arduino fio v3, GPS NMEA reading error, crazy output - c++

Question

Hello I have a GP20U7 GPS that transmits in NMEA. I am currently reading in that character by character. But it seems to give me two somewhat reasonable NMEA formatted strings and then just goes silly, any help?
I have all my code attached below. I am also outside, so i shouldn't have any connection errors. I also have waited over two minutes for a connection and it still outputs the same mess.
also below is what the character output looks like in my serial monitor.
$GPRMC,233720.00,V,,,,,,,251016,,,N*7B
$GPVTG,,,,-‰‰‰ÉJi‚j
$GP$4$G$G6$G$GP$G
$G$GG$G$G$$G$GP$G0$G$A*$G$G,$G0$T$G7$1$G,$R$G,$GÒ,$G
$6$G5$1$G,$1$G7$7$G,$G$G,$G$G,$GA$1$G3$
#include <XBee.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <SparkFunMPL3115A2.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <SparkFunLSM9DS1.h>
#include <SoftwareSerial.h> //XBEE Comms
#include <SD.h>
SoftwareSerial XBee(0, 1); // RX, TX (0 and 1 are the TX/RX pins
SoftwareSerial gps(9, 10);
MPL3115A2 altimeter;
LSM9DS1 accelerometer;
#define LSM9DS1_M 0x1E //I2C addresses of the LSM9DS1
#define LSM9DS1_AG 0x6B
#define PRINT_CALCULATED
const int chipSelect = 10;
void setup()
{
accelerometer.settings.device.commInterface = IMU_MODE_I2C;
accelerometer.settings.device.mAddress = LSM9DS1_M;
accelerometer.settings.device.agAddress = LSM9DS1_AG;
gps.begin(9600);
XBee.begin(9600);
accelerometer.begin();
altimeter.begin();
altimeter.setModeAltimeter();
altimeter.setOversampleRate(7);
altimeter.enableEventFlags();
XBee.println("start");
}
void loop()
{
File dataFile = SD.open("datalog.txt", FILE_WRITE);
char rc;
if(gps.available())
{
rc = gps.read();
Serial.print(rc);
}
else
{
Serial.println("NOT Available");
}
float altitude = altimeter.readAltitudeFt();
float temperature = altimeter.readTempF();
XBee.println("Altitude");
XBee.println(altitude);
XBee.println("Temperature");
XBee.println(temperature);
XBee.println("Next");
delay(100);
dataFile.close();
}
The data looks like it should be correct, but displays weird
characters.
After removing the delay this is what my output looks like:
$GPRMC,183714.00,V,,,,,,,,,,N*75 $GPVTG,,,,,,,,,N*30
$GPGGA,1ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ$ÿGÿPÿRÿMÿCÿ,ÿ1ÿ8ÿ3ÿ7ÿ1ÿ8ÿ.ÿ00ÿÿ,Vÿÿ,,ÿÿ,,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿNÿÿ7ÿ9ÿ
$GÿÿPVÿÿTGÿÿ,,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿNÿÿ3ÿ0ÿ
$ÿÿGPÿÿGGÿÿA,ÿ1ÿ8ÿ3ÿ7ÿ1ÿ8ÿ.ÿ0ÿ0ÿ,,ÿÿ,,ÿ,ÿ0ÿ,ÿ0ÿ0ÿ,ÿ9ÿ9ÿ.ÿ9ÿ9ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,
$ÿGÿPÿGÿSÿAÿ,ÿAÿ,ÿ1ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,,ÿ9ÿ9ÿ.ÿ9ÿ9ÿ,ÿ9ÿ9ÿ.ÿ9ÿ9ÿ,ÿ
$ÿGÿPÿGÿLÿLÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,1ÿÿ83ÿÿ71ÿÿ8.ÿ0ÿ0ÿ,ÿVÿ,ÿNÿÿ4ÿEÿ
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ$ÿGÿPÿRÿMÿCÿ,ÿ1ÿ8ÿ3ÿ7ÿ1ÿ9ÿ.ÿ0ÿ0,ÿVÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿNÿÿ78ÿÿ
$GÿPÿVÿTÿGÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,Nÿÿ*3ÿÿ0
$ÿGÿPÿGÿGÿAÿ,ÿ1ÿ8ÿ3ÿ7ÿ1ÿ9ÿ.0ÿÿ0,ÿÿ,,ÿÿ,,ÿ0ÿ,ÿ0ÿ0ÿ,ÿ9ÿ9ÿ.ÿ9ÿ9ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,$ÿGÿPÿGÿSÿAÿ,ÿAÿ,ÿ1ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,,,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ9ÿ9ÿ.ÿ9ÿ9ÿ,ÿ9ÿ9.ÿÿ99ÿÿ,9ÿ
$GÿÿPGÿÿLLÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ1ÿ8ÿ3ÿ7ÿ1ÿ9ÿ.ÿ0ÿ0ÿ,Vÿÿ,Nÿÿ*4ÿFÿ
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ$ÿÿGPÿÿRMÿCÿ,ÿ1ÿ8ÿ3ÿ7ÿ2ÿ0ÿ.ÿ0ÿ0ÿ,ÿVÿ,ÿ,,ÿÿ,,ÿÿ,,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿNÿÿ7ÿ2ÿ
$ÿGÿPÿVÿTÿGÿ,ÿ,,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿNÿÿ3ÿ0ÿ
$ÿGÿPÿGÿGÿAÿ,ÿ1ÿ8ÿ37ÿÿ20ÿ.ÿ0ÿ0ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ0ÿ,ÿ0ÿ0ÿ,ÿ9ÿ9ÿ.ÿ99ÿÿ,,ÿÿ,$GÿÿPGÿÿSAÿÿ,Aÿ,ÿ1ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,,ÿÿ,9ÿÿ9.ÿÿ99ÿ,ÿ9ÿ9ÿ.ÿ9ÿ9ÿ,ÿ9
$ÿÿGPÿGÿLÿLÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ,ÿ1ÿ8ÿ3ÿ7ÿ2ÿ0ÿ.ÿ0ÿ0ÿ,Vÿ,ÿNÿ*ÿ4ÿ5ÿ

Answer 1

As we discussed on the Arduino forum, remove the delay(100).
Update 1:
The next problem is that you are printing 15 characters every time you don't receive a GPS character. So... you're printing that message a lot. And then you send a new XBee message, regardless of whether you received one character. Aaaand you're opening and closing the SD file on every iteration of loop. That's a lot. All of those things keep loop from reading the GPS characters. Again, those characters stack up in the input buffer until its full and they start getting dropped.
I would suggest looking at the examples for my GPS library, NeoGPS. They are all structured around the GPS update interval. The Installation instructions suggest a few sketches to try. The Troubleshooting section may help you understand the interaction between the GPS interval and printing (too much!).
It's important to understand that the GPS devices sends several hundred characters each second (i.e., "interval"). NeoGPS parses those characters into a fix structure, and makes it available, once per second. After a fix becomes available, the GPS device is "quiet" until the next interval begins (maybe in 0.4s). That's the perfect time to do something else, like send an XBee message.
Also, SoftwareSerial is very inefficient, so it could also be causing problems. AltSoftSerial is a better choice if you can put the GPS on pins 8 & 9.
BTW, the lower-case y with umlaut is character 255. I suspect you called gps.read() without first testing if (gps.available()). When no characters available, read() will return -1, which is printed as a 255. You probably modified something that we can't see.
The Arduino forum would be a better place for this kind of "conversation". (I'm replying to your comment below... :P ) It will take several iterations before your sketch works. When it does, we can come back here with a summary answer. Here's your post if you don't mind working over there.