SEPTENTRIO Altus APS3G, User Manual

Page 1: ...Po User Manual Altus APS3G ...

Page 2: ...products in this document is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement or a recommendation Septentrio NV assumes no responsibility with regard to the performance or use of the Altus APS3G due to GNSS characteristics USA Department of Defense operations control atmospheric effects multipath and RF interference All understandings agreements or warranties take place direc...

Page 3: ... 3 4 GNSS antenna offset 26 4 Data collection software 28 4 1 PinPoint GIS App 28 5 APS3G Tools 28 6 Connecting to Altus APS3G with RxControl 30 7 PPP positioning with the Altus APS3G 30 8 Upgrading the firmware 37 8 1 Upgrading the firmware using the SD card 37 8 2 Altus APS3G default configuration upload 39 8 3 Verifying the firmware upgrade 40 8 4 Disconnect the serial cable 40 9 Frequently Ask...

Page 4: ...entrio reserves the right to make improvements and changes to this document products and services without notice or obligation 1 2 1 FCC The Altus APS3G complies with Part 47 of the FCC rules The standard is designed to provide protection against harmful interference when operated in a commercial environment This device will receive and transmit radio frequency signals which may cause interference...

Page 5: ...ther non recommended use Defects due to environmental conditions that do not conform to Altus APS3G specifications Defects due to improper installation or operating procedures Defects due to modifications alterations or changes not made in accordance with the Altus APS3G User Manual and other technical documentation or directly authorized by Septentrio Normal wear and tear Shipping damage Third pa...

Page 6: ... http www septentrio com support septentrio com Europe Septentrio NV Phone 32 16 300 800 Greenhill Campus Fax 32 16 221 640 Interleuvenlaan 15i sales septentrio com 3001 Leuven Belgium North and South America Septentrio Inc Phone 1 310 541 8139 Suite 200 sales septentrio com 23848 Hawthorne Blvd Torrance CA 90505 USA Asia Pacifc Septentrio Phone 852 3959 8680 Unit 1901 Hua Fu Bldg sales septentrio...

Page 7: ...APS 3 family of products the Altus APS3G brings the following improvements Altus APS3G brings 12 to 14 hours of autonomy on two batteries Long range UHF radio Improved cell modem connectivity with the Altus APS3G g The new generation GNSS board AsteRx4 tracking all in view The Altus APS3G family consists of three hardware configurations Model Order Code Description Altus APS3G 410125 APS3G Altus A...

Page 8: ... APS3G Features Bluetooth Internal cell Modem to communicate with RTK Networks Internal digital UHF Radio to receive transmit RTK corrections Two Lithium Ion Batteries with 12 to 14 hours of use Easy access removable SIM card for cellular service SIM card not included Easy access removable 2GB SD Card for internal data logging Table 1 A block diagram of the system can be found in Section 0 ...

Page 9: ...al Vertical Standalone Autonomous 1 2 m 1 9 m SBAS WAAS EGNOS MSAS 0 6 m 0 8 m DGNSS 0 4 m 0 7 m TerraStar D 6 cm 9 cm TerraStar C 4 cm 6 cm RTK 0 6 cm 0 5 ppm 1 cm 1 ppm Table 2 Positioning precision 2 2 2 Altus APS3G ease of use Figure 1 Altus APS3G Front View ...

Page 10: ...l modem The ports and the product label can be seen on the underside of the Altus APS3G There are three ports two serial ports and one external power input port Also located on the base of the Altus APS3G is a TNC connector for a UHF antenna It is advisable to connect a UHF antenna before powering the Altus APS3G The central antenna mount for connecting a survey pole uses a standard 5 8 thread Fig...

Page 11: ...standard with the Altus APS3G More details on these items can be found in Table 3 Altus APS3G Altus APS3G 2GB SD card SIM card holder 2 Lithium ion batteries Battery charger and AC adapter Power cable supplied with crocodile clamps 2 UHF radio antennas Data cable SIM card not included ...

