Some models of Cisco routers have inbuilt GPS antennas and it is possible to get location data from the router, using both CLI and SNMP.
Cool :-)
Is it possible to add code in NAV to import this GPS data into the "Position" field in the "Rooms" data?
It would be possible, but what happens in the case where there may be multiple GPS-capable routers registered in the same NAV room? Which router should be authoritative for the room location?
I was thinking the same, but decided that it would not much matter, if there are several GPS-capable routers in a single room the GPS data would not differ much, so the room could just get the GPS data from the last box that was read, no matter the order you read them in.
It would be a much larger job and probably a redesign of the program to move the location data to each netbox instead of the room.
Also, how often should the room position be updated? For a router in a trailer, updating every 6 hours would be too slow. For a stationary router, updating every 5 minutes would be a waste of resources ;)
For this specific customer they are not that interested in real-time positioning of their trailers so a timescale of hours would be fine. But maybe some other NAV users would like a more rapid update cycle. If NAV had a default update period of f.ex. 6 hours, but it was possible to change that on a room by room basis, if the case where you have "rooms" that "move about", that would be nice. A GPS-capable router on a trailer is configured in a "room" called "Trailer L22" for example, so you would want to change the update frequency for that particular room, not for a GPS-capable router in f.ex. an LNG station that is stationary.
For routers that are in a static location it means the location will be correct, not a best effort by pointing on a map. :-)
How is the GPS coverage inside buildings these days? :)
Really bad, but that is why the cable for the GPS antenna is normally longer than that for the 4G antenna. ;-) Normally the GPS antenna is placed on the outside to get a line of view to the satellites, while the 4G coverage is perhaps sufficient inside the room. If not, get extender cables for the 4G antennas also.
But we use these industrial routers from Cisco because they are certified for hazardous locations and manage temperatures outside normal room temperatures :-)
Cisco IR829 Environmental operating range: -40° to 140°F (-40° to 60°C) in a sealed NEMA cabinet with no airflow -40° to 158°F (-40° to 70°C) in a vented cabinet with 40 lfm of air -40° to 167°F (-40° to 75°C) in a forced air enclosure with 200 lfm of air
so we install the router in a metal cabinet on the outside wall with a IP67 waterproof dome antenna (4G + Wifi 2.4GHz/5GHz + GPS) on top of the cabinet. This works very well.
roger@nav:~$ snmpwalk -On -c secretpw -v 2c 10.140.73.1 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.661.1.4.1.1.1
CISCO-WAN-3G-MIB. Good to know :)
So, any hope of getting this GPS data in a future release? :-)
- Roger