Date: Wed, 10 Dec 97 10:52:06 -0500 From: Brad Karp <karp@eecs.harvard.edu> To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: GPS PCMCIA cards; time acquisition Message-ID: <199712101552.KAA31902@dominator.eecs.harvard.edu>
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I'm looking for PCMCIA GPS cards for a GPS-assisted routing research project I'm starting at Harvard. I've had an advisee of mine look into vendors and their products. What he's found is that while several vendors _were_ making PCMCIA GPS receivers, almost all have stopped manufacturing them. He informs me that the reps he's spoken with cite lack of demand as the reason. In particular, he tells me that Sony, whose GPS receiver is listed in PAO's pccard.conf, has stopped making their card. The bottom line is that he says the _only_ card he's been able to find for sale anymore is the SatNav from Centennial Technologies. This card presents a serial port interface, and provides a data stream of position fixes and time information, either in a proprietary or NMEA format. The card is based on Rockwell hardware. Unfortunately, this card does _not_ provide a high-resolution clock, as some stand-alone units do. (I'm talking about a pulse on a single pin on the serial interface to delineate start-of-second, for resolution on the order of microseconds in some cases.) The high-res clock pulses are on our wish list. My question: can anyone confirm cards that are _still_ for sale by other vendors? And does anyone know of a PCMCIA GPS receiver that has microsecond time source accuracy (pulsed, as above)? Experience with particular cards is welcome, too, of course. An alternative would be for us to buy a stand-alone, battery-powered GPS with accurate clock that has a serial interface. In that case, we'd need to add a serial port to our laptops, because the built-in one is already spoken for by a Metricom radio network interface. Are add-on PCMCIA serial ports available, and if so, any recommendations? Your comments greatly appreciated, -Brad, karp@eecs.harvard.edu
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