= gpsd_json(5)
:author: Eric S. Raymond
:date: 8 November 2025
:email: <esr@thyrsus.com.>
:keywords: gps, gpsd, JSON, libgps
:manmanual: GPSD Documentation
:mansource: GPSD, Version {gpsdver}
:robots: index,follow
:sectlinks:
:toc: macro
:type: manpage

include::../www/inc-menu.adoc[]

== NAME

gpsd_json - gpsd request/response protocol

== OVERVIEW

*gpsd* is a service daemon that can be used to monitor GPSes, DGPS
receivers, Marine AIS broadcasts, and various other location-related and
kinematic sensors.

Clients may communicate with *gpsd* via textual requests and responses
over a socket. It is a bad idea for applications to speak the protocol
directly: rather, they should use the *libgps* client library (for C;
bindings also exist for other languages) and take appropriate care to
check in their code for the expected major and minor protocol versions.

The GPSD protocol is built on top of JSON, JavaScript Object Notation,
as specified in <<RFC-7159>>: The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data
Interchange Format. Similar to ECMA 404.

GPSD's use of JSON is restricted in some ways that make parsing it in
fixed-extent languages (such as C) easier.

A request line is introduced by "?" and may include multiple commands.
Commands begin with a command identifier, followed either by a
terminating ';' or by an equal sign "=" and a JSON object treated as an
argument. Any ';' or newline indication (either LF or CR-LF) after the
end of a command is ignored. All request lines must be composed of
US-ASCII characters and may be no more than 80 characters in length,
exclusive of the trailing newline.

Responses are single JSON objects that have a "class" attribute the
value of which is the object type . Object types include, but are not
limited to: "TPV", "SKY", "DEVICE", and "ERROR".  Objects are sent both
in response to commands, and periodically as gpsd sends reports.  Each
object is terminated by a carriage return and a new line (CR-NL).

The order of JSON attributes within a response object is never
significant, and you may specify command attributes in any order.
Responses never contain the special JSON value null; instead, attributes
with empty or undefined values are omitted. The length limit for
responses and reports is currently 10240 characters, including the
trailing CR-NL. Longer responses will be truncated, so client code must
be prepared for the possibility of invalid JSON fragments.

The default maximum message length is set by GPS_JSON_RESPONSE_MAX in
*include/gpsd_json.h*. at compile time.

In JSON reports, if an attribute is present only if the parent attribute
is present or has a particular range, then the parent attribute is
emitted first.

There is one constraint on the order in which attributes will be
omitted. If an optional attribute is present only when a parent
attribute has a specified value or range of values, the parent attribute
will be emitted first to make parsing easier.

The next subsection section documents the core GPSD protocol. Extensions
are documented in the following subsections. The extensions may not be
supported in your *gpsd* instance if it has been compiled with a
restricted feature set.

The protocol was designed and documented by Eric S. Raymond.

== CORE PROTOCOL RESPONSES

Here are the core-protocol responses.

=== TPV

A TPV object is a time-position-velocity report. The "class" and "mode"
fields will reliably be present.  When "mode" is 0 (Unknown) there is
likely no usable data in the sentence.  The remaining fields are optional,
their presence depends on what data the GNSS receiver has sent, and
what *gpsd* may calculate from that data.

A TPV object will usually be sent at least once for every measurement
epoch as determined by the "time" field. Unless the receiver has a
solid fix, and knows the current leap second, the time may be random.

Multiple TPV objects are often sent per epoch.  When the receiver dribbles
data to *gpsd*, then *gpsd* has no choice but to dribble it to the
client in multiple TPV messages.

The optional "status" field (aka fix type), is a modifier (adjective) to
mode.  It is not a replacement for, or superset of, the "mode" field.
It is almost, but not quite, the same as the NMEA 4.x xxGGA GPS Quality
Indicator Values.  Many GNSS receivers do not supply it.  Those that do
interpret the specification in various incompatible ways.  To save space
in the output, and avoid confusion, the JSON never includes status values
of 0 or 1.

All error estimates (epc, epd, epe, eph, ept, epv, epx, epy) are
guessed to be 95% confidence, may also be 50%, one sigma, or two sigma
confidence. Many GNSS receivers do not specify a confidence level.
None specify how the value is calculated. Use error estimates with
caution, and only as relative "goodness" indicators. If the GPS
reports a value to *gpsd*, then *gpsd* will report that value. Otherwise
*gpsd* will try to compute the value from the skyview.

