The code uses many different standard in order to integrate all of its external components. There were several key components that were required by the main loop (the position estimator). Namely, these were the GPS, the LCD, and the external A/D Converter. In order to best implement this software, we chose a pseudo object-oriented approach.  Since C is not a natively object orientated language, this implementation can be difficult to start, but the overall gain in ease of debugging and modularity make it all worth while!
 

The GPS Receiver
The GPS Receiver is implemented such that only the necessary external functions are visible from the top level C file. In the declaration, two extern type variables represent the entire GPS.  This keeps the code less "dense" and more readable, as all the low level function are hidden away in the GPS.c and .h files.

In these files resides the NMEA 0183 parser. NMEA is a specification released by the The National Marine Electronics Association and specifies its messages in pure ASCII. The 0183 specification has certain GP messages that represent different readings from the GPS receiver. Each message is terminated with a <CR><LF> (carriage return, line feed), and the data itself is comma delineated. This is the defacto standard for modern commercial GPS receivers. For our purposes, the message $GPRMC (Recommended Minimum Specific GPS Transit Data) contains all the necessary headers, summarized below:

Data Pos	Data
1	UTC Time of Position/Fix (hhmmss)
2	Status   -> A = valid, V = invalid
3	Latitude ddmm mmmm format
4	Latitude Hemisphere (N or S)
5	Longitude ddmm mmmm format
6	Latitude Hemisphere (E or W)
7	Speed in knots
8	Course (0-360 deg)
9	UTC Date of position fix (ddmmyy)
10	Magnetic Variation (0 to 180 deg)
11	Magnetic Variation Direction (E or W)
12	Mode Indicateor (A = autonomous, D= Differential, E = estimaed, N = none)

 

The LCD
The LCD we used was a  Crystal Fontz CFAG12864B-WGH-N Graphical LCD. We developed this LCD from the ground up, and developed a neat library to print characters despite the fact it is a graphics only LCD. 
As seen by our functional prototypes, the functions are clearly named and take simple variables as their arguments. The LCD code has a character bitmap which it uses to print each character, and this bitmap is stored in the chip's flash.

We also have a graphical "ruler" which functions as the compass when the GPS is operating. This ruler uses the same "graphics" library, and is also stored in flash. The rotating of this ruler is done entirely dynamically, so 360 copies are NOT stored in flash!

The LCD interface itself was quite challenging, and quite demanding on the ATMEGA. This cycle takes almost 100 ms, so we buffer the data before printing it to screen to avoid changing characters mid-print. Further optimization may be possible given more time, but this was not a primary focus of the project.


 

The A/D Converter
Due to the nature of our project, the on-chip analog to digital converter would not be sufficient for obtaining the full range of our sensors at adequate precision. Therefore, we chose to use a higher precision A/D converter that we had laying around our lab. It is a 12 bit, multi-channel A/D with a serial interface, and in our attempt to keep the program easy to follow, we followed out object oriented model with this unit as well.

After calling the init and CnvSetup functions, the data is automatically updated in the ADCdata array. This is accomplished by relying on an internal clock within the A/D converter which latches the A/D values and throws an interrupt. We capture the interrupt and update the values in the ADCdata within the AD.c code.