Looking at the above  photo you might be thinking..what could be the need of such a module !,suppose your Circuit/PCB has a Zigbee Socket and you wan’t GPS NMEA data at your controller, you can simply place this module at the zigbee socket as this also works at 3.3 Logic level just like zigbee.The module communicates at 9600 baud rate(default) through the UART pins available onboard at the same positions from where zigbee communicates. So wherever Zigbee can be inserted there you can place in GPS-BEE,For Example you can use this module with many other LinkSprite‘s  products, like for Example you can use GPS-BEE with a..

• [bigcommerce link=”/xbee-shield/”]XBEE Shield[/bigcommerce]
• [bigcommerce link=”/linksprite-xbee-usb-adapter/”]XBEE USB Adapter[/bigcommerce]
•  
• Breakout Board for FT232RL USB to TTL 5V and Xbee

Then Let’s have a look how can we actually do it..

Using [bigcommerce link=”/linksprite-xbee-usb-adapter/” target=”_blank”]Xbee USB Adapter[/bigcommerce]/Breakout Board for FT232RL USB to TTL 5V and Xbee

Xbee USB Adapter  enables interfacing Zigbee modules with a Desktop PC as well as a Laptop alike. GPS-BEE is compatible with these. If  you want to check GPS-BEE using a Xbee USB Adapter then better to choose a laptop since it can be moved easily to a outdoor place.The GPS has this requirement i.e the module should be placed at a little outdoor place for its NMEA data to become fixed. So similarly Xbee USB interfacing module can be easily used to interface a GPS -BEE with a Desktop PC or a Laptop. Insert GPS-BEE into Xbee USB Adapter and then plug the adapter USB into any one of the available USB ports using a miniB USB cable. Install the necessary drivers for the adapter for its full tutorial click here.After installation choose the appropriate COM port that got assigned to the adapter in your system by looking into the device manager like shown below you can see USB serial COM4 got selected:

Select the same COM port in any other terminal software in order to view the NMEA GPS data,like for example we can view this ASCII data in a hyper terminal available in windows XP, below shown is the NMEA data which has not fixed:

Keep the device kept on the adapter near to a window or to any outdoor place till the data becomes fixed like shown below:

The ‘A’ in the $GPRMC header signifies that the NMEA ouput strings have become fixed.

Now, if you are having a [bigcommerce link=”/xbee-shield/”]XBEE Sheild[/bigcommerce] for Arduino and you wan’t to have GPS data to Arduino, you can simply remove Zigbee and place this module i.e GPS-BEE at its place….GPS NMEA data is ready at 9600 baud rate! or else you can opt for the GPS Shield itself.