See the file *include/gps.h*, especially *struct gps_data_t*, for
expanded notes on the items and values in the TPV message.

// asciidoctor ignores column percentages/proportions in manpages
// asciidoctor ignores width/autowidth in manpages

.TPV object
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "TPV"

|device |No |string |Name of the originating device.

|mode |Yes |numeric |NMEA mode: +
0=unknown, +
1=no fix, +
2=2D, +
3=3D.

|alt |No |numeric |Deprecated. Undefined. Use altHAE or altMSL.

|altHAE |No |numeric |Altitude, height above ellipsoid, in meters.
Probably WGS84.

|altMSL |No |numeric |MSL Altitude in meters. The geoid used is rarely
specified and is often inaccurate. See the comments below on geoidSep.
altMSL is altHAE minus geoidSep.

|ant |No |numeric |Antenna Status: +
2=Short, +
3=Open.

|antPwr |No |numeric |Antenna Power Status: +
0=Unknwon, +
1=Power off, +
2=Power on, +

|climb |No |numeric |Climb (positive) or sink (negative) rate, meters
per second.

|clockbias |No |numeric |Offset of local GNSS clock relative to UTC, in
ns.  AKA Clock Offset.  Sometimes given as Part Per Billion (ppb) which
is the same as ns.

|clockdrift |No |numeric |The rate at which the local clock is drifting.
In ns/s.

|datum |No |string |Current datum. Hopefully WGS84.

|depth |No |numeric |Depth in meters. Probably depth below the keel...

|dgpsAge |No |numeric |Age of DGPS data. In seconds

|dgpsSta |No |numeric |Station of DGPS data.

|ecefx |No |numeric |ECEF X position in meters.

|ecefy |No |numeric |ECEF Y position in meters.

|ecefz |No |numeric |ECEF Z position in meters.

|ecefpAcc |No |numeric |ECEF position error in meters. Certainty
unknown.

|ecefvx |No |numeric |ECEF X velocity in meters per second.

|ecefvy |No |numeric |ECEF Y velocity in meters per second.

|ecefvz |No |numeric |ECEF Z velocity in meters per second.

|ecefvAcc |No |numeric |ECEF velocity error in meters per second.
Certainty unknown.

|epc |No |numeric |Estimated climb error in meters per second.
Certainty unknown.

|epd |No |numeric |Estimated track (direction) error in degrees.
Certainty unknown.

|eph |No |numeric |Estimated horizontal Position (2D) Error in meters.
Also known as Estimated Position Error (epe). Certainty unknown.

|eps |No |numeric |Estimated speed error in meters per second.
Certainty unknown.

|ept |No |numeric |Estimated time stamp error in seconds. Certainty
unknown.

|epx |No |numeric |Longitude error estimate in meters. Certainty
unknown.

|epy |No |numeric |Latitude error estimate in meters. Certainty
unknown.

|epv |No |numeric |Estimated vertical error in meters. Certainty
unknown.

|geoidSep |No |numeric |Geoid separation is the difference between the
WGS84 reference ellipsoid and the geoid (Mean Sea Level) in meters.
Almost no GNSS receiver specifies how they compute their geoid. *gpsd*
interpolates the geoid from a 5x5 degree table of EGM2008 values when
the receiver does not supply a geoid separation. The *gpsd* computed
geoidSep is usually within one meter of the "true" value, but can be
off as much as 12 meters.

|jam |No |numeric |Jamming Indicator +
0 (no jamming) to 255 (severe jamming). -1 means unset.

|lat |No |numeric |Latitude in degrees: +/- signifies North/South.

|leapseconds |No |integer |Current leap seconds.

|lon |No |numeric |Longitude in degrees: +/- signifies East/West.

|magtrack |No |numeric |Course over ground, degrees magnetic.

|magvar |No |numeric |Magnetic variation, degrees. Also known as the
magnetic declination (the direction of the horizontal component of the
magnetic field measured clockwise from north) in degrees, Positive is
West variation. Negative is East variation.

|relD |No |numeric |Down component of relative position vector in
meters.

|relE |No |numeric |East component of relative position vector in
meters.

|relN |No |numeric |North component of relative position vector in
meters.

|sep |No |numeric |Estimated Spherical (3D) Position Error in meters.
Guessed to be 95% confidence, but many GNSS receivers do not specify,
so certainty unknown.

|speed |No |numeric |Speed over ground, meters per second.

