u-center GNSS evaluation software for Windows User guide Abstract This document leads you through the efficient use of the u-center evaluation software, the powerful and easy to use tool from u-blox for evaluating, performance analysis and configuration of u-blox GNSS positioning chips and modules. www.u-blox.
u-center - User Guide Document Information Title u-center Subtitle GNSS evaluation software for Windows Document type User Guide Document number UBX-13005250 Revision and date R18 Document status Production Information 04-Dec-2017 Document status explanation Objective Specification Document contains target values. Revised and supplementary data will be published later. Advance Information Document contains data based on early testing. Revised and supplementary data will be published later.
u-center - User Guide Contents 1 Preface............................................................................................................................ 5 1.1 Overview............................................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Using this guide....................................................................................................................................5 1.3 Technical support...........
u-center - User Guide 5.2.9 Map view....................................................................................................................................35 5.2.10 Chart view................................................................................................................................ 41 5.2.11 Histogram view......................................................................................................................... 43 5.2.12 Camera view...........................
u-center - User Guide 1 Preface 1.1 Overview u-center is u-blox's powerful GNSS evaluation and visualization tool which can be downloaded free-of-charge from our website (www.u-blox.com). This user guide provides a description of the features of this software. It allows end users to assess and test u-blox GNSS positioning chips and modules for navigation and positioning performance. The purpose of u-center is to enable users to: • • • • Conduct performance tests on u-blox and other GNSS devices.
u-center - User Guide 2 Features u-center evaluation software provides system integrators and end users with a quick and simple way to interface with u-blox GNSS chipsets, modules and boards. It enables easy evaluation, performance testing, development and debugging of GNSS positioning chips and modules. u-center allows easy connection to u-blox products and provides a suite of features to view, log, and analyze performance.
u-center - User Guide 3 Getting Started 3.1 General information about displayed values • Longitude and latitude are displayed according to the datum selected in the GNSS device (either the default WGS-84 or based on user-defined parameters). This option can be polled and set using the UBX-CFGDAT message. • Time is displayed with reference to UTC. • Elevation is displayed with reference to either MSL (Height above Mean Sea Level or Orthometric Height) or to HAE (Height Above WGS-84-Ellipsoid).
u-center - User Guide Figure 1: Start display 3.4 Connect to the receiver 3.4.1 Select the port Locate the communication toolbar (Figure 2) and click on the arrow beside the icon. This will show a list with all available COM ports (Figure 3). Select the corresponding COM port where the receiver is connected. If a link could be established, the icon will turn green and the text in the status bar changes from to (in this example u-center is connected to COM6).
u-center - User Guide 3.4.2 Select the baud rate (only for COM ports) Again in the communication toolbar, click on the arrow beside the icon. This will show a list with all available baud rates (Figure 4). Select the correct baud rate on which the receiver is communicating (typically 9'600 baud). If u-center is able to decode data from the receiver, the status bar begins to blink in green as shown in the following icon: .
u-center - User Guide 4 Concept and Philosophy Understanding the basic concept behind u-center is important in order to get the highest benefit out of this powerful evaluation software. Figure 5 depicts the architecture of the software. The program gets a data stream from either a communication port or a log file and splits this stream into protocol messages.
u-center - User Guide u-center provides various view classes (described below) for display and presentation. Most views take their data from the database, but some get their data directly from the message without using the database at all. The other views are updated when the database changes. • Message Views display and decode a copy of every known message. These views allow observing a single message in detail and they may also be used to configure the GNSS device. Refer to Messages view for details.
u-center - User Guide Table 3 gives the satellite-coding scheme for the docking windows and sky view. It indicates to which GNSS a satellite belongs. Code System Gxx GPS Rxx GLONASS Bxx BeiDou Exx Galileo Sxx SBAS Qxx QZSS Table 3: Satellite-coding scheme for the docking windows and sky view Figure 6 shows the Status Color configuration. This is available under: Tools -> Preferences -> Status Colors. Figure 6: Color-coding configuration 4.
