Amungo Navigation
Software Defined Radio
FPGA Boards

NUT2NT+

Four-channel, all-frequency, GNSS RF-to-bits receiver for precision, satellite-based positioning

$17,840 raised

of $15,000 goal

118% Funded!
Not Available
Jun 01 2019
funded on

Recent Updates

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Open source, low-cost, efficient, and highly-capable GNSS reception

NUT2NT+ is an open source, multi-frequency, multi-signal, front-end GNSS receiver board built around the NT1065 chip. It’s a low-power, low-cost, all-GNSS RF-to-bits receiver for satellite navigation enthusiasts.

Open Source

NUT2NT+ hardware is open source, as is the software - giving the user the ability to set a receiver’s modes and frequencies, to capture all signals continuously, and to have complete control over primary processing features.

Several startups and large companies offer proprietary GNSS positioning solutions and even mobile GNSS software-defined receivers. But a closed ecosystem reduces accessibility for an enthusiast or professional developer, and it limits what a user can do with their hardware. We are happy to bring NUT2NT+ to the world as an open source option.

NUT2NT+

NUT2NT+ is designed to maximize use-case flexibility.

Applications

The flexibility of the NUT2NT+ allows for almost limitless uses - for example:

A GNSS Sensor for Autonomous Driving

A NUT2NT+ with an RA125 antenna can be used as a precision positioning GNSS receiver for autonomous cars. Today, autonomous vehicles are equipped with strong processing platforms, like NVIDIA Drive PX2. With NUT2NT+’s processing power, all MIPS hungry GNSS receiver tasks can be done in software. We have already tested NUT2NT+ board with NVIDIA Jetson TX2 board, the younger sibling of the Drive PX2.

A GNSS Multi-band "Black Box" Logger

A NUT2NT+ with an RA125 antenna can be connected to a small-size, low-cost single-board computer like ROCK64. With such a powerful and small Linux host, all GNSS signal samples can be captured continuously without any loss for offline downloading and processing outside the logger. It could be used in accident reconstruction or GNSS reflectometry.

Specifications

Block Diagram

The detailed structure of NUT2NT+

NUT2NT+ Hardware

Software

Software source code is available on GitHub. The software includes:

Cypress USB Controller Firmware

FPGA Software

Accessories

Enclosures

We have three enclosure options for the board:

No enclosure: you can use the board as-is or make your own enclosure. The PCB sources will be provided, as well as drawings and step 3D-models needed to design your own enclosure.

Low-cost enclosure: the EXT-9162 enclosure from Bud Industries will come with custom front and back panels. Drawings of the panels will be also provided on the Amungo GitHub. This option will help protect your board. This enclosure is also lightweight - about 40 gramms.

Shielded enclosure: a custom-milled aluminium enclosure with good RF shielding, weight about 100 gramms. The 3D-models for this enclosure will also published.

Cables

All boards will be equipped with a tested USB3 type-C cable.

All RF cables will be handmade from RG-316 coaxial cable.

NUT2NT+ RF Cable

Antennas

Our RA1 and RA125 antennas are both based on a four-feed patch antenna structure providing best Phase Center Variation (PCV) performance in patch antenna class. Please read this paper for details on the importance of proper antenna uniformity.

RA1 - the L1 Antenna

RA1 Antenna

RA125 - the L1/L2/L5 Antenna

L1 specifications:

L2/L3/L5 specifications:

General specifications:

RA125 Antenna

Antenna Enclosures

We also have three enclosure options for the antennas:

No enclosure: you can use the board as-is or make your own enclosure. The 3D-models needed to design your own enclosure will be published.

Aluminum enclosure: a milled aluminium enclosure with good RF shielding and TNC connectors on-board. These enclosures are ready to mount on standard 5/8" screw mast. The hat cover is made of UV-resistant plastic.

Magnetic enclosure: also a milled aluminium enclosure. Like the aluminum enclosure, but capable of magnetically mounting on the roof of a vehicle.

NUT4NT Comparison

More then a year has passed since our first campaign offering the NUT4NT board. During this year, we supplied NUT4NT boards and antennas to customers around the world. Based on user feedback from this board, we designed the NUT2NT+ to be lower-cost, have lower power consumption, have enclosure options, and have more on-board features.

There are no other open boards in the world dedicated to GNSS SDR. So we compared the NUT2NT+ with our legacy NUT4NT board.

NUT2NT+Legacy NUT4NT
Number of RF inputs2 4
Number of receiving channels4 4
FPGA insideLattice ECP5 No
RF inputs dedicated to GNSS bandYes No, wideband
Internal TCXO controlYes No
External oscillator input/outputYes Yes
Low cost enclosure optionYes No
Onboard RF filteringYes No
Power from USBYes No
Antenna power injector circuitYes (software-controllable) No

Project Status

We have tested the first NUT2NT+ by recording samples and processing them with well-known GPS receiver Matlab code. The SNR figure shows the system noise floor declared.

Matlab testing

For the last year, we’ve worked through a series of software bugs and fixes, and today it is quite stable. We plan to create additional integrations with open source GNSS-SDR software projects.

All NUT2NT+ hardware sources will be opened after campaign reaches the goal.

Manufacturing Plan

As soon as the funding goal is reached, we’ll purchase the PCBs and components needed for the early boards, as well as for the antennas and cables. Then we’ll project the demand for the antenna resonators and purchase substrates with double gap. We’ll start assembling NUT2NT+ units after the campaign ends. After the campaign concludes, we’ll also purchase all the metal parts, PCBs, and components needed for the remaining orders. Here we’ll also review the demand for antenna resonators and purchase the rest. Then we’ll test all assembled boards (with cables and antennas) on a table and with good sky conditions. After that, boards should be ready to ship.

We have tried and true manufacturing and supply partners in Estonia and around the world.

Shipping & Fulfillment

All orders will be shipped using Crowd Supply’s fulfillment services, from the United States. Please read this useful page about ordering, paying, and shipping from Crowd Supply.

Risks & Challenges

We already have good sources for electronic components, PCBs, and metal parts. We will assemble the boards with our own equipment for full control of the build quality. But, as with any hardware project and any amount of preparation, there can still be unexpected supply shortages or manufacturing issues. We have a lot of experience at finding problems in hardware and we have added a few weeks of padding into the schedule.

One especially difficult task is antenna resonator manufacturing. Delivery time of substrates is long, as is the manufacturing of the resonators themselves. This is why we have already manufactured 100 of the L1 resonators and 20 of the L2/L5 resonators. But we will keep an eye on sales numbers during the campaign and order the resonators in advance if necessary.

Should any issues arise during the manufacturing process, we’ll keep backers apprised via project updates.

Special Thanks

Campaign video music: Scott Holmes - CC BY 4.0

Thanks to Crowd Supply for providing copyediting, other help, and patience

In the Press


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Produced by Amungo Navigation in St Petersburg, Russia.

Sold and shipped by Crowd Supply.

NUT2NT+

An open, lowest cost Multi-Band Multi-system GNSS RF Front End.

$320 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

RA1 Antenna

A stable phase center single L1 band antenna.

$80 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

RA125 Antenna

A L1/L2/L5 multi-bands antenna.

$150 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

Support Us!

Thanks for helping make NUT2NT+ a reality!

$5

RF Cable

A SMA to SMA/TNC RF cable

$20 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

NUT2NT+ Early-bird

An open, lowest cost Multi-Band Multi-system GNSS RF Front End.

$250 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

About the Team

Amungo Navigation

 · 

Amungo Navigation creates hardware for geo-location.

Igor Tcarik
Strategic management, design of antennas
 igortsarik
Simeon Voropaev
Hardware design, manufacturing and testing
Sergey Speranskiy
PCB design
Ivan Makushkin
Software development, embedded and signal processing
Daria Ianovskaia
RF circuits design, RA antennas LNA and NUT2NT+ board's RF circuits
Dmitriy Bitsulya
Software engineering, C/C++ Developer, NUT2NT+ GNSS-SDR support
Ekaterina Kolomnikova
Hardware assembling
Nadezhda Bybko
Supply and fulfillment management
Vladimir Vikulin
FPGA Design and Verification Engineer, FAE
Artem Krivosheev
FPGA code design
Andrey Khazov
Metal parts design

See Also

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