Car Radio signal level meter - MTCD Android Head Units Q&A

Has anyone come across or developed a software or prog that will read the hardware mcu signal level or value from the car fm aerial?
Not wifi, bluetooth, gsm etc.
I've looked for ages for a simple hardware meter type thing to measure the signal from my antenna, but no luck.
Most meters 'out there' are either very professional and expensive or are for transeiver type swr.
Thanks

Is it an MTCD type unit

Hi, yes it is. Why I posted in this group. It's possible though someone has made a general android app that is universal.
If it's even possible.

Related

Can the FM receiver be used as a TMC?

I'm wondering if the RDS data output of the FM receiver can be redirected to a virtual COM port to be used as a TMC receiver with GPS programs like destinator 7.
Strange mate!
even if it was possible then the reviewer said that it only worked when the headset was connected guess it act the role of antenna would be bothersome to have the wiredheadset hanging while using it as gps
Hi Rudegar, great to see the red/white flag ;-)
Headset vs. FM antenna can be handled software wise.. eg. on Eten G500
As soon as headset is plugged a popup asks to redirect sound to ext. speaker for navigation purpose.
As for the TMC / FM radio in HTC products.. (Polaris, Artemis etc.).. Haven't seen a solution yet, RDS is supported in both products, so if TMC mesages runs on the default RDS stream it should be technical possible.
Merry X-mas and Happy Newyear (go' bag(h)jul)
Rudegar said:
even if it was possible then the reviewer said that it only worked when the headset was connected guess it act the role of antenna would be bothersome to have the wiredheadset hanging while using it as gps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that this could be a problem: I'm thinking on connecting the device in my car with a "Y" connector, one of the outputs to the sound system (car radio) and other to a power system. It is easy to connect the car antenna with a capacitor to the sound line.
Then the Device will be connected to a external headeset, with good antenna capacity, and at the same time to the car power.
cptn_dk said:
Hi Rudegar, great to see the red/white flag ;-)
Headset vs. FM antenna can be handled software wise.. eg. on Eten G500
As soon as headset is plugged a popup asks to redirect sound to ext. speaker for navigation purpose.
As for the TMC / FM radio in HTC products.. (Polaris, Artemis etc.).. Haven't seen a solution yet, RDS is supported in both products, so if TMC mesages runs on the default RDS stream it should be technical possible.
Merry X-mas and Happy Newyear (go' bag(h)jul)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, TMC is only a filtered data stream of the RDS network. Obviously it will be needed to know the correct RDS chain that works in each country for TMC, but it is only information.
The question is: Is there any known way to extract online information of the RDS data from the FM receiver programatically?
I can do a program that attach to any API or hardware interface and present the data in a virtual port.
beemerTPPC said:
Yes, TMC is only a filtered data stream of the RDS network. Obviously it will be needed to know the correct RDS chain that works in each country for TMC, but it is only information.
The question is: Is there any known way to extract online information of the RDS data from the FM receiver programatically?
I can do a program that attach to any API or hardware interface and present the data in a virtual port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, i can't help you too much but i remember that some time ago, perhaps a year ago, hackers been cheating on RDS and people been foolish when reading on their car radios notices like "alarm because of ..." . I don't remember also wich country, perhaps Australia or Usa.
User22 said:
Well, i can't help you too much but i remember that some time ago, perhaps a year ago, hackers been cheating on RDS and people been foolish when reading on their car radios notices like "alarm because of ..." . I don't remember also wich country, perhaps Australia or Usa.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also remember that, but I'm talking of the opossite side of teh RDS: Trafic information is sent like these RDS hackers sent their "information" but in a data format called TMC. Inserting this RDS transmited-TMC coded information into some GPS navigation software helps the software to create optimized routes.
I've seen the Polaris manual and the FM receiver is RDS compliant, then the RDS data transmited over the FM modulation is decoded iniside the Polaris and shown in the screen. But: If we could extract these RDS information from the decoder and make it available in a serial virtual port, then GPS navigation software running in the polaris could take advantage of it.
I need the FMS_API.DLL, then there is TMC/TMC Pro !!!
from what I've read most navigation software support combined gps/tmc on the same com port. this means someone should extract also the gps data and combine both...
At least Destinator 7 supports two separate comports for GPS and TMC.
beemerTPPC said:
At least Destinator 7 supports two separate comports for GPS and TMC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it must be changed gpstmc.dll. but the FMS_API.DLL penetrate needed!!!
IGO 8 supports TMC too with different data port.
igo 8 autodetect polaris as tmc
cant find a station though... i think in spain tmc use am not fm
Can you please explain step by step how to do this ? Cause it doesn't looks likes igo8 detects any TMC on my Polaris. It just seems to try all ports and protocols available in it and claims it "TMC device not found" at the end.
Forgot to mention, the TMC protocols available for selection in the igo8 version i did this attempt on are:
GNS
Royaltek
Eten
Amaryllo
Open TMC v1
Open TMC v2
Ngai Lik
Samsung
Fx
AVANTEQ
There is NO TMC support for our POLARIS
There is NO TMC support for our POLARIS
The hardware is not there!
Demodulating the RDS data is all that hardware is supposed to do, the rest can be done by software. Polaris got an FM radio receiver that seems to show the station names. The only place it can get those names from is an RDS stream, so it is already doing the demodulation of that !
Mc0815 said:
I need the FMS_API.DLL, then there is TMC/TMC Pro !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If still interested, here there is a nice original HTC test package (from the Diamond) containing test FM dll and exe.
Works on Cruise too, and looks more flexible than standard FM radio application. Maybe this code is more useful than standard ROM one.
*BUMP*
Any progress? i'd love to have this on a blackstone.

[Q] O2 Serra/Touch Pro FM radio tuner

Hi,
I've been trying to get the FM radio tuner working on my O2 serra which currently has radio version 1.14.25.32 on it. The tuner does work, but the reception is extremely poor and I have tried various different headphones, but none show any improvements. The thing is, I remember it working better than it does now, basically it seems to have degraded, but I don't know at what point, I'm not sure if flashing newer radio versions has affected it at all and therefore I have a couple of questions:
1) Does the radio version actually affect/control the BlueTooth/FM/wifi chip ?
2) Are there any settings or registry entires that can be changed to improve the reception ?
3) Is there a better radio version I should be using ?
When I start the FM radio app. there is a ot of static and the signal strength is full up and I can hear faint radio stations, it won't auto tune in to anything accept my FM transmitter use in the car, even then the signal strength only goes up to the 4th bar.
Sorry for all the basic questions but I've searched and read lots on here but nothing to really answer these question directly.
Regards,
Andy
P.S. I'm actually trying to get TMC working with hypergps, but the reception is making it useless. I even tried it connected to my car antenna with some improvement, but nowhere near enough.

[Q] Read ambient RSSI using Wifi

Hi,
I am looking for an API that can read the current ambient rssi with Wifi interface even if there is no AP in the range. Current APIs only returns rssi for an associated AP. How can I add this API in a build? Any direction would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Hossen
What is an ambient RSSI?
If there is no AP in range, whose signal strength do you want to read?
Even if there is no AP, there is some noise signal available (ambient noise). I am working on a project where I need to read the ambient noise value.
Thanks.
Dark3n said:
What is an ambient RSSI?
If there is no AP in range, whose signal strength do you want to read?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dark3n said:
What is an ambient RSSI?
If there is no AP in range, whose signal strength do you want to read?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rssi stands for relitive signal strength indication. It is used to measure the received signal strength in a radio receiver.
So what they are looking for is a way to intercept the signal strength that the wifi is receiving from the wireless router and be able to show it on the screen.
Oh and by ambiant noise they are talking about the background noise from other transmitters that might be using the same radio frequencys that the wifi is using.
sent from my legend, currently using extream legend fuse™
asiful said:
Even if there is no AP, there is some noise signal available (ambient noise). I am working on a project where I need to read the ambient noise value.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This might be more appropriate to do research on radio transmitions rather than apps on a phone, for example, set yourself up with radio scanners and antennas that cover the radio frequency's that wifi uses.
P. S. I am a licenced radio ham as well as playing with my phone.
sent from my legend, currently using extream legend fuse™
Any moving on?
Hi, guys. I have almost the same problem.
I am working on a project which need to read signal strength in BCM4313.
I try to measure the wireless signal strength ( Adding noise and normal signal up) in the environment constantly. The sample rate is 1000 Hz, for example.
I was working on CC2420 chip-set (which supports 802.15.4). RSSI in CC2420 can does that thing. So I just wonder does RSSI in WiFi has the same functionality.
So I try to dig into the source code of driver , I still can't figure out how to do that.
Thanks for any help.
Best,
Nathan
I found the answer
After reading the source code of the driver for several days, I finally found the method.
There is no general API to do this job. We should dig into driver to obtain ambient rssi. So this is product dependent.
My NIC is Broadcom BCM4313.
I first download the driver from the website of Broadcom. However they don't provide interface to access the hardware. It cost me a lot of time to figure out this.
Then I turn to the open source driver: brcmsmac. It helps.
In the function wlc_phy_noise_sample_request(...) , in /phy/phy_cmn.c folder, I found the example for how to read ambient rssi.
Nathan

