtzer