RTS client installation - norlab-ulaval/Norlab_wiki GitHub Wiki

The client used to controll the Robotic Total Station (RTS) is a raspberry pi zero 2W with a Waveshare SX126X LoRa Hat for communication and a Waveshare LC29H (DA) GPS Hat for time synchronization (PPS). OS installed is PI OS Bookworm Lite (Ubuntu 22) in 32-bit (it's important to use ARM32 since the SDK is meant for that architecture).

LoRa Module Setup

On Windows OS install the LoRa Module Driver from CP210x USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers.
Decompress the ZIP file > right-click on silabser.inf > Install.
Download the software RF_settings
Remove the M1 Jumper (11) on the LoRa module

Plug the LoRa module in your USB port
Launch RF Settings Software > Select COM port > Open > Get
Use the following settings > Set Params > Close

Unplug the LoRa module and put back the M1 jumper

GPS Module Setup

Since the LoRa module already uses the main UART (serial port 0) we need to enable a mini-UART (serial port 1) to connect the GPS pins for GND, 5V, RX and TX pins. To do so we need to follow this blog on how to scrape and solder the GPIO 23 and 24 to re wire them to GPIO 32/33 for RX and TX as follow.

In the end the wyring of both LoRa and GPS modules should look like this:

Pi Zero 2 W                   LC29H GPS HAT                  LoRa HAT
+-----------+                  +------------+                 +------------+
|           |                  |            |                 |            |
| GPIO23 TX | <--------------  | GPS RX     |                 |            |
| GPIO24 RX | -------------->  | GPS TX     |                 |            |
| GPIO18 PPS| <--------------  | PPS OUT    |                 |            |
| GND       | ---------------- | GND        | --------------- | GND        |
| 3.3V/5V   | ---------------- | VCC        | --------------- | VCC        |
| GPIO14 TX | ----------------------------------------------> | RX         |
| GPIO15 RX | <---------------------------------------------- | TX         |
+-----------+                  +------------+                 +------------+

Notes:
- GPS HAT UART1 wired to GPIO23/24 → mini UART (/dev/serial1)
- PPS from GPS connected to GPIO18 for time sync
- LoRa HAT uses UART0 (GPIO14/15) → no conflict

Pi Zero Boot

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

At the end of the file in the section all copy paste the following:

[all]
dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host
dtoverlay=pitft28-capacitive,rotate=90,speed=3200000,fps=20
dtoverlay=disable-bt
enable_uart=1
dtoverlay=uart1,txd1_pin=32,rxd1_pin=33
dtoverlay=pps-gpio,gpiopin=18

Installation

Install requirements:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install nmcli
sudo apt install git -y
sudo apt install cmake -y
sudo apt install python3-pip -y
sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev -y

Verify serial interface status:

sudo raspi-config

→ Interface Options → Serial

“Login shell over serial?” → No

“Enable serial port hardware?” → Yes Then reboot.

Confirm that the usb port is enabled:

lsmod | grep dwc2

If no output:

sudo modprobe dwc2

Plug a total station and use:

lsusb

You should see:

Create udev rule

sudo micro /etc/udev/rules.d/10-trimble.rules

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="0101", ATTR{idVendor}=="099e", MODE="0666", GROUP="users", SYMLINK+="theodolyte"

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger
ls -l /dev/theodolyte

Create SSH key for GitHub

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C [email protected] -q -N ""
eval $(ssh-agent -s)
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
git config --global user.email [email protected]
git config --global user.name Norlab Team

Then add this ssh key in Git Hub norlab account.

Serial

cd ~ && mkdir -p repos && cd repos/
git clone [email protected]:norlab-ulaval/cpp_serial.git
cd cpp_serial/
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build -j
sudo cmake --install build --prefix /usr/local

Theodolite SDK and Theodolite Client

cd ~/repos
git clone [email protected]:norlab-ulaval/theodolite_interface.git
git clone [email protected]:norlab-ulaval/theodolite_client.git
cd theodolite_interface
./build.sh
cd ../theodolite_client
mkdir build & cd build
cmake ..
make

Open the bashrc and copy the LIBRARY_PATH (WIP to fix)

micro ~/.bashrc

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib/theodolite_interface:/home/robot/repos/theodolite_interface/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Service

sudo micro /etc/systemd/system/theodolite.service

Copy Paste the following file:

[Unit]
Description=Theodolite Client Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/home/robot/repos/theodolite_client/build/
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c 'source /home/robot/.bashrc && /home/robot/repos/theodolite_client/build/theodolite_client 1 1 0 1 1'
Restart=always
StartLimitIntervalSec=1
StartLimitBurst=0
User=root
Environment=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib/theodolite_interface:/home/robot/repos/theodolite_interface/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart theodolite.service
sudo systemctl status theodolite.service

PPS time sync

Install and test pps:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install chrony pps-tools
sudo ppstest /dev/pps0

You should see timestamps pooping in.

Configure chrony:

sudo micro /etc/chrony/chrony.conf

refclock PPS /dev/pps0 refid PPS

sudo systemctl restart chrony
chronyc sources -v
chronyc tracking

You should see PPS as Reference ID after waiting a few minutes.

sudo systemctl enable chrony
sudo systemctl is-active chrony

Compare with the robotic platform time:

watch -n 0.1 date -u +"%H:%M:%S.%N"

Install and configure gpsd:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install gpsd gpsd-clients
cgps -s

Test to GPS to verify that NMEA messages are getting in.