Page 12: ...rnal power from either a battery or other power supply The cable is supplied with crocodile clamps Data cable Connect to communication to devices such as external radio or modem Table 3 items shipped as standard with the Altus APS3G Optional items The following items are available for purchase with the Altus APS3G They are not included in the standard shipment Item Notes Shipping case 3 types of P...

Page 13: ...K PPP corrections OFF No corrections being received RED ON Receiver is Powered ON OFF Receiver is Powered OFF GREEN Fast Continuous 10 times per sec 0 Satellites Blinks 1 time then pauses 1 2 Satellites Blinks 2 times then pauses 3 4 Satellites Blinks 3 times then pauses 5 6 Satellites Blinks 4 times then pauses 7 8 Satellites Blinks 5 times then pauses 9 Satellites RED ON Logging data to the inte...

Page 14: ...nfigurations During a hard reboot the Altus APS3G will revert to the receiver s boot configuration file default reboot Function Procedure ON Press and release RED LED turns ON OFF Press and hold for 4 seconds and release or until power LED turns OFF Data Logging ON OFF Press twice 1 second apart and Data Logging LED turns ON OFF Soft Reboot Press three times 1 second apart and Soft Reboot will occ...

Page 15: ... Cable Corresponding LEMO Plug Type Purpose Connected to SER1 202200 FGG 0B 305 CLAD52Z Field controller COM3 SER2 202199 FGG 1B 308 CLAD52Z External radio or other equipment COM2 PWR 202201 FGG 0B 304 CLAD52Z Battery or power supply Power Table 7 Port descriptions ...

Page 16: ...cifications are Parameter Value Power Consumption 4 W Typical External Power 10 to 30 VDC Current drain 1 0 to 1 5 A 2 75 A peak Table 8 Power consumption Wire Color Function RED Power BLACK Ground GREEN Not Used do not connect WHITE Not Used do not connect Table 9 Power cable description ...

Page 17: ...rnet This service might however require a special plan from your carrier provider To ease the configuration with data collection software it is advisable to disable the PIN code and the easiest way to do this is to insert the SIM card into a cell phone and disable the PIN code in the security settings menu Disabling the PIN code is not the same as clearing the values of the PIN code Installing the...

Page 18: ...t in use leave it inside the Altus APS3G or place it in SD card holder for transportation or storage Parameter Value Data Format Septentrio Binary Format SBF Data Rate 9 4 MB hr at 1Hz Days of logging 2GB 9 days at 1Hz Table 10 SD card usage Turn OFF the Altus APS3G to install or remove SD card Data loss or corruption may occur if SD Card is removed while Altus APS3G is ON Removing the SD card Unl...

Page 19: ...he latest list of supported SD cards The receiver supports SD cards with up to 32 GB e g SanDisk Kingston etc High capacity such as SDHC are not supported SD cards with slow speed may result in slow transfer time when loading files Slow transfer times can also occur with SD cards that have many files in them While most SD cards can be used with the Altus APS3G using the SD card which came with uni...

Page 20: ...a bigger bandwidth The table below shows the modulations supported by the M3 TR4 Modulation M3 TR3 M3 TR4 SATELLINE 3AS Y Y PacCrest 4FSK Y Y PacCrest GMSK Y Y Trimtalk450s P RX fits PacCrest modems Y Y Trimtalk450s T RX fits Trimble modems Y Y PacCrest FST Option5 Y Y 8FSK FEC OFF N Y 8FSK FEC ON N Y 16FSK FEC ON N Y Table 11 M3 TR4 modulations Parameter Value Operating Frequency 406 470 MHz Occu...

Page 21: ...is done via data collector software or with APS3G Tools My rover is not receiving RTK corrections Make sure that Base Station receiver is tracking at least 5 Satellites Check the Rover configuration is set to use the same RTK message type as the Base Check the Base station and rover use the same UHF radio channel and settings 3 2 Cell modem Specification Quad Band GSM GPRS EDGE and 3G HSPA HSDPA C...

