By fostering positioning awareness, our solution empowers individuals to prioritize accurate location data, promoting a reliable navigation and connectivity culture
A
A
Hardware Overview
How does it work?
GNSS 4 Click is based on the SAM-M8Q, a patch antenna module from u-blox. The click is designed to run on a 3.3V power supply. It communicates with the target microcontroller over the I2C or UART interface. GNSS stands for Global Navigation Satellite System, an umbrella term that describes the United States GPS, the Russian GLONASS global positioning systems, and European Galileo. The SAM-M8Q module utilizes concurrent reception of up to three GNSS systems (GPS/Galileo and GLONASS), recognizes multiple constellations simultaneously, and provides outstanding positioning accuracy in scenarios involving urban canyons or weak signals.
The GNSS patch antenna is RHCP (right-hand circular polarization) and has a peak gain of 3 dBic. The patch antenna is insensitive to surroundings and has a high tolerance against frequency shifts. u-blox M8 technology offers a power-optimized architecture with built-in autonomous power-saving functions to minimize power consumption at any given time. Furthermore, the receiver can be used in two operating modes: Continuous mode for best performance or Power Save Mode for optimized power consumption. The u-blox SAM-M8Q module can also benefit from the u-blox AssistNow assistance service. The Online service provides GNSS broadcast parameters,
e.g., ephemeris, almanac plus time, or rough position, to reduce the receiver’s time first to fix significantly and improve acquisition sensitivity. The extended validity of AssistNow Offline data (up to 35 days) and AssistNow Autonomous data (up to 3 days) provide faster acquisition after a long time. This Click board™ can be operated only with a 3.3V logic voltage level. The board must perform appropriate logic voltage level conversion before using MCUs with different logic levels. Also, it comes equipped with a library containing functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.
Features overview
Development board
The 32L496GDISCOVERY Discovery kit serves as a comprehensive demonstration and development platform for the STM32L496AG microcontroller, featuring an Arm® Cortex®-M4 core. Designed for applications that demand a balance of high performance, advanced graphics, and ultra-low power consumption, this kit enables seamless prototyping for a wide range of embedded solutions. With its innovative energy-efficient
architecture, the STM32L496AG integrates extended RAM and the Chrom-ART Accelerator, enhancing graphics performance while maintaining low power consumption. This makes the kit particularly well-suited for applications involving audio processing, graphical user interfaces, and real-time data acquisition, where energy efficiency is a key requirement. For ease of development, the board includes an onboard ST-LINK/V2-1
debugger/programmer, providing a seamless out-of-the-box experience for loading, debugging, and testing applications without requiring additional hardware. The combination of low power features, enhanced memory capabilities, and built-in debugging tools makes the 32L496GDISCOVERY kit an ideal choice for prototyping advanced embedded systems with state-of-the-art energy efficiency.
Microcontroller Overview
MCU Card / MCU

Architecture
ARM Cortex-M4
MCU Memory (KB)
1024
Silicon Vendor
STMicroelectronics
Pin count
169
RAM (Bytes)
327680
Used MCU Pins
mikroBUS™ mapper
Take a closer look
Click board™ Schematic

Step by step
Project assembly
Software Support
Library Description
This library contains API for GNSS 4 Click driver.
Key functions:
gnss4_generic_parser- Generic parser functiongnss4_generic_read- Generic read functiongnss4_module_wakeup- Wake-up module.
Open Source
Code example
The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.
/*!
* \file
* \brief Gnss4 Click example
*
* # Description
* This example reads and processes data from GNSS4 Clicks.
*
* The demo application is composed of two sections :
*
* ## Application Init
* Initializes driver and wake-up module.
*
* ## Application Task
* Reads the received data and parses it.
*
* ## Additional Function
* - gnss4_process ( ) - The general process of collecting data the module sends.
*
* ## NOTE
* Depending on the environmental conditions and the satellites availability
* it may take up to 10 minutes for the module to receive the position fix.
*
* \author MikroE Team
*
*/
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES
#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "gnss4.h"
#include "string.h"
#define PROCESS_COUNTER 15
#define PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE 600
#define PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE 600
// ------------------------------------------------------------------ VARIABLES
static gnss4_t gnss4;
static log_t logger;
static char current_parser_buf[ PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE ];
// ------------------------------------------------------- ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS
static void gnss4_process ( void )
{
int32_t rsp_size;
uint16_t rsp_cnt = 0;
char uart_rx_buffer[ PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE ] = { 0 };
uint16_t check_buf_cnt;
uint8_t process_cnt = PROCESS_COUNTER;
// Clear parser buffer
memset( current_parser_buf, 0 , PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE );
while( process_cnt != 0 )
{
rsp_size = gnss4_generic_read( &gnss4, &uart_rx_buffer, PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE );
if ( rsp_size > 0 )
{
// Validation of the received data
for ( check_buf_cnt = 0; check_buf_cnt < rsp_size; check_buf_cnt++ )
{
if ( uart_rx_buffer[ check_buf_cnt ] == 0 )
{
uart_rx_buffer[ check_buf_cnt ] = 13;
}
}
// Storages data in parser buffer
rsp_cnt += rsp_size;
if ( rsp_cnt < PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE )
{
strncat( current_parser_buf, uart_rx_buffer, rsp_size );
}
// Clear RX buffer
memset( uart_rx_buffer, 0, PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE );
}
else
{
process_cnt--;
// Process delay
Delay_ms ( 100 );
}
}
}
static void parser_application ( char *rsp )
{
char element_buf[ 200 ] = { 0 };
log_printf( &logger, "\r\n-----------------------\r\n" );
gnss4_generic_parser( rsp, GNSS4_NEMA_GNGGA, GNSS4_GNGGA_LATITUDE, element_buf );
if ( strlen( element_buf ) > 0 )
{
log_printf( &logger, "Latitude: %.2s degrees, %s minutes \r\n", element_buf, &element_buf[ 2 ] );
gnss4_generic_parser( rsp, GNSS4_NEMA_GNGGA, GNSS4_GNGGA_LONGITUDE, element_buf );
log_printf( &logger, "Longitude: %.3s degrees, %s minutes \r\n", element_buf, &element_buf[ 3 ] );
memset( element_buf, 0, sizeof( element_buf ) );
gnss4_generic_parser( rsp, GNSS4_NEMA_GNGGA, GNSS4_GNGGA_ALTITUDE, element_buf );
log_printf( &logger, "Alitude: %s m", element_buf );
}
else
{
log_printf( &logger, "Waiting for the position fix..." );
}
}
// ------------------------------------------------------ APPLICATION FUNCTIONS
void application_init ( void )
{
log_cfg_t log_cfg;
gnss4_cfg_t cfg;
/**
* Logger initialization.
* Default baud rate: 115200
* Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
* @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX
* are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will
* need to define them manually for log to work.
* See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
*/
LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
log_info( &logger, "---- Application Init ----" );
// Click initialization.
gnss4_cfg_setup( &cfg );
GNSS4_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
gnss4_init( &gnss4, &cfg );
gnss4_module_wakeup( &gnss4 );
Delay_ms ( 1000 );
Delay_ms ( 1000 );
Delay_ms ( 1000 );
Delay_ms ( 1000 );
Delay_ms ( 1000 );
}
void application_task ( void )
{
gnss4_process( );
parser_application( current_parser_buf );
}
int main ( void )
{
/* Do not remove this line or clock might not be set correctly. */
#ifdef PREINIT_SUPPORTED
preinit();
#endif
application_init( );
for ( ; ; )
{
application_task( );
}
return 0;
}
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END
Additional Support
Resources
Category:GPS/GNSS
































