GNSS on Apollo Lake E3940

[Angus0723]

We've designed GNSS(model is STA8090WG) on E3940 and use dedicate UART1 for communication.

What problem we met is NMEA data from GNSS can't transitsent to the deticate UART, but can transit to an USB-to-UART dongle.

 Is that the driver issue? or any settings we did wrong?

The OS is Windows10.

Angus

[Diego_INTEL]

Hello @Angus0723,

Thank you for contacting Intel Embedded Community.

Yes, you are using the right port, we have that the LPSS_UART1 should be dedicated for discrete GNSS.

May be best to check the latest drivers for Windows 10 first, they are available through here:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/secure/design/confidential/software-kits/kit-details.html?kitId=776172

More importantly the Intel® Serial IO.

Best regards,

@Diego_INTEL 

[Angus0723]

Hello Diego,

  Many thanks for the reply.

  Yes, the Serial IO driver was installed. Driver need be installed when the UART Controller enabled otherwise the devicemanager will shows the device with yellow bang.
  I have no idea about wherther is GNSS driver issue or BIOS code building issue on this Ports, could you help on this? Or you can share the BIOS code command line about UART and the Ports?

  We use the Super I/O to have UART function in usually, this is first time we use the Intel SoC built-in UART, it might be has key point we didn't find out.

Angus

below is the devicemanager information and GNSS utility windows, the data cannot transit to this port.(but can transit to USB-UART dongle)

[Diego_INTEL]

Hello @Angus0723,

Yes, I wanted to confirm that you were using the latest drivers just in case.

If you can check the BIOS part, you can refer to the document #559811 - BIOS Specification, chapter 11 - UART, there's a sample code.

But I'm thinking that it may be that the GNSS driver is having an issue with the Serial I/O driver, because the USB-UART works.

Best regards,

@Diego_INTEL 

[Angus0723]

Hello @Diego_INTEL

   Thank you for the remind, I've checked again the driver is the latest version.

   According to the test is OK that from TX of GNSS to RX of USB-UART, I just can make sure the GNSS works normal. But I cannot make sure the issue is UART1 or GNSS driver. I will check the BIOS sample code again base on your information #559811.

   Next action, I will try to find out the GNSS driver that CRB code included to verify function, hope that will narrow down the issue.

   BTW, I've tested the UART function with Tera Term utility, it can transit data. Why RX is not work?

Angus

[Diego_INTEL]

Hello @Angus0723,

Oh, it is okay, thank you very much for checking that you have the latest version.

Do you have a second unit to test? For discarding that the port may be the cause of the issue.

Can you check if the transmission is being sent to the UART1?

Best regards,

@Diego_INTEL 

[Angus0723]

Hello Diego,

   I've tested 2 pcs of USB-UART dongle to receive NMEA data from GNSS, both two are working fine. Also check these two dongle transmission each other, then working fine. That means Dongles are working fine both transmit and receive.

   And, SoC UART1 send data to these two dongles by Tera Term, it also working fine that data received from SoC UART1.

   According to these testing, I thought the transmitting is no problem on SoC UART1 but receiving is somthing wrong.

   So, I've trying to find out other drivers to verify the problem is on SoC UART or GNSS Driver.

Angus

[Diego_INTEL]

Hello @Angus0723,

I'm imagining that when you connect the dongle, the driver identify where to deliver the packets, but maybe with just UART1 there is an issue in the configuration. Maybe there could be some incompatibility or misconfiguration with the Intel driver, or recent versions.

What is the GNSS driver that you are using? Could you test with another one?

Best regards,

@Diego_INTEL 

[mlpz]

Hi Angus, which IDE did you use to compile and debug in the Apollo Lake processor?