u-center - User Guide Figure 7: Relation between operating modes 4.2.1 Online mode In this mode a GNSS device is directly connected to u-center via a COM port. u-center can control and configure the receiver and it will display the data that the receiver is sending periodically. 4.2.2 Stop mode In this mode no data from a receiver or a log file is forwarded to the database and views. u-center is in this mode when a log file is open but player and recorder are not active. 4.2.
u-center - User Guide Position can be set in a log file. This behaves differently in Play mode and Stop mode. In Stop mode the position is just set and no data is read and displayed. u-center will start recording or playing from that position when changing the mode. If position is set in Play mode, u-center will load the data up to this position from the log file and display the contents. 4.2.
u-center - User Guide Figure 9: Enabling/disabling automatic receiver information retrieval UBX-13005250 - R18 Production Information 4 Concept and Philosophy Page 15 of 67
u-center - User Guide 5 u-center Menus and Windows 5.1 Main frame and toolbars The main frame is the primary display screen of u-center. It displays all tool bars and some of the information provided by the device. In the standard status bar, information about communication, UTC time, connection time, used protocol (NMEA or UBX), used file, etc. is shown. Button tool tip: A description about each button in the toolbars can be obtained by holding the mouse cursor over the button for a few seconds.
u-center - User Guide 5.1.1.1 File Figure 11: File menu entries Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon New... Creates a new log file. No data is yet written but only the file is opened. The duration of the logging time is displayed in the status bar field Operating time. Ctrl+N / Save... Creates a new log file, saves the data from the internal database to the log file and starts immediately recording all new data from the receiver.
u-center - User Guide Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Cut Cut the current selection and put in to the clipboard. Ctrl+X / Shift +Del / Copy Copy the current selection to the clipboard. Ctrl+C / Ctrl- Paste Paste the clipboard content to the current position. Ctrl+V / Shift Insert / +Insert / Delete Delete the current selection. Del Select All Select all in the current view. Ctrl+A Clear All Clear all in the current view. Ctrl+Del Table 5: Edit menu entries 5.1.1.
u-center - User Guide Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Table View Opens the empty table view. All values from the internal database can be displayed individually. Recent Table View Lists all the table views that have been opened. This information comes from the Windows registry and is also valid after a restart of u-center. Map View Opens a window allowing to display a map. Recent Map View Lists all the maps views that have been opened.
u-center - User Guide 5.1.1.4 Player Figure 14: Player menu entries Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Eject Closes the active log file. Ctrl+E / Stop Stops reading or recording from the active log file. Ctrl+H / Pause Pauses reading or recording from the active log file. Ctrl+P / Record Starts recording to a new or already opened log file. Any data in the internal database will not be written to the file.
u-center - User Guide 5.1.1.5 Receiver Figure 15: Receiver menu entries Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Port Defines the port u-center connects to. The list is generated automatically using the enumeration method under Tools -> Preferences -> Generic -> Serial ports. The currently used port will be indicated. Disconnect Disconnects from a connected receiver. COMx Connects to COMx with the current baud rate. Ctrl+[1...
u-center - User Guide Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Action Lists all possible actions that can be performed with the u-blox GNSS receiver. Hot start Sends a hot start command to the receiver. No data is deleted in the receiver. Warm start Sends a warm start command to the receiver. Only the ephemeris are deleted from the memory. Cold start Sends a cold start command to the receiver. All information is deleted from the memory.
u-center - User Guide Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon AssistNow Offline Opens the AssistNow Offline dialog. Please switch over to AssistNow Offline as the Legacy AssistNow Offline service is marked deprecated. AssistNow Online Opens the AssistNow Online dialog. Please switch over to AssistNow Online as the Legacy AssistNow Online service is marked deprecated. GNSS Configuration...
u-center - User Guide 5.1.2 Standard toolbar The standard toolbar gives access to standard operations like opening and saving files, print the current view or empty the database. 5.1.3 Views toolbar 5.1.
u-center - User Guide 5.1.5 Logfile toolbar 5.1.6 Action toolbar 5.1.7 Standard statusbar The standard status bar is updated automatically and shows the information about the opened file, the connection and the time. The following fields are available: Status display: Displays the current action or the function of a button if the mouse cursor is over the button. NTRIP client information: Shows the connection to an NTRIP caster (only when activated through Receiver -> NTRIP Client...).
u-center - User Guide Protocol information: This box indicates the current message set that is being used to communicate with the device. Operating time: The time elapsed since you started u-center. UTC time: The current time sent by the device. This field is only updated if a receiver is connected. Receiver status: Shows the last known status of the receiver. Color coding of the icon: Power status of receiver is unknown Receiver is powered on Receiver is powered off 5.2 Views and windows 5.2.
u-center - User Guide Figure 20: Binary console Refer to Table 12 for an explanation of the icons and text field. 5.2.3 Text console The text console displays the content messages in textual form such as UBX-INF or NMEA messages. NMEA messages are shown with heading $Gxyyy, where x stands for the satellite system (P = GPS, SBAS, QZSS, L = GLONASS, A = Galileo, B = BeiDou, N = Any combination of GNSS) and yyy for the type of message (e.g. ZDA=Time & Date).
u-center - User Guide 5.2.4 Icons and text field of console views Element / Name Description Lock / Locked Prevents the console from being updated with new data when locked. Pause key can be used to Lock/Unlock the current console window. Clear All Erases all data in the console. Show/Hide PC time Shows/Hides the PC time in the console. Filter On/Off Filters unwanted data from the data stream. This allows searching for certain expression, e.g. all RMC messages.
u-center - User Guide Figure 22: Regular Expression Template 5.2.5.1.1 Example 1 Searching for the RMC with a valid position and all GGA Messages: GP(GGA|RMC,.*,A,)" Figure 23: Regular Expression Example 1 5.2.5.1.2 Example 2 Searching for all GSV with the message index of "2" or "3": GSV,.*,[2-3], Figure 24: Regular Expression Example 2 5.2.5.1.3 Example 3 Searching for all messages starting with $GP, which have a "G" in the message identifier but not at the first position: ^\$GP.+G.
u-center - User Guide Figure 26: Regular Expression Example 4 5.2.6 Messages view The messages view is utilized to communicate with the device. Receiver output messages (e.g. navigation output, status and debug information) are displayed; input messages (e.g. configuration messages) can be sent. There are different sections for NMEA and UBX protocol. See Figure 27 for an overview of the different elements in the messages view.
u-center - User Guide Clear All Erases the entire message view. Send Sends the current message to the device. Poll Polls the selected message once. Auto poll Automatically polls a newly selected message once. Message Hotkey Assigns a hotkey to the selected message. Table 14: Description of the buttons in the messages view toolbar 5.2.6.
u-center - User Guide 5.2.7 Statistic view Figure 29: Statistic view All available database values (transmitted from the device or calculated by u-center) are displayed.
u-center - User Guide 5.2.8 Table view Figure 30: Table view All values from the database can be displayed in a tabular form (Figure 30). This is very useful when analyzing the log file in detail. To add a new column, first select the desired value (Figure 31) and click the button. To remove a displayed value, click the button. To see the table header click the button. Statistical information will be shown.
u-center - User Guide Figure 31: Selecting a new value Figure 32: Statistics in table view The number of displayed epochs is set to 1800 by default. Choosing "Database Empty" in the file menu or pressing the button clears the table view. The content of the table view can easily be exported to other programs using Copy/Paste.
u-center - User Guide 5.2.9 Map view u-center can display positions on pre-calibrated or Google online (dynamic) maps (see Figure 33). Figure 33: Map view with Google online map 5.2.9.1 Using map view If you want to use the Google online maps you have to enter an API key in Tools -> Preferences -> Access Tokens. A missing API key can lead to the output shown in Figure 34.
u-center - User Guide Figure 34: Missing online map API key Please go to https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/static-maps/?hl=en to get a valid Google Static Maps API key. You can access the view specific commands in two different ways: • Using the command in the tool bar below the map view. • Holding the cursor inside the map view and pressing the right mouse button. This will open the following context menu (see Figure 35).
u-center - User Guide Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Meter Show or hide the ruler. Speedvector Show or hide the speed vectors, and select where they are drawn from. Follow Centers the map on the current GNSS position. Drawing Mode The size and form of the displayed position can be changed in the menu Points; the connection line between the points can be selected in the menu Connect.
u-center - User Guide Figure 36: Digital map file: world.png The Map has 1765 pixels (0 to 1764) in the horizontal and 1046 pixels (0 to 1045) in the vertical direction. The origin is the upper left corner. To calibrate this map we will use the following three calibration points (#1 to #3). Pixel WGS84 Coordinate Reference Point # X Y Longitude Latitide Upper Left Corner 1 0 0 -180.0 90.0 Lower Right Corner 2 1764 1045 180.0 -90.0 Upper Right Corner 3 1764 0 180.0 90.
u-center - User Guide Figure 37: Map calibration file: world.mcf 5.2.9.2.2 Map calibration tool u-center includes a built-in calibration tool for providing coordinates to maps and photographs in supported data formats to create u-center maps. To use the tool open the map view window as seen in Figure 38 and then open the file of the map to be calibrated.
u-center - User Guide Figure 38: Opening map view window If the file to be opened has not been calibrated, the message in Figure 39 will appear. Figure 39: No calibration information found Select three points on the map and enter the calibration coordinates in the specified format as seen in Figure 40.
u-center - User Guide Figure 40: Calibrating a map using calibration tool Following these steps the map is now calibrated and can be used with u-center. 5.2.10 Chart view Chart view allows the user to conveniently view GNSS data records in graphical form. The data can be scaled in many different ways and formats. It's even possible to print the entire chart. The examples below illustrate two different typical applications.
u-center - User Guide Figure 41: Altitude as a function of Index (X = Index, Y = Alt) Figure 42: Latitude as a function of longitude (X =Longitude, Y = Latitude) UBX-13005250 - R18 Production Information 5 u-center Menus and Windows Page 42 of 67
u-center - User Guide Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Cursor The position of the cursor is shown on the lower left edge of the u-center screen (Longitude, Latitude and Pixel-Position). By holding the left mouse button and moving the cursor over the chart you can measure distance from one position to another. Move The chart inside the chart view window can be moved. Zoom In Drawing a rectangle enlarges the chart to the new view. To zoom in the chart double-click on the chart.
u-center - User Guide Figure 43: Altitude Histogram View Figure 44: Probability chart UBX-13005250 - R18 Production Information 5 u-center Menus and Windows Page 44 of 67
u-center - User Guide Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Cursor The position of the cursor is shown on the lower left edge of the u-center screen (Longitude, Latitude and Pixel-Position). By holding the left mouse button and moving the cursor over the histogram you can measure distance from one position to another. Move The histogram inside the histogram view window can be moved. Zoom In Drawing a rectangle enlarges the histogram to the new view.
u-center - User Guide Figure 45: Camera view Using Camera View can result in very large log files and can slow down u-center when playing such files. 5.2.13 Deviation map The deviation map displays positions in longitude and latitude relative to a defined reference position.
u-center - User Guide Figure 46: Deviation map Function Description Properties The reference position can be defined as: • The average of all previously measured positions • The current position • A fixed, predefined value • The radius of the outer circle can be adjusted with the Max. Deviation parameter. Fit Automatically adjusts the reference position and the maximum deviation to fit all positions into the deviation map.
