Using GPS with VEX?

[gk20]

For a challenge, I need to make a program where I plug in the GPS coordinates and the robot would move to that location. I'm struggling to find a way to connect the GPS to the Cortex and then have it read the coordinates. Does anyone have an idea how to do this?

[efoote868]

Which GPS chipset are you using?

In my senior design course, my team used a GPS for a self-aiming telescope. The GPS chipset just spewed out its information serially over a couple GPIO pins, so getting location data was as simple as parsing a stream of text.

[RyanCahoon]

In line with efoote868's comments, the VEX Cortex has two TTL UART serial ports. You should be able to connect directly to any GPS chip that supports TTL serial communication. If you're using ROBOTC, you can use these functions (http://www.robotc.net/support/vex/WebHelpCortex/index.htm#page=functions_vex/Serial%20Link/Serial_Link.htm) to communicate via the UART ports. There is apparently support in EasyC since v4 (http://www.vexforum.com/showthread.php?t=31651), but I can't find any documentation online about it. You would need to consult your GPS chip's documentation for the specific format of the commands to send and the data that will be sent back.

[gk20]

In line with efoote868's comments, the VEX Cortex has two TTL UART serial ports. You should be able to connect directly to any GPS chip that supports TTL serial communication. If you're using ROBOTC, you can use these functions (http://www.robotc.net/support/vex/WebHelpCortex/index.htm#page=functions_vex/Serial%20Link/Serial_Link.htm) to communicate via the UART ports. There is apparently support in EasyC since v4 (http://www.vexforum.com/showthread.php?t=31651), but I can't find any documentation online about it. You would need to consult your GPS chip's documentation for the specific format of the commands to send and the data that will be sent back.

Is there another link you could post? The one for the functions isn't working.

[RyanCahoon]

Is there another link you could post? The one for the functions isn't working.

Try http://www.robotc.net/wiki/VEX2_Functions_Serial_Link or http://www.robotc.net/support/cortex/WebHelpCortex/index.htm#page=ROBOTC_Functions_New/VEX2_Functions_Serial_Link.htm