[APP][22FEB10]TMC R&D: Get TMC from the FM radio of your device

The project have finnaly reached final V1.0 stage. It is based and born from the great project of forum user flywhc that you can read in "RDS-TMC FM Radio R&D: Get radio text, Alt Freqency, free TMC etc" thread.

This one is based on flywhc API ver 1.6: . It is operational and can be used with DecoRDS, iGo 8, Route 66, Navigon and any other program that supports Royaltek or GNS protocols for TMC.

01/19/2010: Added Samsung I800 support thanks to user phjz. Still in beta stage so you have to follow this instructions . Use this thread to report issues to phjc.

What is new in V1.0.1:
-New cab for Eten/Acer users with GFMAPI for Eten V1.0 : Solves some issues with the volume.

What is new in V1.0:
-New cab for Eten/Acer users with GFMAPI for Eten Beta 8.
Currently it works with M900 and M800 Eten/Acer devices only.
-Solved the issues with FM radio mute
-Solved the issues with sound redirection to speaker.
-No need to use beta 5 anymore, but I leave it in download area

What is new in Beta 9:
-GNS scan down support

What is new in Beta 8:
-Full GNS protocol support. Tested under iGO and Navigon
GNS needs TMC+GPS option to be selected althought if it is not, HyperGPS will send fake GPS sentences.
-Less CPU consumption and lower memory footprint
-Optimized test program: Now RSSI is correctly shown under Royaltek mode, unused buttons are hidden under GNS mode and all the behaviour has been polished.
-RDS and TMC indicator in test program.
-Log mode redesigned to make more useful and readable logs.
-Removed fake RDS message under Royaltek mode. Not necessary with correct timmings.
-Soved an issue with block ratio not always sent.

Known Issues:
-The FM radio can't be used for music, news, while the driver is active even if it is closed.
-If the driver is leaved loaded when not in use, the FM radio is on, what means a small current is dropped from your battery. Again HGPS_Switch can be helpful with this issue.


Install:
Use the cab provided to install/upgrade your current version. The cab will create a program entry in "Programs"
If necesary install the certificate beemer_cert.cab
For Windows Mobile Standard only: Download the "HGPSClient FOR SMARTPHONES.zip" file, unzip and copy it over the instaled one in \Program files\HGPSClient\HGPSClient.exe. Is a bad modification that at least will allow you to access to al configuration fields. I'll improve this in future releases.

Testing:
With the headphones connected...
1-Start HyperGPS. A screen with several options will be shown:
-COM Port: select a free port on your device. I use COM9: and COM6: but any not listed on HKLM\Drivers\Active subkeys neither reserved for bluetooth should work.
-FM Band. Select the band that applies in your country
-Data output. Select "TMC" for programs that use separate serial ports for GPS and TMC and "GPS + TMC" for those with only one port connection.
-Sound output: Select Speaker or headphone for the main PDA sound output.
-Mute radio: Select Mute or tuned sound for testing.
-Log Mode: Not logged or data logged.
-Protocol: Select royaltek or GNS. For testing porpouses use Royaltek. Also for initial GNS tunning select first Royaltek.

2-Press the TMC button. The driver must load inmediatelly being shown at the top of the page. If an error pops up, you should install beemercert.cab. Some devices (or ROMs) needs the driver to be signed, others not. This driver is signed but as long as Verisign wants 400$ for a certificate I've done my own one, but it needs to install my certificate.

3-Once loaded, select Menu-Test
The test screen appears. We will use this to find a station that transmits TMC. You can enter a frequency directly in the top box ie: 95.8 and press Set, or tune with |< < > >|.
In the Send Box you will see the commands sent to the driver, and in the Receive the responses from the driver. Once you have found a TMC capable station you will see responses. The format depends on the protocol used.
The RDS/TMC indicator will show you if the station has that capabilities.
Man button means that the tunning is set to manual. Press it and the tunning will change to Auto and the driver will automatically search for a TMC enabled station.
GNS only support scanning UP but doesn't support auto mode in the test program. Also it doesn't show signal level.

5-You can leave the driver loaded and exit the program for testing porpouses, but it is STRONGLY RECOMENDED that you use HGPS_Switch to manage the driver and launch your navigation program.

Using it with iGO 8:
-Select Royaltek and TMC data on the driver.
-Open Igo, go to settings, TMC and select Royaltek and the port defined for the driver and press find hardware. You will see a screen that allows you to tune the radio. Use the automatic search function or unselect the automatic tunning and search manually the frequency that transmits TMC. Once reached you will see a message indicating TMC presence.
-Then you can go to the Map, tap in the GPS icon, and then in the car and you'll see the traffic alerts.

Using it with Navigon:
-Select GNS protocol and GPS+TMC data in the driver.
-Open Navigator, go to GPS settings, select combined receiver and the port defined for the driver. Go to Traffic and configure TMC. Select Fixed frecuency or automatic. You will see the TMC messages received.


-HGPS_Switch:
I've developed a small utility called HGPS_Switch.exe that can be used with ANY of the HyperGPS versions.
Its is a small program that will load the HyperGPS driver, launch your navigation program, wait for navigation program exit, and then unload the driver.
With the driver being "fresh" loaded every time iGO starts, it should avoid the no TMC on second igo start issue. Also being unloaded when not in iGO, it should solve the No Awaken from suspend issue.
Also, with the driver unloaded the FM can be used to hear music

I've done it in a way that allow using it with different navigation or RDS applications withouth needing to change configurations.

1-Copy the HGPS_Switch.exe file from \Program Files\HyperGPS to the navigation application folder.
2-Create a link to the navigation application executable in the same folder.
For example, in your desktop, navigate to your mobile device, find the iGo8.exe file, and with the right mouse button select Create link.
You can do also wiith copy/paste link in Resco explorer
3-Rename the link to NavApp
For example, if you have igo8.exe.lnk rename it to NavApp.lnk (maybe you can't see the .lnk extension but it is there).



Unloading the driver:
-In this version you can't use the FM radio while the driver is loaded. To unload it enter the HGPSClient program and press TMC again until it unloads. Can take up to a minute and is faster if you disconnect the headphones.
-If you are using HGPS_Switch, the driver will unload automatically on navigation program exit.

Reception
User Nakebod have done an excelent tutorial about improving reception with a custom made FM antenna. You can find it here.

NOTES:
The driver needs the GPS intermediate driver to have a COM: output port configured. It is the usual behaviour on devices with GPS, but for those of you that cannot connect to the driver at all, please verify this.

Unninstalling:
Unninstall or upgrade it as any other Windows Mobile program, but for faster unninstall or upgrade be sure than the driver is unloaded prior to do it.

Copyrights
The protocols used by HyperGps are not not for free use. So this program must be considered experimental and educational and under no circunstance can be used for real navigation or professional uses.
GNS is a registered trademark of gns-gmbh.
Royaltek is a registered trademark of Royaltek

Donations:
Please, help us to improve the code and justify ourselves with our families for the time taken in development, making donations to the following paypal accounts:

beemerTPPC:

flywhc:

Thanks to the following donators:
Hans-D., Ido W., Luis D., David P., Robin L., Bjørn G., Mario v., Stefan M., Marcel C., Haicheng W. , Jeremy H., Pavel K., Rowdy v., Herbert K., Trimecs, Karoly B., Ingmar B., Rainer V., Volker K., Matthias B., PWJ C., Remko V., Alexandre K., Michael V., Awi S., Peter A., Cyril C., Markus S., Stefan A., GJAman, Robert M., Amos G., Herbert K., Paul V., Lars K., Michael S., Kévin L., Robert B., Alexandre K., Edwin P., Ginette G., Carlos E., Pekka H., Max B., Martin S., Hans-Jörg F., Stefan P., Benjamin H., Robert T., Georg G., Sven E., Miguel Z., Alan E., John P., Frank G., Florian G.,Mathias A., Andreas R., Daniel R., Mate T., Marco G., Lutz K., Kévin L., Marc W., Mario W., Bram M., Daniel S., Carbone C., Maniscalo M., Clemens G., Wolfgand V., Alexandre K, Lutz A.


DOWNLOADS



Enjoy it!

alexovy said:

@devs: is there any chance to see this on android?

Thank you!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

No, there is no gps nav app with TMC support in Android.

Is this project dead? Does it work with any modern android devices?