ublox-dgnss

This usb based driver is focused on UBLOX Generation 9 UBX messaging, for a DGNSS rover. High precision data is available. A moving base station configuration has been added.

RTCM messages can be delivered externally. Alternately the ntrip_client_node can be utilised to retrieve RTCM messages from a castor to publish /ntrip_client/rtcm messages which will be received by the ublox_dgnss_node.

Work has started on SPARTN support - basic commands are available to enable it on the device and to confirm that the messages are being used (when delivered to the device).

This driver will only work with later generation ublox devices. Testing and development was performed against a ZED-F9P and a ZED-F9R connected via USB, under Ubuntu 22.04/24.04. The driver uses libusb api 1.0.

This release works with Rolling, Jazzy, Iron and Humble.

You may need to create a udev rule as follows:

/etc/udev/rules.d/99-ublox-gnss.rules

  #UBLOX ZED-F9
  ATTRS{idVendor}=="1546", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01a9", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

This driver follows the UBX standards used for the ZED-F9P/F9R as documented in the F9P interface description and F9R interface description.

It implements a subset of the specification related to achieving high precision output as a rover. U-center can be used to alter settings. Any configuration parameter changed by this driver, will be applied only in RAM. Upon a restart (hot, cold or warm) or after a hot plug usb attach event, the configuration stored in the driver will be sent to the device.

Start commands

There are multiple ways to start the node. Its been built using composition. An executable is provider. An example follows which turns off NMEA output at startup.

ros2 run ublox_dgnss_node ublox_dgnss_node --ros-args -p CFG_USBOUTPROT_NMEA:=False

Parameters can be set at launch and some examples are provided to launch high precision pos ecef|llh

ros2 launch ublox_dgnss ublox_rover_hpposecef.launch.py

ros2 launch ublox_dgnss ublox_rover_hpposllh.launch.py

Services

Four services are provided to reset odo, cold start, warm start and hot start.

ros2 service call /ublox_dgnss/reset_odo ublox_ubx_interfaces/srv/ResetODO

ros2 service call /ublox_dgnss/cold_start ublox_ubx_interfaces/srv/ColdStart '{reset_type: 1}'

ros2 service call /ublox_dgnss/warm_start ublox_ubx_interfaces/srv/WarmStart '{reset_type: 1}'

ros2 service call /ublox_dgnss/hot_start ublox_ubx_interfaces/srv/HotStart '{reset_type: 1}'

Parameters

Parameter values can be set at any time or passed when the node starts

ros2 param set /ublox_dgnss CFG_RATE_NAV 2

or the current value retrieved

ros2 param get /ublox_dgnss CFG_RATE_NAV

UBX Parameters

The following parameters may be set. Its a subset of the full UBX Gen 9 configuration parameter list.

Values will be as described in the integration manual (without scaling applied). Changing a CFG_MSGOUT_* type parameter to a value >0 will cause the corresponding ublox_ubx_msgs to be published.

CFG_INFMSG_NMEA_USB CFG_INFMSG_UBX_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_CLOCK_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_COV_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_DOP_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_EOE_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_HPPOSECEF_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_HPPOSLLH_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_ODO_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_ORB_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_SAT_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_SIG_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_POSECEF_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_POSLLH_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_PVT_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_RELPOSNED_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_STATUS_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_TIMEUTC_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_VELECEF_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_VELNED_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_RXM_COR_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_RXM_RTCM_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_RXM_MEASX_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_RXM_RAWX_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_RXM_SPARTN_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_MON_COMMS_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_ESF_MEAS_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_ESF_STATUS_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_SEC_SIG_USB CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_SEC_SIGLOG_USB CFG_NAVHPG_DGNSSMODE CFG_NAVSPG_DYNMODEL CFG_NAVSPG_FIXMODE CFG_NAVSPG_INIFIX3D CFG_NAVSPG_UTCSTANDARD CFG_ODO_COGLPGAIN CFG_ODO_COGMAXPOSACC CFG_ODO_COGMAXSPEED CFG_ODO_OUTLPCOG CFG_ODO_OUTLPVEL CFG_ODO_PROFILE CFG_ODO_USE_COG CFG_ODO_USE_ODO CFG_ODO_VALLPGAIN CFG_RATE_MEAS CFG_RATE_NAV CFG_RATE_TIMEREF CFG_TMODE_MODE CFG_TMODE_POS_TYPE CFG_UART1INPROT_NMEA CFG_UART1INPROT_RTCM3X CFG_UART1INPROT_SPARTN CFG_UART1INPROT_UBX CFG_UART1OUTPROT_NMEA CFG_UART1OUTPROT_RTCM3X CFG_UART1OUTPROT_UBX CFG_UART2INPROT_NMEA CFG_UART2INPROT_RTCM3X CFG_UART2INPROT_SPARTN CFG_UART2INPROT_UBX CFG_UART2OUTPROT_NMEA CFG_UART2OUTPROT_RTCM3X CFG_UART2OUTPROT_UBX CFG_USBINPROT_NMEA CFG_USBINPROT_RTCM3X CFG_USBINPROT_UBX CFG_USBOUTPROT_NMEA CFG_USBOUTPROT_RTCM3X CFG_USBOUTPROT_UBX

