CF-30 GPS Lagging, Baud Rate Issue?

I work for an electric coop and we have several CF-30 Toughbooks with built in GPS units

We use an ESRI based program owned by Trimble called Utility Center for our OMS and Mapping program. Utility Center has a GPS program built in.

We are consistently having a lagging problem with the GPS as the servicemen drive down the road. It seems to be 10 seconds behind, they will leave the lot and the dot that follows them will not start moving for about 10 seconds.

From what I have read this seems like it might be a baud rate issue. The baud rate is set at 4800. If I go into device manager and com port 3 properties and change it to 9600 and then change the baud rate in the Utility Center config file to 9600 I cannot get the GPS to connect to Utility Center.

We also have some Xplore tablets using the same mapping program and they connect fine at a baud rate of 19200 and have no issues.

Do you have to go some where other than the device manager to change the baud rate on the internal GPS?

Any other ideas what might be causing this lag?

Thanks - Will

 

10 seconds seems long to me , it might be the software ( I use Garmin )
I notice when driving around a 3 sec lag , I have adjusted to it

4800Baud is the rate needed for this gps , but there may be a firmware update that can change this
I have reprogrammed chips from the higher rate down to 4800

Some usb units that I have bought are at 38400 or so
It might be worth buying one to see if it makes a difference

How high can your software take for baud rate

 

So the toughbooks are programmed to be 4800 and you can't change it?

I am not sure about the software as I mentioned we have an xplore tablet running the same program at 19200 baud rate.

I have a blue tooth unit and we hooked it up and I didn't notice a lag in the little time I used it.

Just kinda a waste after purchasing all these tablets with GPS units in them.

 

I looked at the GPS spec here and it says "Supported baud rate: 4800bps/9600bps/19200bpa/38400bps by HW setting"

 

Change the baud rate in device manager under com ports
Use the advanced setting
Then
Change the baud rate in your software

Now this is getting into advanced tweaking

See if you can in advanced options in your navigation software exclude sentences not needed such as elevation
Look for settings like smoothing (that averages your position)
If available set this to a low setting like 1 sec

 

If I change both to 9600 it won't connect.

This all that's listed in the config file for the software

[uaGPSMon]
LogFileName=c:\GPSMonLog.txt
UseRMCForLatLong=True
LogEventsToFile=False
ActiveComPort=1
ComProtocol=NMEA
ComBaudRate=9600
ComParity=N
ComDataBits=8
ComStopBits=1
UCProjectionPath=C:\Program Files\Common Files\UAI\Coordinate Systems\Projected Coordinate Systems\State Plane\NAD 1983 (Feet)\NAD 1983 StatePlane Florida North FIPS 0903 (Feet).prj
GPSPointTimer=10
GPSLineTimer=10
LatCorrection=0
LongCorrection=0

 

Changing the baudrate of the com port in device mgr isn't going to help. You need to lacate a GPS utility that can alter the GPS chip internal settings. You will need to check the GPS chip to see who makes it and get the utility from them. I think they use a SONY chip but that was on the CF-29. Personally I don't think the baud rate has anything to do with any lag you are experiencing. This is more likely due to poor signal reception. and taking too long to get an accurate fix.

 

Thats a good point tough-2-go
Any mounting differences on the Xplore tablets compared to the cf-30's that could explain them getting a better signal
Do your docking stations have the gps pass-through where an external antenna could be connected

You can download WinFast Navigator that we use to check quality and sats in view
http://www.leadtek.com/eng/support/download.asp?downlineid=73&downline=LR9532

 

Hi All,
I have a CF30 MK1 that I just had the OEM gps installed in this week. Yes it too was about 10 seconds slow with both Delorme and Fugawi mapping programs. I contacted Panasonic Tech support via email and they responded within a few hours with the information steps to follow that installs a patch for this problem. Let me tell you....the gps is now worth the money - works as good as a external one. The only issue you need to keep an eye on is signal strengh. Sitting on a car seat, in the docking station in a Expedition or in the house it gets a signal. Contact me for more info if needed.