Sintrones VDB-810 u-blox M8 GPS Mini PCIe Cards with Optional G-Sensor

Many in-vehicle computers need to know where they are, whether for tracking, telematics or simply stamping logs with a location and accurate time. The Sintrones VDB-810 series provides that from inside the computer: a full-size Mini PCIe card with a u-blox M8 receiver on USB 2.0, so there is no separate receiver box to mount and wire. Both VDB-810 cards are rated from -40 °C to 85 °C for operation and storage, run from the 3.3 V supply in the slot and measure 51 x 30 mm.

The u-blox M8 engine has 72 channels and receives GPS/QZSS, GLONASS and BeiDou concurrently, with SBAS. Sintrones quotes -167 dBm tracking and navigation sensitivity, -160 dBm acquisition and -148 dBm for an autonomous cold start, with a 26 s cold start, 2 s aided start and 1 s hot start, and horizontal accuracy under 2.5 m CEP autonomous or 2.0 m CEP with SBAS, with the timepulse accurate to 30 ns RMS. Output is NMEA 0183 V4.0, UBX and RTCM 2.3 at up to 10 Hz with GPS and GLONASS or 18 Hz with GPS alone, and AssistNow Online and Offline A-GPS is supported. The cards run on 3.3 V, drawing 150 mA at peak and 43 mA when tracking in eco mode.

There are two builds. The VDB-810 is the standard GPS card, for position, speed and time. The VDB-810G adds a 3-axis accelerometer on the same card, which can add motion data such as braking and impacts to each position record without a second module. Both use the same receiver, interface and footprint, so the choice depends on whether the application needs motion data as well as position.

In practice, the VDB-810 series suits vehicle tracking and fleet telematics computers, time-stamped video and data logging, and mobile equipment that reports its position back to base. The cards suit Sintrones computers with a free full-size Mini PCIe slot carrying USB 2.0, and the VDB-810 receiver handles velocities under 500 m/s and accelerations up to 4 g, with intelligent multipath detection and suppression. We fit and test the cards in the host computer as part of the build, with the antenna cabling routed to the enclosure, and the timepulse output can give logs from several systems a common time base.