CFG_SPARTN_USE_SOURCE

CFG_SFIMU_AUTO_MNTALG_ENA CFG_SFIMU_IMU_MNTALG_YAW CFG_SFIMU_IMU_MNTALG_PITCH CFG_SFIMU_IMU_MNTALG_ROLL

CFG_SFODO_COMBINE_TICKS CFG_SFODO_COUNT_MAX CFG_SFODO_DIS_AUTOCOUNTMAX CFG_SFODO_DIS_AUTODIRPINPOL CFG_SFODO_FACTOR CFG_SFODO_LATENCY CFG_SFODO_QUANT_ERROR

Device Identification Parameters

aka Use with Multiple Devices

By default, the ublox_dgnss node will search for and connect to the first device which matches the ublox USB ID’s (vendor ID of 0x1546 and product ID of 0x01a9). If multiple devices are connected simultaneously, the remaining devices will be ignored. In this situation you have no control over which device is used, since the order in which they are found may depend on the order in which they were physically attached to the host.

If you have multiple ublox devices attached simultaneously and wish to connect to a specific device, you can specify a launch parameter “DEVICE_SERIAL_STRING”. The node will then search for and connect to the first device with this matching serial string. The device serial string “CFG-USB-SERIAL_NO_STRx” itself should be programmed into the ublox device beforehand using u-center software.

The frame ID used in ROS2 messages for that device can also be specified using the launch parameter “FRAME_ID”.

Note: these parameters are not written to the device. They only instruct the node on how to behave.

ROS2 UBX NAV Messages

The following messages may be outputed. They included a std_msgs/Header header with the remainder of the fields matching the UBX output. Note that field names use different notation as the UBX field name notation is not compliant with the ROS IDL field names.

/ubx_esf_meas

/ubx_esf_status
/ubx_mon_comms
/ubx_nav_clock
/ubx_nav_cov
/ubx_nav_dop
/ubx_nav_eoe
/ubx_nav_hp_pos_ecef
/ubx_nav_hp_pos_llh
/ubx_nav_odo
/ubx_nav_orb
/ubx_nav_sat
/ubx_nav_sig
/ubx_nav_pos_ecef
/ubx_nav_pos_llh
/ubx_nav_pvt
/ubx_nav_rel_pos_ned
/ubx_nav_status
/ubx_nav_time_utc
/ubx_nav_vel_ecef
/ubx_nav_vel_ned
/ubx_rxm_cor
/ubx_rxm_rtcm
/ubx_rxm_measx
/ubx_rxm_rawx
/ubx_sec_sig
/ubx_sec_sig_log

The following topics are subscribed to /ubx_esf_meas_to_device /ntrip_client/rtcm

ROS2 NAVSATFIX Messages

In addition to the UBX NAV messages shown above, NavSatFix messages can also be published on topic /fix.

Note that this node relies on (and hence subscribes to) three UBX Nav messages, namely /ubx_nav_hp_pos_llh, /ubx_nav_cov, /ubx_nav_status.

If the ublox device is not configured to publish these three messages, the navsatfix message will likewise not be published.

/fix

NTRIP Client - RTCM messages

A basic NTRIP client is provided, that focuses in binary RTCM data. Its purpose is to acquire the RTCM data from an internet based NTRIP Castor and publish RTCM Messages.

An example launch file is provided. You will need to set values appropriate for the NTRIP Castor intended to be used

ros2 launch ublox_dgnss ntrip_client.launch.py use_https:=true host:=ntrip.data.gnss.ga.gov.au port:=443 mountpoint:=MBCH00AUS0 username:=username password:=password

Note the launch file has been configured to also use environment variables NTRIP_USERNAME & NTRIP_PASSWORD such that you dont need credentials in the launch scripts.

