Springtime Project Part 3 - GPS and the arduino Parts and more parts

So the console is coming along nicely. Lots of sanding, and checking to make sure the part I had to build up manually still make for a good fit in the car.While I have been doing that each night after work, I got to the point that I needed to paint, but I have decided to hold off on that, until I get everything in from all the parts houses.

SO, I thought it best I sit down and write some code. Im in a bit of a hurry, so I figured I would see whats out there that people have done, and perhaps get some ideas from then as to which way to go.

First off I got the GPS receiver and antenna in from New York. I came to me in 3 days, a new record for the Postal Service, who still frustrate me on a daily basis ( Im still waiting on parts that should have been here days ago). Its straightforward....The receiver receives the GPS data and output the NEMA data on a serial port...easy. You have to watch though the receiver runs on 3.3V....NOT 5V!

I found the libraries on the internet. The TinyGPS+++ written by Mikal Hart had everything I needed and some good examples to build from.

Using software serial I was able to get NEMA data into the arduino and out put the data to the serial port from the arduino. So within little time, I already had the foundation to get this going. Serial ports are cool in that you can literally split off the ports, or data lines and feed multiple inputs with one output. Im my case Ill have to feed the arduino, and the radio encoder. Again its ok to feed multiple INPUTS with one OUTPUT, not the other way around. I guess I should mention that the inputs your feeding really need to be of decent impedance. Really low impedance devices, can, in some case load down the signal being transmitted over serial and the other device may not decode it correctly. I did some calculations and Ill be ok feeding the arduino and the encoder!.

Next I wanted to add a TFT screen so I could see and make sure the GPS was locked on and outputting data. I also added some cool things for fun, but more on that later. I chose the 3.5 inch TFT breakout from Adafruit. With the SPI interface, though its not lightening fast, I was only displaying a few things on the screen so I was ok on speed.....

This is the TFT screen. I wont be using the touchscreen part right now, but in the future. I wired it up using SPI interfacing, and it worked right out of the box after soldering the header and jumper, and wiring it to the arduino.

This is the initial testing of the TFT display. I was playing around with the placement of things on the screen. The final version is about done and can upload it. I have it so that if the GPS receiver becomes unlocked, then you'll see in the upper right hand corner, the warning and of course its red. Ill have more to show what happens when its working. I'm still waiting on the 3.3V power supply parts from California!!! I hate the postal service!......Note...you cant run this TFT screen on 5V and hook up the GPS receiver to the 3.3V supply of the arduino and expect to run both, there isnt enough current to run the arduino and have it supply the TFT screen and the GPS.....so I wait.

Ill have more on the sketch that run all of this, in the next part...

Happy Coding!