I'm using an Arduino GPS shield which provides a header, power, and signal routing for a GPS chip.
The GPS datasheet specifies that pins 1 and 5 are GND.
The following is a part of the PCB layout where the GPS header plugs in. Pin 1 is the top pad, and Pin 5 is 5th from the top. The corresponding pads for those pins aren't connected to anything on the board it seems.
Pic 1 (Layout):
Pic 2 (PCB):
Pic 3 (PCB) - I tried to see if I could see the other layers so I held the board up to the light:
So my questions are:
1) Are pins 1 and 5 in fact connected to a ground plane? If not, how are they grounded?
2) Is the ground plane the dark green layer that's visible in some areas?
3) If #2 is true, how come you can see through some dark-green parts of the board (like right next to the header pin traces), and not others?
Also, the schematic and layout are available at this link:
http://www.ladyada.net/make/gpsshield/download.html
Thanks in advance for any help. I know it might be kind of a tedious question, but I search both the forums and the web for some answer and wasn't able to figure it out, so hopefully any info will benefit others as well.
The GPS datasheet specifies that pins 1 and 5 are GND.
The following is a part of the PCB layout where the GPS header plugs in. Pin 1 is the top pad, and Pin 5 is 5th from the top. The corresponding pads for those pins aren't connected to anything on the board it seems.
Pic 1 (Layout):
Pic 2 (PCB):
Pic 3 (PCB) - I tried to see if I could see the other layers so I held the board up to the light:
So my questions are:
1) Are pins 1 and 5 in fact connected to a ground plane? If not, how are they grounded?
2) Is the ground plane the dark green layer that's visible in some areas?
3) If #2 is true, how come you can see through some dark-green parts of the board (like right next to the header pin traces), and not others?
Also, the schematic and layout are available at this link:
http://www.ladyada.net/make/gpsshield/download.html
Thanks in advance for any help. I know it might be kind of a tedious question, but I search both the forums and the web for some answer and wasn't able to figure it out, so hopefully any info will benefit others as well.
Last edited: