This tutorial will show you the initial connection with Ekinox, Apogee products from SBG systems, where to find the software and manuals, and start using the system.

Downloading the Software development Kit

Ekinox and Apogee embed a web interface allowing to connect to the sensor to configure and monitor it but we advise you to install the latest Inertial SDK which gives you access to SBG tools such as sbgCenter or sbgNetworkDiagTools plus install the sbgEcom development kit. Those tools will help you integrating and monitoring the sensor.

Install the Inertial SDK (Windows)

To install the Intertial SDK, execute the downloaded file and a wizard will guide you through steps. Once completed, the Wizard gives you the choice to launch directly the sbgCenter software.

Documentation and Resources

This center provides access to all the documentation you might need during your product evaluation and integration:

You can find the documentation and resources for Ekinox and Apogee such as hardware manual, mechanical drawings in the Ekinox Documentation and Apogee Documentation sections.

On this link you will find the Operating Handbooks and external aiding integration guides.

You can also find the Firmware manual and sbgECom, as well as all Firmware releases and change notes.

Hardware Connection

The power supply has its own dedicated port and a Main and Auxiliary connectors are available providing several communication interfaces, such as Ethernet, serial, and synchronization / event markers.

The main connector is mainly used to connect and configure the sensor. Ethernet communication should as a minimum be connected on the main port to access to the web interface.

Depending on model, 2x GNSS antennas are available ( Ant1 for position, Ant2 for GNSS heading computation). TNC cables of various length, depending on customer’s needs are also provided,
The Illustration below shows how it is connected. 

Connection to the Web Interface

The Ekinox / Apogee embed a web interface which can be either accessed using the sbgCenter or directly from any modern web browser thanks to Zeroconf / Bonjour Service technology.

To directly access the device web interface, simply type the product name and serial number in your web browser URL field as shown below:

  • http://ekinox_xxxxxxxxx.local/ for EKINOX series
  • http://apogee_xxxxxxxxx.local/ for all APOGEE

With xxxxxxxxx being the serial number of the system.

The second generation Ekinox devices (aka Ekinox2) should use following address : http://ekinox2_xxxxxxxxx.local/

For best experience, SBG Systems recommends the following web browsers to be used:

  • Chrome / Safari
  • Firefox
  • Edge

In case you did not install the SDK, make sure the Bonjour Service is running on your computer or you may not be able connecting to the interface. If the service is not installed or your network configuration prevent the access to the device, you can either use the sbgCenter or the sbgNetworkDiag tool to retrieve or configure the IP address. Please look at the article IP recovery tool for detailed information.

Web Interface

Once connected, you can open the different tabs available on the web interface, as shown in the screenshots below.

Monitoring and information

General and Status tabs allow monitoring the sensor. Information allows retrieving information, controlling the logger and managing firmware version.

Status tab

Information tab

Configuring your product

The configure button will give you access to the configuration menu:

You can set the different parameters to use the product in your application:

You can find find guidance to configure your product for specific applications in the Operating Handbooks section.

Interface to third party software and systems.

The INS is compatible with most popular survey software suites such as Qinsy, Hypack, or PDS2000 using their dedicated driver.

In addition to specific driver developed, the Ekinox and Apogee series are compatible with a wide range of third party devices thanks to the support of NMEA protocol as well as other protocols (ie; TSS1, Kongsberg, …). This enables seamless integration into existing systems using those protocols.

Communicate with the sbgECom library

A convenient way to interface an Ekinox / Apogee with C programs is to use the sbgECom library. With simple C functions, you can retrieve the device's output very quickly. Library source code is provided with example to help you to start. Have a look here: Binary protocol Library (sbgECom)

Data logging using internal logger

The sensor embeds a data logger with 8 GB of memory. We advise, as good practice to set up the internal data logger to start at power on, and set it on Support preset, as you can retrieves all necessary logs for analysis, post processing or even trouble shooting.

You can retrieve then the logged files using the FTP server, at this address: ftp://ekinox_xxxxxxxxx.local./  or ftp://apogee_xxxxxxxxx.local./ with xxxxxxxxx being the serial number of the system.

The recorded files can be directly used by Qinertia post processing suite. You can find details in High Performance INS - Post-Processing Guide.