How to log data in Madoca?

What is Madoca?

Madoca is a low cost GNSS receiver that uses QZSS signals to locate position. The whole instrument  consists of a dome shaped antenna, a receiver, a cable connecting antenna and receiver and a USB cable connecting laptop and receiver. Data is collected by precise point positioning method. The errors are automatically corrected by CORS stations and error free data is received by the receiver.

The best thing about Madoca is it is smaller in size, quite cheaper than survey grade receivers and give cm level of accuracy.

Logging data in Madoca

For logging data with Madoca receiver we need to have a desktop application called ‘Madoca Win’ installed on your laptop.

First of all open the ‘Madoca Win’  application. Once the application is opened there are some settings that  are to be adjusted. By default Rover is set to Online, Correction to Online and Processing mode to PPP-Kinematic. Configure  Rover as RX, Correction as DX and Processing mode as PPP-static in the application like shown below.

Fig1:  showing connection setup in MADOCA

Remember if the cables to the antenna or laptop is not connected properly or you don’t have them you won’t see the green loading symbol and values below ROVER, MADOCA and NMEA.

Now we will configure Setup for Rover and Correction

Rover setting
Click on Setup present on the right side of  Rover section. Keep Port and Baud rate value as  COM7 and 115200 respectively. Keep output data in .ubx format which will be later processed in RTKLIB.

Fig2: showing Rover setup setting of MADOCA

Correction settings

Click on Setup present on the right side of  Correction section. Keep Port and Baud rate value as  COM6 and 57600 respectively. Similarly, keep output data in .ubxformat.

Fig 3: showing Correction setup setting of MADOCA

Once all parameters are set data collection is started by clicking start/stop button. 

On successful parameter settingsyou will see the status screen like this.

Fig 4: showing status interface during data collection

You can wait for 30mins or more to log data. Lat/Lon Error goes on decreasing as more log time increases and more error free data can be obtained. You may also need to keep antenna on a tripod as it has better chances of getting QZSS signals quickly specially in crowded areas.

After Lat/Lon error are reduced significantly data log is stopped. Before stopping data log take screenshot of status menu and note down Latitude and Longitude. All logged data are stored in a folder MadocaLog in drive C. Inside MadocaLog folder you will see three folders ‘Correction’, ‘NMEA’ and ‘Rover’ and respective data inside them.

Further you can visualize collected Rover data in ‘RTKLIB’.