This is a test program to study the capability of a GPS module to control navigation of a robot in an outdoor environment.

It is available at: http://mbed.org/users/guiott/programs/LeonardoMbos/m4jtr1

The hardware:

1. mbed LPC1768 board
2. RTC battery backup
3. mbed LPC1768 Workshop Development Board http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=608
4. Garmin GPS 15L module
5. Garmin GPS active antenna
6. serial level adapter (MAX232) between GPS module and mbed serial port
7. battery control circuit with step-up converter from 3.7V to 6V
8. LCD display 20x4
9. keypad

underneath the cover:

1. 3.7V LiPo battery
2. 5V LDO regulator
3. resistor ladder

This version is developed within the mbos RTOS: http://mbed.org/users/AndrewL/libraries/mbos/lqn3ca

It uses NMEA library by Tim (xtimor@gmail.com) ported by Ken Todotani http://mbed.org/users/todotani/ on public mbed library http://mbed.org/users/todotani/programs/GPS_nmeaLib/5yo4h also available, as original universal C library, at http://nmea.sourceforge.net

The original gmath.c has been modified to fix a bug in nmea_distance_ellipsoid() function according to bug report ID: 2945855

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=2945855&group_id=192054&atid=939854

    // while ((delta_lambda > 1e-12) && (remaining_steps > 0))  original by xtimor

    while (( remaining_steps == 20 ) || ((fabs(delta_lambda) > 1e-12) && (remaining_steps > 0)))

the original code always returns a zero distance if the arrival point longitude is equal or smaller than the starting point one.

The mbed module is interfaced with a Garmin GPS sensor (used in standard mode) with an external antenna, a 20x4 LCD text display and a 5 keys keypad interfaced on a single ADC port via a resistors ladder.

A curiosity: All the hardware components of the test set are mounted on the top of a wooden box, looking like a kind of a steampunk navigator. When my daughter looked at the box she said: "it looks alike the navigator of the da Vinci car". This is the reason why the name of this project is "Leonardo".

This is not a definitive application but a study program to test NMEA full decoding library and a first approach to an RTOS. Many thanks to Andrew Levido for his support and his patience on teaching me the RTOS principles from the other side of the Earth.