Nameless Headunit Reviews / Experiences

I'm looking for an Android headunit and was wondering what everyone's opinion was on the various no name manufacturers? So far I've tested a few Cusptech units, but noticed several flaws. I'm sure if I had access to the MCU source code or schematics, I could fix the issues myself. Ultimately it'd be nice to be able to use a custom ROM on it.
In any case, here's my take on the CP-F011 from Cusptech. Please add to this thread with your experience for other units. Hopefully this can provide some guidance for anyone looking to purchase an Android headunit.
OS / General
The units I purchased all came with Android 4.4.2 installed. After a few days of use, I haven't noticed any serious issues with the user interface aside from it being seemingly cluttered. One nice feature it has is integrated WiFi. The antenna is internal, so the range is pretty limited though.
Power On / Off - One frustrating thing for me is that the unit always has to boot up when the accessory line is turned on, despite the constant hot line always having power. It'd be much nicer if the unit would go into lower power mode rather than completely shutting down. Interestingly, the tuner and sound come on almost immediately while the OS is booting.
AM/FM Radio - With a plain old AM/FM antenna, this tuner is essentially worthless. On my stock Ford nav unit, I get excellent reception across the FM band. The Cusptech unit however picks up nothing but static with maybe a slight hint of a radio station here and there. I'll try again with an amplified antenna to see if it makes a difference.
Bluetooth - In the Android settings menu, there's an option to turn on Bluetooth. When selected, it tries to turn something on, then shows an error message indicating failure, and shuts off again. Despite the UI showing Bluetooth off, the unit broadcasts as "Apple" and allows a phone connection with my HTC One.
GPS Receiver / Navigation Apps - I hope to test this in the coming days. By default the unit is configured for Waze, which I've never used. After playing around with a bit, I'll see about using Google Maps.
Rear-view Camera - No complaints here. When voltage is applied to the reverse line, the display flips to the rear camera instantly. No picture-in-picture functionality, but that also means the rear-view camera works while it's booting.
Sound Quality - I haven't had a chance to connect this unit with the appropriate speakers, so I can't comment on this yet. Will update when normal speakers arrive.
On a side note, if anyone knows of a unit that someone has been able to write custom MCU code for, please let me know. I'd be more than happy to contribute my software/hardware development expertise in making it better. At this point, if the enclosures weren't such a PIA to build, I'd design my own.

