Setting Up NovAtel Hardware

The novatel_oem7_driver by Hexagon | NovAtel® works with OEM7® type NovAtel GNSS or SPAN® type receivers. For example, this could be a PwrPak7, an OEM7720, or some other OEM7 hardware.

The configure a NovAtel receiver, you must:

• Provide power to the receiver
• Have a way to communicate with the receiver (hardware and software)

Power Supply

For the power supply requirements for your particular receiver, please refer to the Power Supply Requirements documentation on the NovAtel Documentation Portal.

OEM7 Hardware Communications

There are a few different ways you can communicate with your OEM7 receiver using novatel_oem7_driver:

• RS-232 (a logic level shifter may be required)
• USB Virtual Serial Ports
• Ethernet (on supported models)

• WiFi (on supported models)

OEM7 receivers can also be communicated with via CAN bus, however there is no direct support for this in novatel_oem7_driver. Therefore, the integrator/user would have to devise a means to provide a virtual TCP/IP, UDP/IP or serial interface to their CAN bus, in order to possibly use novatel_oem7_driver with a CAN-connected OEM7 receiver.

USB Communications

Newer Linux Kernels will show your OEM7 receiver when connected over USB (visible via the 'lsusb' command). Older systems need to be configured to know to connect your OEM7 receiver to the common 'usbserial' kernel module.

Note that on Ubuntu Linux systems, for a user account to use a serial device, the account must be a member of the 'dialout' user group.

If you do not see your NovAtel receiver listed by 'lsusb' when USB connected and powered-on, then you must configure your Linux system to attach the USB device to the 'usbserial' kernel module.

Optional: Persistent USB driver configuration with usbserial via udev

1. Create a new udev rules file, such as: /etc/udev/rules.d/z90_novatel.rules

2. Paste the following contents in to your new udev rules file:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="0100", SYSFS{idVendor}=="09d7",
PROGRAM="/sbin/modprobe usbserial vendor=0x09d7 product=0x0100"

BUS=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="0100", SYSFS{idVendor}=="09d7",
SYSFS{product}=="NovAtel GPS Receiver", SYSFS{manufacturer}=="NovAtel Inc.", SYMLINK+="gps%n" 

3. Reboot your system (or restart the necessary services for the changes to take full effect).

Optional: Temporary USB driver configuration with usbserial

You can use the following line at the command line to temporarily instruct the Linux USB serial kernel module to drive your OEM7 device:

echo '09d7 0100' > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/generic/new_id

Optional: Legacy USB Driver

Legacy systems may try the NovAtel Linux USB driver. This should not be necessary due to Linux's usbserial kernel module. You can download the installer for this driver here:
https://novatel.com/support/support-materials/usb-drivers

Network Communications

You can use IP networking such as ethernet or Wi-Fi with the novatel_oem7_driver, provided your OEM7 receiver supports IP networking. This setup process merely requires that you configure your receiver's network configuration so that it's reachable by the machine running novatel_oem7_driver.

The OEM7 Documentation Portal has extensive documentation regarding configuring networking on your receiver. Key pages of this documentation are:
Ethernet Configuration
Static IP Configuration
Dynamic IP Configuration
Wi-Fi Configuration

Once you have configured your networking on your receiver. You must make sure that the computer running novatel_oem7_driver can communicate with your receiver. You could use test the network connection to your receiver with NovAtel Connect or a command-line utility such as netcat. Note that NovAtel Connect installation instructions are provided in Section 5, below.

For example, to connect to the ICOM1 port on a typical receiver that is configured with an IP address of 192.168.19.1 with netcat:

nc 192.168.19.1 3001

Once connected, you can send a basic log command to verify that you are indeed connected. For instance, you could get the VERSION log:

LOG VERSION

If you are connected to your receiver, then the above command will return a log that resembles:

<VERSION USB1 0 72.0 FINESTEERING 2025 247123.828 02000020 3681 14970
<   11
<      GPSCARD "FFNRNNCBES1" "BMHR17090005E" "OEM7700-1.00" "OM7CR0500RN0000" "OM7BR0001RB0000" "2018/Jul/10" "14:37:01"
<      OEM7FPGA "" "" "" "OMV070001RN0000" "" "" ""
<      WHEELSENSOR "" "" "" "SWS000101RN0000" "" "2018/Jul/10" "14:37:28"
<      WIFI "RS9113" "" "" "1.6.8" "" "2018/Jul/10" "14:37:32"
<      APPLICATION "" "" "" "EP7AR0500RN0000" "" "2018/Jul/10" "14:37:13"
<      DEFAULT_CONFIG "" "" "" "EP7CR0500RN0000" "" "2018/Jul/10" "14:37:23"
<      PACKAGE "" "" "" "EP7PR0500RN0000" "" "2018/Jul/10" "14:37:18"
<      DB_WWWISO "WWWISO" "0" "" "WMC010201AN0004" "" "2017/Sep/20" "21:00:04"
<      ENCLOSURE "" "NMNE17200009B" "" "" "" "" ""
<      REGULATORY "US" "" "" "" "" "" ""
<      IMUCARD "Epson G320N" "" "" "" "" "" ""

(The VERSION log is discussed here: https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Logs/VERSION.htm)

Once your network is configured and confirmed to be working, then you're ready to configure your novatel_oem7_driver to work with your receiver over your network.

Tools for configuring your OEM7 receiver

You may interface with your OEM7 receiver using the NovAtel Connect desktop application for Windows or Ubuntu Linux. Alternatively, you can directly connect to your receiver's firmware and configure it manually.

Once you have connected to your receiver, you can configure it for use with the novatel_oem7_ros driver. Depending on your use case, you may not need to pre-configure your receiver at all. Some users will want to pre-configure their receiver to use a specific IP address (for models that have ethernet/wifi network support).

NovAtel Connect for Windows

NovAtel Connect for Windows may be downloaded from the NovAtel Support website here:
https://novatel.com/support/firmware-options-pc-software/novatel-connect

NovAtel Connect for Linux

There is a beta version of NovAtel Connect for Ubuntu Linux. It can be downloaded by going to the following location: https://files.novatel.com > Software > Connect > Connect 2.x > Beta

To run it, you must extract the archive, mark the extracted file as executable and then run it.

Manual Configuration

You can directly connect to your OEM7 receiver and manually configure it using a terminal program. This approach requires that you become familiar with the OEM7 Firmware Commands. If you would rather use a desktop application, then you should use NovAtel Connect.

OEM7 Firmware Command Documentation

The OEM7 Firmware command documentation is available here:
https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Commands/OEM7_Core_Commands.htm

Applications for Manual Receiver Communication

To manually configure your receiver, you will have to use a terminal program that can interact with your receiver. What program to use depends on how your receiver is connected to your computer. For RS-232 or USB connections, you can use minicom. For ethernet or Wi-Fi connections, you can use netcat. Windows users can use PuTTY to connect directly to their receiver both for IP networking and for serial connections.

Manual OEM7 Receiver Configuration Documentation

Once you have connected to your receiver you can alter the configuration as discussed in the documentation portal here:
https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Configuration/Configurations.htm

Manual OEM7 Receiver Network Configuration Documentation

OEM7 receivers have internal control ports mapped to network ports, these are called ICOM ports. A document on setting up ICOM communications is available at:
https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Operation/ICOM_Communications.htm

Further Configuration Assistance

If you require further assistance with the basic configuration of your OEM7 product, please contact NovAtel Customer Support, here:
https://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Front_Matter/Customer_Support.htm

Return to the novatel_oem7_driver page for next steps