|status |No |numeric |GPS fix status: +
0=Unknown, +
1=Normal, +
2=DGPS, +
3=RTK Fixed, +
4=RTK Floating, +
5=DR, +
6=GNSSDR, +
7=Time (surveyed), +
8=Simulated, +
9=P(Y)

|temp |No |numeric |Receiver temperature in degrees Celsius.

|time |No |string |Time/date stamp in ISO8601 format, UTC. May have a
fractional part of up to .001sec precision. May be absent if the mode
is not 2D or 3D.  May be present, but invalid, if there is no fix.  Verify
3 consecutive 3D fixes before believing it is UTC.  Even then it may be
off by several seconds until the current leap seconds is known.

|track |No |numeric |Course over ground, degrees from true north.

|velD |No |numeric |Down velocity component in meters.

|velE |No |numeric |East velocity component in meters.

|velN |No |numeric |North velocity component in meters.

|wanglem |No |numeric |Wind angle magnetic in degrees.

|wangler |No |numeric |Wind angle relative in degrees.

|wanglet |No |numeric |Wind angle true in degrees.

|wspeedr |No |numeric |Wind speed relative in meters per second.

|wspeedt |No |numeric |Wind speed true in meters per second.

|wtemp |No |numeric |Water temperature in degrees Celsius.

|===

When the C client library parses a response of this kind, it will
assert validity bits in the top-level set member for each field
received; see gps.h for bitmask names and values.

Invalid or unknown floating-point values will be set to NAN. Always
check floating point values with isfinite() before use.  isnan() is
not sufficient.

Here's an example TPV sentence:

----
{"class":"TPV","device":"/dev/pts/1",
    "time":"2005-06-08T10:34:48.283Z","ept":0.005,
    "lat":46.498293369,"lon":7.567411672,"alt":1343.127,
    "eph":36.000,"epv":32.321,
    "track":10.3788,"speed":0.091,"climb":-0.085,"mode":3}
----

=== SKY

A SKY object reports a sky view of the GPS satellite positions. If
there is no GPS device available, or no skyview has been reported yet,
only the "class" field will reliably be present.

.SKY object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "SKY"

|device |No |string |Name of originating device

|nSat |No |numeric |Number of satellite objects in "satellites" array.

|gdop |No |numeric |Geometric (hyperspherical) dilution of precision,
a combination of PDOP and TDOP. A dimensionless factor which should be
multiplied by a base UERE to get an error estimate.

|hdop |No |numeric |Horizontal dilution of precision, a dimensionless
factor which should be multiplied by a base UERE to get a circular
error estimate.

|pdop |No |numeric |Position (spherical/3D) dilution of precision, a
dimensionless factor which should be multiplied by a base UERE to get
an error estimate.

|pr |No |numeric |Pseudorange, in meters.

|prRate |No |numeric |Pseudorange Rate of Change, in meters / second.

|prRes |No |numeric |Pseudorange residue, in meters.

|qual |No |numeric |Quality Indicator +
0=no signal +
1=searching signal +
2=signal acquired +
3=signal detected but unusable +
4=code locked and time synchronized +
5, 6, 7=code and carrier locked and time synchronized

|satellites |No |list |List of satellite objects in skyview

|tdop |No |numeric |Time dilution of precision, a dimensionless factor
which should be multiplied by a base UERE to get an error estimate.

|time |No |string |Time/date stamp in ISO8601 format, UTC. May have a
fractional part of up to .001sec precision.

|uSat |No |numeric |Number of satellites used in navigation solution.

|vdop |No |numeric |Vertical (altitude) dilution of precision, a
dimensionless factor which should be multiplied by a base UERE to get
an error estimate.

|xdop |No |numeric |Longitudinal dilution of precision, a
dimensionless factor which should be multiplied by a base UERE to get
an error estimate.  A.k.a. Northing DOP.

|ydop |No |numeric |Latitudinal dilution of precision, a dimensionless
factor which should be multiplied by a base UERE to get an error
estimate.  A.k.a. Easting DOP.

|===

Many devices compute dilution of precision factors but do not include
them in their reports. Many that do report DOPs report only HDOP,
two-dimensional circular error. *gpsd* always passes through whatever
the device reports, then attempts to fill in other DOPs by calculating
the appropriate determinants in a covariance matrix based on the
satellite view. DOPs may be missing if some of these determinants are
singular. It can even happen that the device reports an error estimate
in meters when the corresponding DOP is unavailable; some devices use
more sophisticated error modeling than the covariance calculation.

