NEO-8Q / NEO-M8 - Hardware integration manual 
UBX-15029985 - Production information  Hardware description   Page 7 of 8 
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1.4.2  USB 
A USB version 2.0 FS (Full Speed, 12 Mbit/s) compatible interface is available for communication as 
an alternative to the UART. The USB_DP integrates a pull-up resistor to signal a full-speed device to 
the host. The VDD_USB pin supplies the USB interface. 
u-blox provides Microsoft® certified USB drivers for Windows 7,  Windows 8 and  Windows 10 
operating systems. These drivers are available at our website at www.u-blox.com 
USB external components 
The USB interface requires some external components to implement the physical characteristics 
required by the USB 2.0 specification. These external components are shown in Figure 2 and listed in 
Table 1. To comply with USB specifications, VBUS must be connected through an LDO (U1) to pin 
VDD_USB on the module.  
In  USB  self-powered  mode,  the power supply (VCC) can be turned off and the digital block is not 
powered. In this case, since VBUS is still available, the USB host would still receive the signal indicating 
that the device is present and ready to communicate. This should be avoided by disabling the LDO 
(U1) using the enable signal (EN) of the VCC-LDO or the output of a voltage supervisor. Depending on 
the characteristics of the LDO (U1) it is recommended to add a pull-down resistor (R11) at its output 
to ensure VDD_USB is not floating if the LDO (U1) is disabled or the USB cable is not connected, that 
is, VBUS is not supplied.  
☞  USB bus-powered mode is not supported. 
Module
VDD_USB
LDO
VDD_USB
R4
USB_DP
USB_DM
R5
C24 C23
D2
VBUS
DP
DM
GND
USB Device Connector
U1
EN
R11
EN
 
Figure 2: USB interface 
 
Name  Component  Function  Comments 
U1  LDO 
Regulates VBUS (4.4 …5.25 V) 
down to a voltage of 3.3 V. 
Almost no current requirement (~1 mA) if the GNSS receiver is 
operated as a USB self-powered device. 
C23, C24  Capacitors    Required according to the specification of LDO U1 
D2 
Protection 
diodes 
Protect circuit from overvoltage / 
ESD when connecting. 
Use low capacitance ESD protection such as ST Microelectronics 
USBLC6-2. 
R4, R5 
Serial 
termination 
resistors 
Establish a full-speed driver 
impedance of 28…44 Ω 
A value of 27 Ω is recommended. 
R11  Resistor   
100 kΩ is recommended for USB self-powered setup.  
Table 1: Summary of USB external components 
1.4.3  Display Data Channel (DDC) 
An I2C compatible Display Data Channel (DDC) interface is available on NEO-8Q and NEO-M8 series 
modules for serial communication with an external host CPU. The interface only supports operation 
in slave mode (master mode is not supported). The DDC protocol and electrical interface are fully 
compatible with the Fast-Mode of the I2C industry standard. DDC pins SDA and SCL have internal 
pull-up resistors.