This week, we were all over the place with a bunch of different designs and experiments. After last week’s analysis of the TLV320DAC3100, we made some updates to the design and re-booked prototype PCBs.
We also designed a triple-matrix bonnet: with our latest work on getting HUB75 RGB matrices working on the Raspberry Pi 5, we can now do matrix control on the latest Pi 5 chip. But we’re limited by the RP1 chip, so to get big displays going, we’ll need multiple strands—these don’t use significantly more bandwidth because half of the pins are shared.
Finally, we ended the week by getting another older prototype working: the SAM-M8Q is an entry-level all-in-one GPS from u-blox. It comes with both UART and I2C interfaces, plus a built-in antenna, so it’s ready to go out of the box. The NMEA interface is trivial, but we also wanted to try out the UBX interface, and thankfully, Claude 3.7 was able to vibe-code it for us in a jiffy.
The Great Search – u-blox GNSS Modules with Built-in Antenna
Having worked on some u-blox GNSS prototypes this week, we decided to figure out what module to check out next. Let’s see which u-blox GNSS modules are available that are fast to work with—specifically, those with built-in patch antennas so you can pop them on and start receiving immediately. We’ll also take a look at some other options for those willing to connect an external antenna.