u-center - User Guide Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Track Show track of values from the internal database. Statistics Show statistics of the values from the internal database. Maximum deviation shortcut Shortcut for changing the scale of the deviation map to prefixed values. The icons represent Roman numerals, with "I" corresponding to a 1 m radius of the deviation map, and "V"= 5 m, "X"= 10 m, "L"= 50 m, "C" = 100 m, "D" = 500 m, and "M" = 1000 m.
u-center - User Guide Figure 47: Sky view Function Description Linear projection Displays the sky view with a linear projection. Sine projection Displays the sky view with a sine projection. C/N0 Displays or hides the averaged C/N0 values. Orbits Displays or hides the satellite orbits.
u-center - User Guide Function Description Shortcut / Toolbar icon Satellites Displays or hides the current satellite positions. Coordinates Displays or hides the caption for the azimuth. Elevation Displays or hides the caption for the elevation.
u-center - User Guide 6 NTRIP This section will give an overview of the NTRIP support in u-center. Currently u-center supports both NTRIP client and NTRIP caster/server functionality. Settings for both of them can be found under "Receiver" menu. Networked Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol (NTRIP) is an application-level protocol that supports the streaming of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data over the Internet.
u-center - User Guide 13.Enter the altitude in meters in floating point or integer format. See position k. 14.Enter the geoid separation in meters in floating point or integer format. See position l. 15.Click on "OK" to start receiving correction data. 6.2 NTRIP Server/Caster The u-center NTRIP caster is able to accept requests from NTRIP compliant clients and send them RTCM correction data. This is implemented according to NTRIP standard version 1.
u-center - User Guide 10.Check "Get configuration automatically" to use longitude, latitude and RTCM message configuration of the currently connected receiver that will be sent out on the mount point. In this case you can go directly to 16. See position h. 11.Enter the longitude for the mount point in integer or floating point format. See position i. 12.Enter the latitude for the mount point in integer or floating point format. See position j. 13.Select RTCM messages that will be sent by the mount point.
u-center - User Guide 7 Google Earth server This section gives an overview of the Google Earth server support in u-center. The Google Earth server can continuously send positioning data in a specific format to the Google Earth application. By hosting such a server in u-center we are able to visualize positioning data in real time. There are only a few settings that can be set via the Google Earth server dialog.
u-center - User Guide 8 Tools This section will give an overview of the embedded tools of u-center. They can be used for different purpose and should facilitate the usage of u-blox GNSS receivers. The tools can be found under the "Tools" menu but some of the options are only displayed when a receiver is connected to u-center. The firmware update tools also depend on the connected receiver generation. 8.1 Firmware update This tool allows you to update the firmware of a receiver.
u-center - User Guide 3. Select the flash information structure file (only needed after and including u-blox receiver generation 7), or the flash definition file (only needed before u-blox receiver generation 7). These files should be bundled with u-center. See position b on Figure 51. 4. Select the options for your receiver. See position c on Figure 51. Option Description Recommended Use this Baud rate for update Selects the speed of the communication for updating the firmware on the receiver.
u-center - User Guide Figure 52: Legacy firmware update window 3. Select the firmware image suitable for the connected receiver. See position a on Figure 52. 4. Select the flash definition file (only needed before u-blox receiver generation 7). This file should be provided bundled with u-center. Point to the latest file version. See position b on Figure 52. 5. Select the flash information structure file (only needed after and including u-blox receiver generation 7).
u-center - User Guide Figure 53: Dump receiver diagnostics tool 8.4 GNSS configuration u-center is capable of getting the actual configuration of a u-blox GNSS positioning chip or module and storing it to an ASCII text file containing hexadecimal records. Such a file can be edited and stored to a u-blox GNSS device again. By clicking the menu "Tools -> GNSS Configuration..." of u-center, the GNSS Configuration dialog opens.