The satellite list objects have the following elements:

.Satellite object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|PRN |Yes |numeric |PRN ID of the satellite.  See "<<PRNs>>"

|az |No |numeric |Azimuth, degrees from true north.

|el |No |numeric |Elevation in degrees.

|freqid |No |numeric |For GLONASS satellites only: the frequency ID of
the signal. As defined by u-blox, range 0 to 13. The freqid is the
frequency slot plus 7.

|gnssid |No |numeric |The GNSS ID.  See "<<PRNs>>"

|health |No |numeric |The health of this satellite. 0 is unknown, 1 is
OK, and 2 is unhealthy.

|ss |No |numeric |Signal to Noise ratio in dBHz.

|sigid |No |numeric |The signal ID of this signal. See "<<PRNs>>"
u-blox, not NMEA. See u-blox doc for details.

|svid |No |numeric |The satellite ID (PRN) within its constellation.
See  "<<PRNs>"

|used |Yes |boolean |Used in current solution? (SBAS/WAAS/EGNOS
satellites may be flagged used if the solution has corrections from
them, but not all drivers make this information available.)
|===

Note that satellite objects do not have a "class" field, as they are
never shipped outside of a SKY object.

When the C client library parses a SKY response, it will assert the
SATELLITE_SET bit in the top-level set member.

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"SKY","device":"/dev/pts/1",
    "time":"2005-07-08T11:28:07.114Z",
    "xdop":1.55,"hdop":1.24,"pdop":1.99,
    "satellites":[
        {"PRN":23,"el":6,"az":84,"ss":0,"used":false},
        {"PRN":28,"el":7,"az":160,"ss":0,"used":false},
        {"PRN":8,"el":66,"az":189,"ss":44,"used":true},
        {"PRN":29,"el":13,"az":273,"ss":0,"used":false},
        {"PRN":10,"el":51,"az":304,"ss":29,"used":true},
        {"PRN":4,"el":15,"az":199,"ss":36,"used":true},
        {"PRN":2,"el":34,"az":241,"ss":43,"used":true},
        {"PRN":27,"el":71,"az":76,"ss":43,"used":true}]}
----

=== GST

A GST object is a pseudorange noise report.

.GST object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "GST"

|device |No |string |Name of originating device

|time |No |string |Time/date stamp in ISO8601 format, UTC. May have a
fractional part of up to .001sec precision.

|rms |No |numeric |Value of the standard deviation of the range inputs
to the navigation process (range inputs include pseudoranges and DGPS
corrections).

|major |No |numeric |Standard deviation of semi-major axis of error
ellipse, in meters.

|minor |No |numeric |Standard deviation of semi-minor axis of error
ellipse, in meters.

|orient |No |numeric |Orientation of semi-major axis of error ellipse,
in degrees from true north.

|alt |No |numeric |Standard deviation of altitude error, in meters.

|lat |No |numeric |Standard deviation of latitude error, in meters.

|lon |No |numeric |Standard deviation of longitude error, in meters.

|ve |No |numeric |Standard deviation of East velocity error, in meters / second.

|vn |No |numeric |Standard deviation of North velocity error, in meters /
second.

|vu |No |numeric |Standard deviation of Up velocity error, in meters / second.

|===

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"GST","device":"/dev/ttyUSB0",
        "time":"2010-12-07T10:23:07.096Z","rms":2.440,
        "major":1.660,"minor":1.120,"orient":68.989,
        "lat":1.600,"lon":1.200,"alt":2.520}
----

=== ATT

An ATT object is a vehicle-attitude report. It is returned by
digital-compass and gyroscope sensors; depending on device, it may
include: heading, pitch, roll, yaw, gyroscope, and magnetic-field
readings. Because such sensors are often bundled as part of
marine-navigation systems, the ATT response may also include water
depth.

The "class" and "mode" fields will reliably be present. Others may be
reported or not depending on the specific device type.

The ATT object is synchronous to the GNSS epoch. Some devices report
attitude information with arbitrary, even out of order, time scales.
*gpsd* reports those in an IMU object. The ATT and IMU objects have
the same fields, but IMU objects are output as soon as possible. Some
devices output both types with arbitrary interleaving.

