BU Surveying Surveying & Engineering Division

System 1200 Newsletter – No. 26 v2.10 Firmware – What’s New

V2.10 – WHAT’S NEW?

Last week, v2.10 firmware for System1200 in-struments was released. This latest firmware can be loaded onto all System1200 instruments – TPS1200, GX1200 and GRX1200.

This new firmware contains mainly new features for the GRX1200 (reference station GPS sensor) but also does contain some very useful features for the GX1200 and TPS1200.

A complete overview of all new features can be found in the System1200 v2.10 Release Notes which are available on all System1200 v2.10 firmware CDs. Alternatively they can be obtained from the Leica download web page when downloading the firmware itself:

http://downloads.leica-geosystems.com/downloads/.

Note, the new firmware is protected which means that a valid maintenance contract is re-quired for each instrument. If the contract is not valid then the firmware cannot be loaded.

This newsletter describes the features of the “main” firmware and the loadable application programs.

NEW FEATURES – MAIN FIRMWARE

This section describes the new functionality which can be found in the “main” firmware – new features found in the loadable application pro-grams are described later.

Note, some new features are common to both the GPS and TPS instruments – others are in-strument specific.

NEW FEATURES COMMON TO BOTH GPS AND TPS

PIN and PUK Codes: It is now possible to con-figure your System1200 instrument such that each time the instrument is turned on, a PIN code must be entered before the instrument can be used. This may be useful where in some countries where insurance companies offer lower insurance premiums for instruments which can be protected in this way.

You can activate this functionality and choose the PIN code (which must consist of between 4-6 digits) in the CONFIGURE Start Up & Power Down panel PIN Code page view.

You then have 5 attempts to enter the correct PIN code after turning on the instrument. If after 5 attempts the correct PIN code was not entered, then the PUK code must be entered.

The PUK code is specific for each instrument and can be found on the delivery note of new instruments, or can be obtained from your local Leica dealer for already delivered instruments.

Use geoid and CSCS models from internal memory: With previous firmwares, it was possi-ble to use geoid and CSCS models from the CF card or from the System RAM of the instrument.

The advantage of using a model from the CF card is that large (possibly country wide) models could be used (dependant on the size of the CF card), but there was always the risk of formatting the CF card. The advantage of using a model from the System RAM is that it is not easily de-leted, but there is a limit to the size of the model which can be used (dependant on what is else is currently stored on the System RAM).

It is now possible to use geoid and CSCS mod-els from the internal memory of the instrument (if internal memory is fitted). This combines both

BU Surveying Surveying & Engineering Division

System 1200 Newsletter – No. 26 v2.10 Firmware – What’s New

advantages above – larger models can be used but cannot be easily deleted.

LEICA Spider v2.00 RTK Data formats: LEICA Spider v2.00 software was recently released. This already very popular software now includes the ability to setup and control RTK networks (a future newsletter will go into detail about RTK networks and Spider software).

System1200 firmware v2.10 now fully supports all RTK network options within the Spider soft-ware which are as follows:

Nearest: The current position of the rover is sent to the Spider software. This allows reference station networks to select the reference station closest to the rover.

i-MAX: Use when receiving individualised net-work corrections (i-MAX) from a GPS Spider network.

MAX: Use when receiving network corrections in the new RTCM v3 Master-Auxiliary format (eg from a GPS Spider network).

VRS and FKP: Same functionality as for previ-ous firmware versions.

NEW FEATURES FOR TPS1200 ONLY

Automatic computation of Geometric ppm: With v2.10 firmware it is now possible to auto-matically compute the Geometric ppm correc-tions which should be applied when computing the coordinates of a point being measured.

The Calc Scale prompt has been added to the CONFIGURE TPS Corrections panel in the GeomPPM page view.

Selecting Manually means that the geometric ppm value can be “manually” computed as on previous firmware versions.

Selecting Automatically means that the geo-metric ppm value will be “automatically” com-puted.

The ppm values are computed using the current TPS station coordinates based on the currently active coordinate system.

Each time any application program (Survey, Stakeout, Reference Line etc) is started then the geometric ppm value is re-computed based on the TPS station coordinates (which may have been updated) and the currently active coordi-nate system (which may have changed). This way, you are always working with the correct geometric ppm values.

Note, if you choose to use the WGS84 or <None> coordinate system then the geometric ppm value cannot be automatically computed – a message panel is shown and you can then either manually enter the ppm values or accept ppm values of 0.

NEW FEATURES FOR GRX1200 ONLY

More information on the features specific to the GRX1200 sensor can be found in the GRX1200 web interface online help.

BU Surveying Surveying & Engineering Division

System 1200 Newsletter – No. 26 v2.10 Firmware – What’s New

GRX1200 Web Interface: GRX1200 receivers are now equipped with a web interface, which allows user-friendly configuration and operation of the instrument using a standard web browser.

The web interface includes everything needed to setup your instrument and to provide conven-tional RTK corrections through one or more of its ports, to log raw data onto the CF card, or to stream GPS data to other users. Ethernet con-nections as well as serial cables can be used to establish connections between the computer running the web interface and the sensor.

More details on the web interface can be found in the Getting Started Guide for the GRX1200.

You can also click on this link to access a GRX1200 already connected to the internet in Heerbrugg. http://10.60.36.32/index.asp.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) security for web interface access: The Internet is today a stan-dard tool to communicate with reference station sensors. This simplifies installations and also helps to keep the customer’s costs low, but also requires a higher degree of security measures.

Beside the security of a proprietary operating system and IP access range restrictions, the GRX1200 is now equipped with SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption.

Support of streaming BINEX data: BINEX (Binary Exchange Format) is an exchange for-mat for GPS data defined by UNAVCO -http://binex.unavco.org.

Streaming of BINEX data is now supported for all GPS1200 sensors. BINEX streaming can be configured with OWI as well as the web inter-face.

NEW FEATURES – LOADABLE APPLICATIONS

This section describes the new features found in the loadable application programs are described later.

NEW LOADABLE APPLICATION PROGRAMS

This section describes the new loadable applica-tion programs which are available.

Athletics program (TPS only: art no. 744866) A new Athletics Measurements application pro-gram is available for TPS1200 instruments - this allows measurements to be taken for athletics field events using a System 1200 instrument.

Distances or heights may be measured for the following events - Pole Vault, Triple Jump, Long Jump, Discus, Hammer, Shot Putt and Javelin.

Distances and heights are recorded according to the rules set out in the Competition Rules Hand-book of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Machine Guidance (MGuide) program (TPS only: art no. 741679)

The MGuide application for TPS1200 is no longer a standalone application - it only works together with GradeStar v5.0 and LMGS v4.0 applications and features mainly supportive tasks for these 3D Machine Automation applica-tions.

UPDATES TO EXISTING LOADABLE APPLICATION PROGRAMS

Unless otherwise mentioned below, there are no improvements to all existing loadable application programs – all v2.00 loadable application pro-grams can be used with v2.10 firmware.

Small improvements have been made to the following loadable application programs and

BU Surveying Surveying & Engineering Division

System 1200 Newsletter – No. 26 v2.10 Firmware – What’s New

v2.10 versions are available: RoadRuner (TPS and GPS), Stakeout (TPS1200 only), Align-ment Tool Kit (TPS and GPS) and TPS Hidden Point (TPS1200 only – Japanese version only).

Additionally, small improvements have been made to the Traverse (TPS1200 only) applica-tion which now includes the ability to receive additional user guidance when using the applica-tion.

The User Guidance option can be activated in the CONFIGURE Traverse panel.

SUMMARY

The new System1200 v2.10 firmware is now available. It is protected and therefore needs a valid maintenance contract to be used - it is available now and can be obtained from the Leica web download site.

There are improvements for both the GPS1200 and TPS1200 instruments. It is strongly recom-mended to read the accompanying Release Notes before loading and using the firmware.

The next week newsletter will describe the im-provements made to the loadable application programs.

Please contact your local Leica representative if there are specific topics you would like covered in these newslet-ters.

We welcome all suggestions for TPS1200, GPS1200, specific applications or LGO. We look forward to receive your ideas.