The Ultimate GPS module you know and love has a glow-up to let it be easily used with any computer, not just microcontrollers!
With the built-in USB-to-Serial converter, you can now plug-n-play the Ultimate GPS into your computer, laptop, embedded Linux computer, and more. Power and transport data over any USB type C cable, with handy onboard indicator LEDs that let you know fix status and whether data is being received & transmitted.
Adafruit believe this is the Ultimate USB GPS module, so they named it that. It's got everything you want and more:
- -165 dBm sensitivity, 10 Hz updates, 99 search channels
- GPS + GLONASS support
- Plug and Play USB with CP2104 or CP2012N USB-to-Serial converter built-in.
- PPS output on RI (Ring Indicator) serial control pin
- USB Type C connector + four mounting holes
- Only 30mA current draw
- RTC battery-compatible
- Built-in datalogging
- Internal patch antenna + u.FL connector for external active antenna
- Fix status LED + UART activity LEDs
The breakout is built around the MTK3333 chipset, a no-nonsense, high-quality GNSS module that can track up to 33 satellites on 99 channels, has an excellent high-sensitivity receiver (-165 dBm tracking!), and a built-in antenna. It can do up to 10 location updates a second for high speed, high sensitivity logging, or tracking. Power usage is incredibly low, only ~29 mA during navigation.
Please note that as of July 2021, the original module used was discontinued by the vendor. Adafruit found and are using a nearly identical version of the module - it's a little taller (4mm) but has the same functionality. The commands for querying the antenna have changed slightly so existing projects may need to update their firmware.
Adafruit added all the extra goodies you could ever want: 4-pin USB breakout for direct-soldering or connection to a USB host, two yellow receive/transmit LEDs let you know when data is being transmitted to or from the GPS module serial interface, a footprint for optional CR1220 coin cell to keep the RTC running and allow warm starts and a tiny bright red LED. The LED blinks at about 1Hz while it's searching for satellites and blinks once every 15 seconds when a fix is found to conserve power. If you want to have an LED on all the time, we also provide the FIX signal out on a pin so you can put an external LED on.
Two features that really stand out about the MTK3333-based module are the external antenna functionality and the built-in data-logging capability. The module has a standard ceramic patch antenna that gives it -165 dBm sensitivity, but when you want to have a bigger antenna, you can snap on any 3V active GPS antenna via the uFL connector. The module will automatically detect the active antenna and switch over! Most GPS antennas use SMA connectors so you may want to pick up one of our uFL to SMA adapters.
Comes with one fully assembled and tested module and a CR1220 coin cell holder. A CR1220 coin cell is not included.
For use with a computer, use any GPS software or serial monitor software, at 9600 baud default serial rate. You will immediately get data on the serial port once it's plugged in. If you want to parse data within Python 3, Adafruit have example code for their CircuitPython library that uses pyserial.
Technical Details
Revision History:
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As of March 11, 2022 - Adafruit have given this board a makeover! It now comes with a modern USB C connector on the board (instead of micro USB), and a CP2102N instead of CP2104 (functionally-compatible but newer)
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As of June 21, 2021 - this breakout board now has the PA1616D GPS module. The PA1616D uses IC MT3333 (GPS+GLONASS) instead of the MT3339 (GPS only), so power consumption is higher PA6H, and patch antenna is chonkier from 2.5mm to 4mm.
Specifications:
- GPS + GLONASS supported
- Satellites: 33 tracking, 99 searching
- Patch Antenna Size: 15mm x 15mm x 4mm
- Update rate: 1 to 10 Hz
- Position Accuracy: < 3 meters (all GPS technology has about 3m accuracy)
- Velocity Accuracy: 0.1 meters/s
- Warm/cold start: 34 seconds
- Acquisition sensitivity: -145 dBm
- Tracking sensitivity: -165 dBm
- Maximum Velocity: 515m/s
- Vin range: 3.0-5.5VDC
- MTK3333 Operating current: 34mA acquision, 29 mA tracking
- Output: NMEA 0183, 9600 baud default, 3V logic level out, 5V-safe input
- DGPS/WAAS/EGNOS supported
- AGPS support (Offline mode : EPO valid up to 14 days )
- Up to 210 PRN channels
- Jammer detection and reduction
- Multi-path detection and compensation
Breakout board details:
- Weight (not including coin cell or holder): 9.9g
- Dimensions (not including coin cell or holder): 40.8mm x 25.3mm x 8.1mm
Datasheets, schematics, GitHub links, Fritzing and more available in the product tutorial
GPS Module Datasheet