Unable to communicate with GNSS RTK Mobile KIT0198 EU using NVIDIA Jetson Nano via I2C or UART
Enoch.Asante 2026-09-28 17:29:10 51 Views1 Replies Hello,
I am trying to connect the DFRobot GNSS RTK High Precision Positioning Kit mobile station, KIT0198 EU, to an NVIDIA Jetson Nano, but so far I have not been able to establish communication using either I2C or UART.
I2C test
I connected the mobile station to the Jetson Nano I2C interface and set the selector switch on the RTK Mobile to I2C.
On the Jetson I ran:
sudo i2cdetect -y -r 1
The Jetson sees devices at 0x24 and 0x40, but there is no response at 0x20.
According to the DFRobot library and documentation, I understand that the RTK Mobile should normally use I2C address 0x20.
I have also tried scanning without the -r option.
UART test
I then changed the selector switch to UART, power cycled the RTK Mobile, and connected:
RTK TX to Jetson RX
RTK RX to Jetson TX
RTK GND to Jetson GND
I tested 115200 baud as well as other common UART baud rates, but I could not receive any NMEA output.
I expected to see messages such as:
$GNGGA,... $GNRMC,...
but no serial data was received.
Oscilloscope test
We also checked the communication lines using an oscilloscope.
We were unable to observe useful communication data from the module on the interface lines.
The RTK Mobile powers on, but communication with the Jetson Nano is currently not working.
Could someone from DFRobot please help confirm the following?
Is 0x20 definitely the correct I2C address for the KIT0198 EU mobile station?
Should the mobile station appear directly in i2cdetect when the selector is in I2C mode?
Is any initialization required before the device responds on I2C?
What I2C clock frequency should be used?
What is the factory UART baud rate?
When switched to UART mode, should the mobile station continuously output NMEA data immediately after power up?
Is any configuration required before changing from I2C to UART?
Is there a recommended Linux or NVIDIA Jetson example for communicating with this module?
Are there any additional diagnostic points or LEDs we can check to confirm that the internal GNSS module and interface controller are operating correctly?
If necessary, I can also provide photos of the wiring, oscilloscope measurements, Jetson pin connections, and additional terminal output.
Thank you for your help.
Enock
I'd isolate this on a known-good host (Arduino MEGA/ESP32 with the RTK example) before blaming the Jetson front-end. If it works there, it's the Jetson serial setup; if it doesn't, it's the module/wiring.
Good that you power-cycled after switching modes - that's required. A few things to zero in on:
Jason.Miao 