Page 22: ...ata Call Direct Dial What you need to know What s my country s operating frequency 900 1800MHz within North America USA Canada 850 1900MHz International Europe Asia Latin America Will the GSM work with any cellular provider The modem will function with any data subscription Do I need to unlock my GSM modem No Unable to connect to RTK Network Verify IP Port Username Password ...

Page 23: ...of RTCM via Internet Protocol or Ntrip is a communication protocol for streaming correction data over an Internet connection The basic steps of the protocol are 1 Connecting to the IP address or URL 2 Requesting the list of mount points 3 Connecting to a mount point 4 Sending GGA to the Ntrip caster Not all Ntrip casters require the last step Direct TCP IP or UDP IP When making a direct IP connect...

Page 24: ...ttery charger Plug the AC charger into the wall socket The power LED turns should turn ON Place your battery in charger bay correctly The LED indicator will turn GREEN to indicate the batteries are fully charged LED Description NONE Battery has not been placed correctly in the charger bay GREEN Battery is fully charged RED Battery is charging RED Flashing Charge error or bad battery Table 13 Batte...

Page 25: ... long can each battery last when using Altus APS3G One single battery can last from 6 to 7 hours Will the Altus APS3G swap to a fully charged battery if one discharges Yes no user action is required Can I remove one of the batteries while the Altus APS3G is in use Before battery removal use data collection software to check which battery is in use Remove the battery that is not in use How long doe...

Page 26: ...NKNOWN is selected in the Altus APS3G the position reported by the receiver is the position of the APC UNKNOWN cannot be selected in SurvCE or FieldGenius If the antenna APSAPS 3L is selected the position reported by the receiver is the position of the ARP The APC ARP value is an absolute offset as described in the NGS calibration data You can search for Altus antennas in the following link http w...

Page 27: ...27 3 4 2 Slant height dimensions Height of ARP 𝑆𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 2 0 089𝑚2 0 0606𝑚 Figure 9 Slant height dimensions ...

Page 28: ...rom the Google Play Store features basic data collection as an option Data from up to three projects can be collected exported and downloaded directly from the receiver Contact Septentrio for more information on this application Features of the PinPoint GIS App Point data collection CSV data output Point ID and comment Addition of custom fields for receiver information Tagging of raw data stop go ...

Page 29: ...ace menus Insert delays between consecutive commands Identify the end of command execution before continuing with next command Send text messages to the APS3G Tools console and Prompt the user to enter data such as URLs phone numbers or serial numbers APS3G Tools does NOT support Any flow control constructs like loops or if then s Catching and processing the response of the receiver board APS3G To...

Page 30: ...ersion of the RxTools installer and User Manuals is also available on the Support section of the Septentrio website http www septentrio com support Step 2 Connect the data cable to your PC You can use the 5 pin data cable supplied with the Altus APS3G to connect between the receiver and your PC In the example given below the DB9 connector of the data cable was connected to a Prolific USB adapter S...

Page 31: ...he steps below Step 1 Check you have PPP permissions on your Altus AP3G The use of PPP services is permission file controlled on the Altus APS3G You can make sure that you have PPP permissions enabled using RxControl From the main menu select Help Receiver Permissions Scroll down the list of receiver permissions to PPP If PPP is permitted it will appear as Land use only LBAS1 provider as shown in ...

Page 32: ...R you will need to provide the Product Activation Code PAC of the receiver The PAC can be found via the Help menu in RxControl by following Help Receiver Identification Scroll down the receiver identification list to find the PAC value as shown in the figure below Please note that the TERRASTAR service is activated over the air so your receiver will have to be powered on with a clear sky view for ...