u-center - User Guide Sending a configuration to a u-blox GNSS device may fail due to a baud rate change on the current serial port of the receiver to which the configuration is being sent. If this happens, simply change the u-center baud rate and send the configuration again. To write a new configuration file, click on "GNSS > File". The GNSS Configuration window closes and the progress window pops up, showing the configurations being polled and stored into a local file in ASCII format.
u-center - User Guide 9 How To 9.1 Change baud rate of receiver 1. 2. 3. 4. Connect to the device. Open View / Messages View (Hotkey: F9). Select UBX-CFG-PRT. Poll the current configuration from the receiver ( 5. Change the setting to the desired baud rate. 6. Send the message to the receiver ( ). ). Figure 56: Changing baud rate (using UBX-CFG-PRT) 9.2 Save parameters to receiver non-volatile memory (BBR/Flash) There are 2 ways to save parameters to the receiver's non-volatile memory (BBR/Flash). 9.
u-center - User Guide 3. Select UBX-CFG-CFG. 4. Select “save current configuration” (see Figure 57). 5. Send the message to the receiver ( ). Figure 57: Saving Parameters (using UBX-CFG-CFG) 9.2.2 Saving parameters with GNSS configuration Refer to chapter Read/Write configuration files 9.3 Recording/Playing a log file u-center allows recording and playing log files. Use the player controls, to record or playback a log file. Select the log file to be opened through the file menu tool bar.
u-center - User Guide 9.5 Read/Write configuration files Refer to chapter Read/Write configuration files 9.6 Set GNSS configuration 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Connect to the device. Open View / Messages View (Hotkey: F9). Select UBX-CFG-GNSS. Place or remove the checkmark for the desired GNSS under "enable". Send the message to the receiver ( ). The following figure shows an example that configures the device to receive GPS and GLONASS. Figure 58: GNSS configuration (using UBX-CFG-GNSS) 9.
u-center - User Guide Option Description Default iTOW Monitor the "iTOW" database element. Trigger an epoch if a difference is seen. Typically UBX-NAV messages cause this trigger. Yes HNR TOW Monitor the "NAV-HNR iTOW" database element. Trigger an epoch if a difference is seen. HNR based messages cause this trigger. No UTC-TIME Monitor the "UTC" database element. Trigger an epoch if a difference is seen. Typically NMEA messages cause this trigger.
u-center - User Guide 10 Troubleshooting NMEA or UBX protocol is not available in the Messages View u-center uses dynamic link libraries (DLL). The installation program will automatically install the required DLLs into the u-center program directory. Should you try to copy a u-center installation from one location to another, make sure you also copy the DLL files. Verify, the version of u-center matches the DLL version. u-center doesn't display all messages Make sure the baud rate is sufficient.
u-center - User Guide 11 Related Documents [1] GPS Compendium, Doc No GPS-X-02007 [2] u-blox 5 Receiver Description including Protocol Specification, Document number: GPS.G5-X-07036 [3] u-blox 6 Receiver Description including Protocol Specification, Document number: GPS.G6-SW-10018 [4] u-blox 7 Receiver Description including Protocol Specification V14, Document number: GPS.
u-center - User Guide 12 Revision History Revision Date Name - 08-Oct-2008 tgri Status / Comments Initial release A 22-Jul-2009 tgri New CI A1 17-Feb-2011 tgri Third party libraries B 01-Nov-2011 tgri Google Earth View added C 03-Jun-2012 khir Updated for u-center 6.3. GNSS configuration added R06 09-Dec-2013 mfre Update for u-center 8.
u-center - User Guide Contact For complete contact information visit us at www.u-blox.com. u-blox Offices North, Central and South America Headquarters Europe, Middle East, Africa Asia, Australia, Pacific u-blox America, Inc. Phone: +1 703 483 3180 E-mail: info_us@u-blox.com u-blox AG Phone: +41 44 722 74 44 E-mail: info@u-blox.com Support: support@u-blox.com u-blox Singapore Pte. Ltd. Phone: +65 6734 3811 E-mail: info_ap@u-blox.com Support: support_ap@u-blox.
