The Inertial Solutions firmware on the Processor Card uses the NAVMAN (Conexant) binary protocol (rather than NMEA), thus obtaining more information at twice the serial line speed (9600 bps).  In addition to position, the horizontal velocity (direction and speed) is extracted once per second, as is vertical velocity.

The Inertial Solutions firmware also interfaces one Processor Timer channel to the UTC time mark signal, thus allowing the operating system software to synchronize to the time mark to a resolution of 1 milli-second.  Therefore, the precise timing of scheduled events is possible whether it is a single unit schedule or whether multiple units are acting in concert.

“Keep alive” back up power is provided to the receiver’s static RAM and Real-Time-Clock from a button battery cell on the Sensor Interface Card.  This feature is intended to provide the receiver with a fast “warm start” capability by maintaining an accurate clock source and using position and satellite data stored in SRAM after prime input power is removed from the receiver. 

GPS Receiver, Active antenna, 20’ Cable, host firmware
GPS receiver mounted on the Sensor Interface Card	click to enlarge