There are three ways to connect an Android phone to a GPS or flight logger:

  1. IOIO box. The IOIO OTG provides the best (easy to set up and reliable) way to connect to the Nook while maintaining almost zero battery discharge rate. The page below describes how to set up this connection.
  2. Opening the Nook and soldering a GPS directly to the Nook's motherboard TTL port. This is reliable, but requires some soldering skill and opening up the Nook.
  3. Host USB mode (not recommended). Click here for more information.
Here is the basic configuration for using an IOIO OTG box with an Android device.
Nook-w_IOIOOTG-Notes.jpg
The IOIO OTG box is pretty well documented here and also at Soartronic.

The IOIO OTG provides power to your PDA, phone or Nook.



Android to Serial or USB -- IOIO OTG


The IOIO connects or more serial loggers to your Android that runs Top Hat or XCSoar. There are two flavors of the IOIO board available:

If you are not running a Nook, then use the older IOIO V1 board to connect to your Android phone instead of the IOIO OTG board. It is simpler to install because the IOIO V1 board can be run directly on 12V input without any RF interference issues. Click here to see examples of IOIO V1 boxes.

For Nook users, you can create an IOIO OTG box in almost the same way as you create an IOIO V1 box except use an IOIO OTG board instead of an IOIO V1 board. The primary difference is that the IOIO OTG has a noisy 12v-5v step down power supply so you have to power it with 5V instead of 12V to avoid RF noise on your radio.

OPTION 1:

If you have 5V available from your ship (for example the Cambridge 302 outputs 5V), then simply use the 5V from the Cambridge to power the IOIO OTG board. Using 5V as input, the IOIO OTG does not generate any RF interference with aircraft radios. Follow the instructions for building the IOIO V1 box but use an IOIO OTG board instead of the IOIO V1.

OPTION 2:

The second option, is to purchase a noise suppression circuit. The easiest way is to purchase the Soartronic.net IOIO UART interface board that includes the box and all the parts you need for the entire project except the IOIO OTG board.

OPTION 3:

The third option is to follow the same design as the older IOIO V1 box and add a 'clean' 12V-5V converter to power the IOIO OTG. You will power the IOIO OTG board with the 5V instead of the 12V. We've found a 12V-5V converter here for about $12.00 that eliminates the RF interference on the aircraft radios we've tested.

Here's an image of an IOIO OTG box with the 12V-5V converter in it. This box includes a cable for the LX Nano which does not require the MAX 3232 converters. If you have a serial logger like the Cambridge 302 you will also add the MAX3232 converter.
IOIO_OTG_BuckConverter_GL.jpg

An IOIO OTG board inside an enclosure with with a separate low-noise 12V-5V power supply. The logger connection is for an LX Nano which does not require a Max 3232 chip.

IOIO_OTG_BuckConverter_External_GL.jpg
The same IOIO OTG box viewed from the outside.