Re: RE: [Paparazzi-devel] GPS patch tiny

[martin]

Yvest,

both the GPS receiver and GPS antenna are not simple to solder. The
receiver has a very narrow pin spacing and care has to be taken that
the GPS board vias don't short circuit with the tiny board. With the
antenna there were some issues when the solder was sucked up into the
middle pin through-hole and then narrowed (not even short circuit) the
space between middle pin and lower silver plane on the patch.

The tiny board has to be tuned to the GPS patch. The antenna
ceramic/silver planes should at least be exactly in the center of the
board ground planes (better do a RF simulation). As antennas have
different sizes and/or positions of the middle pin, another patch will
not fit. The 20x20 tiny prototype has another layout than the 13x13
tiny board.

As the connection between the silver plating and the middle pin is not
very strong the patch is glued with a special adhesive tape - not sure
if this can be done by mounting machines. The entire GPS subject is a
little magic - it should be assembled completely and tested when
manufactured.

Sorry for sounding a little negative :-)

Martin