Hardware Development Enabling audio output on VW MkVI GTI w/ Dynaudio

I'm not sure this is the best place for this, but given how hard it was to find good information about this combination, I thought I'd put it here.
I purchased a M500S for my MkVI GTI, however when I installed it, I couldn't get any audio output. Searching the internet for how to use the stock amp with an aftermarket head-unit yielded lots of different information, most of it wrong. I talked to the vendor, but they were less than helpful, indicating that Dynaudio was unsupported with this head unit (true) and that VW used an optical signal to communicate between the head unit and amplifier (untrue). I saw a post from @COASTER19 regarding reading the steering wheel buttons on an Audi here, which looked awfully similar to my steering-wheel/gauge cluster, so figured I'd give it a go myself.
So I built hooked a cheap CAN bus controller to a Raspberry Pi, and analyzed my current (working head unit). I was able to determine that:
The media CAN bus runs at 100 kbps (as opposed to the drivetrain canbus which runs at 500 kbps)
The amplifier has an identifier of 0x6C7
The amplifier can be powered on/off via CAN bus commands
Once powered on, the M500S audio worked fine
The amplifier supports direct balance/fade commands (which may be useful some day in the future)
With this info, in hand, I made a simple circuit from an Arduino Pro Mini + MCP2515 module that is activated from the 'Amp Power' lead on the back of the radio. It simply replays the messages I snooped from the current head-unit, and now my M500S works perfectly with the stock Dynaudio amplifier/speakers. I don't currently send the fade/balance commands to the amp, so maybe the quality could be better, but that is a project for another day.
I have released the schematics, code and what CAN info I have on GitHub here.
In theory this project could completely replace the module that came with the unit and/or provide music/navigation updates on the gauge cluster as well, but that requires figuring out how to get that info out of the head unit, and I don't have the time to write an Android application to do so right now.
While trying to identify the CAN ids, I found this post by @hugovw1976
regarding a Golf 6 with some CAN bus commands: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/mtcd-kgl-px5-canbus-problem-with-vw-golf-6.3632690/post-73939457
That post identifies the following canids:
0x2C3: power on/off
0x635: lights on/off
0x470: doors open
0x35B: RPM
0x527: Speed and outside temperature
0x621: Wiper state and fuel level
0x65D: odometer
0x351: reverse and brake
0x571: battery voltage
0x151: seat-belt state
I didn't spend too much time investigating these, but I at least see some correlation with the battery voltage, door-open, and fuel-level canids, so they are probably accurate. However, I was not able to correlate the odometer, so probably further investigation is needed there.
AxesofEvil said:
I'm not sure this is the best place for this, but given how hard it was to find good information about this combination, I thought I'd put it here.
I purchased a M500S for my MkVI GTI, however when I installed it, I couldn't get any audio output. Searching the internet for how to use the stock amp with an aftermarket head-unit yielded lots of different information, most of it wrong. I talked to the vendor, but they were less than helpful, indicating that Dynaudio was unsupported with this head unit (true) and that VW used an optical signal to communicate between the head unit and amplifier (untrue). I saw a post from @COASTER19 regarding reading the steering wheel buttons on an Audi here, which looked awfully similar to my steering-wheel/gauge cluster, so figured I'd give it a go myself.
So I built hooked a cheap CAN bus controller to a Raspberry Pi, and analyzed my current (working head unit). I was able to determine that:
The media CAN bus runs at 100 kbps (as opposed to the drivetrain canbus which runs at 500 kbps)
The amplifier has an identifier of 0x6C7
The amplifier can be powered on/off via CAN bus commands
Once powered on, the M500S audio worked fine
The amplifier supports direct balance/fade commands (which may be useful some day in the future)
With this info, in hand, I made a simple circuit from an Arduino Pro Mini + MCP2515 module that is activated from the 'Amp Power' lead on the back of the radio. It simply replays the messages I snooped from the current head-unit, and now my M500S works perfectly with the stock Dynaudio amplifier/speakers. I don't currently send the fade/balance commands to the amp, so maybe the quality could be better, but that is a project for another day.
I have released the schematics, code and what CAN info I have on GitHub here.
In theory this project could completely replace the module that came with the unit and/or provide music/navigation updates on the gauge cluster as well, but that requires figuring out how to get that info out of the head unit, and I don't have the time to write an Android application to do so right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I registered to this forum specifically to reply to your post. THANK YOU. I have just installed an aftermarket head unit and it went swimmingly until I discovered that it doesn't play nicely with my factory upgrade audio system. Then things went from bad to worse when I discovered that the Dynaudio/Fender amplifier is controlled via CAN, not just some 12V signal. I was going to reinstall the factory RNS510 and sniff the CAN bus when I came across this post and your github code.
I have not tried it yet, as I am hoping that the vendor (who is VERY responsive) will be able to integrate it right into the radio. Failing that, I'll be able to whip up a similar circuit to yours and be up and running. Thank you for sharing not just the code, but the technical details behind it. I truly appreciate it!

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