Moving Base and Rover

The ZED-F9P devices support the “moving base and rover” mode of operation, using two devices on a mobile vehicle to provide both position and orientation data. Further information on this mode, including physical connections between the two devices and the host machine are included in the following ublox application note.

https://www.u-blox.com/sites/default/files/documents/ZED-F9P-MovingBase_AppNote_UBX-19009093.pdf

Note: the ZED-F9R device does not support this mode.

Example launch configuration files are included as “ublox_mb+r_base.launch.py” and “ublox_mb+r_rover.launch.py” for the base and rover devices respectively. The base and rover are physically connected similar to that described in Section 2.2.1 “Wired connection between base and rover” in the ublox app note, with UART2 used for the wired connection between base and rover. Both base and rover connect to the host machine via USB. Device configuration is similar to that described in Section 2.3.2 “5 Hz navigation rate application” in the app note.

Both base and rover will output position data which can be used to publish NavSatFix messages (as described above). The rover also outputs heading data via UBX-NAV-RELPOSNED messages. Refer to Section 2.4 “Using the heading output” in the app note for more information.

Note: as this mode required two ZED-F9P devices connected simultaneously, you will need to configure each device with a different serial string and specify these in the launch files. See description above on device identification parameters.

Helpful tips

Did the F9 device receive and use the RTCM data?

If you want to see if the UBX device has received and processed the RTCM data run this, after ensuring that CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_RXM_RTCM_USB is set to 1 via rqt

ros2 topic echo /ubx_rxm_rtcm

If msg_used shows 2 then the RTCM message has been used by the device.

This RTCM 3 Message cheat sheet can be used to determine wha the msg_type field represents eg GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, SBAS, QZSS or BeiDou.

Was a high precision location calculated?

Ensure CFG_MSGOUT_UBX_NAV_STATUS_USB is set to 1. It is lower priority message but can be used to determine what type of GPS fix and the type of differential error correction that has been supplied.

ros2 topic echo /ubx_nav_status

should output a message similar to

header:
  stamp:
    sec: 1684907069
    nanosec: 214298394
  frame_id: ubx
itow: 279887200
gps_fix:
  fix_type: 3
gps_fix_ok: true
diff_soln: true
wkn_set: true
tow_set: true
diff_corr: true
carr_soln_valid: true
map_matching:
  status: 0
psm:
  state: 0
spoof_det:
  state: 2
carr_soln:
  status: 0
ttff: 709
msss: 3416912

If the gps_fix.fix_type = 3, it means its a 3D fix. The diff_soln and diff_corr implies that the differential error correction has occurred.

How precise is my solution?

After making sure that the deivce is processing RTCM messages and assuming that you have launched the node with ros2 launch ublox_dgnss ublox_rover_hpposllh.launch.py, run the following the command

ros2 topic echo /ubx_nav_hp_pos_llh

You should see something similiar to

header:
  stamp:
    sec: 1684907675
    nanosec: 765881914
  frame_id: ubx
version: 0
invalid_lon: false
invalid_lat: false
invalid_height: false
invalid_hmsl: false
invalid_lon_hp: false
invalid_lat_hp: false
invalid_height_hp: false
invalid_hmsl_hp: false
itow: 280493800
lon: 1534256850
lat: -280021154
height: 87232
hmsl: 49963
lon_hp: 31
lat_hp: -7
height_hp: -1
hmsl_hp: 1
h_acc: 169
v_acc: 123

The driver output the raw UBX data into the message so some interpreting is required.

h_acc and v_acc are in millimeters but need to be scaled by 0.1 - h_acc: 16.9 mm and v_acc: 12.3 mm` per the above. Such that there is centimeter level accruacy.

If in doubt as to what the scaling is, please look at the F9 interface description for an explanation. All debug log output have had scaling applied.

If you would like to calculate the high precision lon, lat and height values use the following code as a guide

   // Extract the LLH and high-precision components
    double lat = ubx_hppos_llh_msg->lat * 1e-7 + ubx_hppos_llh_msg->lat_hp * 1e-9;
    double lon = ubx_hppos_llh_msg->lon * 1e-7 + ubx_hppos_llh_msg->lon_hp * 1e-9;
    double alt = ubx_hppos_llh_msg->height * 1e-3 + ubx_hppos_llh_msg->height_hp * 1e-4;