G-Mouse VK-172 USB GPS GLONASS Receiver, u-blox 7

The VK-172 G-Mouse is a USB GPS/GLONASS receiver dongle that plugs straight into a laptop, mini PC or single-board computer such as a Raspberry Pi. It gives a ground station, antenna tracker or companion computer its own position fix and accurate time without any flight-controller wiring.

Key features

• u-blox 7 receiver supporting GPS and GLONASS satellites
• Appears as a USB serial port streaming standard NMEA sentences, readable by gpsd on Linux, the NMEA GPS input in QGroundControl and most mapping software
• Time accuracy of 1 microsecond makes it a usable clock source for a field laptop or Pi with no internet connection
• Antenna built into the dongle, so there is nothing extra to mount

Specifications

• Chipset: u-blox 7
• Constellations: GPS, GLONASS
• Interface: USB
• Tracking sensitivity: -162 dBm
• Acquisition sensitivity: -160 dBm
• Position accuracy: approx. 3.5-5 m
• Time accuracy: 1 microsecond
• Operating limits: 18,000 m altitude, 500 m/s

This is a USB device for computers, not a flight-controller GPS: it has no UART lead and no compass. For a drone's own navigation, choose a UART GPS module instead.