Page 33: ...positioning mode is enabled by default however you can check that PPP is still enabled using RxControl From the main menu select Navigation Positioning Mode In the Rover Mode field the PPP box should be checked as shown in the figure below ...

Page 34: ... default L Band beam selection mode is auto as shown in the figure below In this mode the demodulator will try to lock on to a visible beam preferring beams to which access has been granted In manual mode the demodulator will attempt to lock onto the beam with the state Enabled and will ignore all other beams A beam is characterised by a frequency and a data rate Step 5 Checking the configuration ...

Page 35: ...ASTAR activation in RxControl From the main window select View L Band Status View If TERRASTAR activation was successful then you will see Access enabled as highlighted below The main window of RxControl will also indicate the positioning mode as PPP ...

Page 36: ...the new settings so that the receiver will always boot up with the same configuration each time it is powered The configuration can be saved in RxControl From the main window select File Copy Configuration In the pop up select Current as the Source file and Boot as the Target file as shown below ...

Page 37: ...charged batteries or is connected to a stable external power supply Power off the Altus APS3G receiver take the SD card out and put it in your computer If you get the message below you can follow the recommended action Scan and fix and then only select the Automatically fix file system errors option and click Start If the check fails it is recommended to use a different SD card for the upgrade Cop...

Page 38: ...hed the receiver will reboot the front panel LEDs will momentarily all be lit When the receiver has booted again the green tracking LED should be blinking you can connect to the receiver with your controller and verify the firmware version as described in Section 8 3 It is recommended to upgrade the unit using the SD card procedure above as it is fast and secure The serial port can also be used fo...

Page 39: ...sing RxControl Open RxControl and connect to the receiver as described in Section 6 1 From the main window of RxControl select File Upload Script Figure 10 Upload script 2 Select the appropriate configuration file available in the product release directory DefaultScript Configuration_APS3G txt 3 Click Yes Figure 11 Click Yes 4 The process will take around 15 seconds 8 2 2 Using APS3G Tools ...

Page 40: ...G Tools and click the Menu Config Upload 8 3 Verifying the firmware upgrade You can check the firmware installed on the receiver using RxControl From the main window select Help Receiver Identification Figure 12 Receiver ID 8 4 Disconnect the serial cable Upgrade Complete Disconnect the serial cable from the SER1 Connector of the APS3G to enable Bluetooth communication ...

Page 41: ...r the adapter may not be compatible with the Altus APS3G If possible connect directly to a physical COM port on the PC Otherwise adapters using Prolific drivers have been found to work more reliably Why will my receiver not shutdown when the power button is held for 4 seconds A setting in the Altus APS3G has changed causing a disruption with power communication If the receiver does not power off i...

Page 42: ...ommand is SNO STREAM9 COM3 GGA ZDA SEC1 What is the difference between GSM vs CDMA GSM Global System for Mobile communications is an international standard and uses a SIM Subscriber Identity Module card It is best suited for international roaming The advantage of a SIM card is that it may be placed in any device the user would like at any time CDMA Code Division Multiple Access is a signal that is...

Page 43: ... GPS Utilities Send Command Then enter setFileNaming DSK1 Incremental Altus How do I delete points that have been stored in SurvCE One way to delete points is to go to the File tab and select the Points button Once in the Points Menu select the point and click delete How do I change my settings in SurvCE to use metric International Feet or US Survey Feet for the distance These settings must be set...

Page 44: ...44 10 Altus APS3G block diagram ...

Page 45: ... 4FSK Forward Error Correction off off RF Power 500 mW ArWest Satel Validated on short baselines only Usage Base Rover Brand ArWest Satel M3 TR3 4 Firmware 1 8 rev 02 07 27 2 0 4 1 Protocol Satel Satel RF Channel Manual 459 550 MHz Manual 459 550 MHz Channel Spacing 25 kHz 25 kHz Modulation 4FSK 4FSK Forward Error Correction off off Scrambling off off RF Power 500 mW Satel ArWest not working prope...