.ATT object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "ATT"

|device |Yes |string |Name of originating device

|time |No |string |Time/date stamp in ISO8601 format, UTC. May have a
fractional part of up to .001sec precision.

|timeTag |No |string |Arbitrary time tag of measurement.

|heading |No |numeric |Heading, degrees from true north.

|mag_st |No |string |Magnetometer status.

|mheading |No |numeric |Heading, degrees from magnetic north.

|pitch |No |numeric |Pitch in degrees.

|pitch_st |No |string |Pitch sensor status.

|rot |No |numeric |Rate of Turn in dgrees per minute.

|yaw |No |numeric |Yaw in degrees

|yaw_st |No |string |Yaw sensor status.

|roll |No |numeric |Roll in degrees.

|roll_st |No |string |Roll sensor status.

|dip |No |numeric |Local magnetic inclination, degrees, positive when
the magnetic field points downward (into the Earth).

|mag_len |No |numeric |Scalar magnetic field strength.

|mag_x |No |numeric |X component of magnetic field strength.

|mag_y |No |numeric |Y component of magnetic field strength.

|mag_z |No |numeric |Z component of magnetic field strength.

|acc_len |No |numeric |Scalar acceleration.

|acc_x |No |numeric |X component of acceleration (m/s^2).

|acc_y |No |numeric |Y component of acceleration (m/s^2).

|acc_z |No |numeric |Z component of acceleration (m/s^2).

|gyro_x |No |numeric |X component of angular rate (deg/s)

|gyro_y |No |numeric |Y component of angular rate (deg/s)

|gyro_z |No |numeric |Z component of angular rate (deg/s)

|depth |No |numeric |Water depth in meters.

|temp |No |numeric |Temperature at the sensor, degrees centigrade.
|===

The heading, pitch, and roll status codes (if present) vary by device.
For the TNT Revolution digital compasses, they are coded as follows:

.Device flags
[cols=",",options="header",]
|===
|Code |Description
|C |magnetometer calibration alarm
|L |low alarm
|M |low warning
|N |normal
|O |high warning
|P |high alarm
|V |magnetometer voltage level alarm
|===

When the C client library parses a response of this kind, it will
assert ATT_IS.

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"ATT","time":1270938096.843,
    "heading":14223.00,"mag_st":"N",
    "pitch":169.00,"pitch_st":"N", "roll":-43.00,"roll_st":"N",
    "dip":13641.000,"mag_x":2454.000}
----

=== IMU

The IMU object is asynchronous to the GNSS epoch. It is reported
with arbitrary, even out of order, time scales.

The ATT and IMU objects have the same fields, but IMU objects are output
as soon as possible.

Seee the ATT onject description for field details.

=== TOFF

This message is emitted on each cycle and reports the offset between
the host's clock time and the GPS time at top of the second (actually,
when the first data for the reporting cycle is received).

This message exactly mirrors the PPS message.

The TOFF message reports the GPS time as derived from the GPS serial
data stream. The PPS message reports the GPS time as derived from the
GPS PPS pulse.

A TOFF object has the following elements:

.TOFF object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "TOFF"
|device |Yes |string |Name of the originating device
|real_sec |Yes |numeric |seconds from the GPS clock
|real_nsec |Yes |numeric |nanoseconds from the GPS clock
|clock_sec |Yes |numeric |seconds from the system clock
|clock_nsec |Yes |numeric |nanoseconds from the system clock
|===

This message is emitted once per second to watchers of a device and is
intended to report the timestamps of the in-band report of the GPS and
seconds as reported by the system clock (which may be NTP-corrected)
when the first valid time stamp of the reporting cycle was seen.

The message contains two second/nanosecond pairs: real_sec and
real_nsec contain the time the GPS thinks it was at the start of the
current cycle; clock_sec and clock_nsec contain the time the system
clock thinks it was on receipt of the first timing message of the
cycle. real_nsec is always to nanosecond precision. clock_nsec is
nanosecond precision on most systems.

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"TOFF","device":"/dev/ttyUSB0",
     "real_sec":1330212592, "real_nsec":343182,
     "clock_sec":1330212592,"clock_nsec":343184,
     "precision":-2}
----

=== PPS

This message is emitted each time the daemon sees a valid PPS (Pulse
Per Second) strobe from a device.

This message exactly mirrors the TOFF message.

The TOFF message reports the GPS time as derived from the GPS serial
data stream. The PPS message reports the GPS time as derived from the
GPS PPS pulse.

There are various sources of error in the reported clock times. The
speed of the serial connection between the GPS and the system adds a
delay to the start of cycle detection. An even bigger error is added
by the variable computation time inside the GPS. Taken together the
time derived from the start of the GPS cycle can have offsets of 10
milliseconds to 700 milliseconds and combined jitter and wander of 100
to 300 milliseconds.

See the NTP documentation for their definition of precision.

A PPS object has the following elements:

.PPS object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "PPS"
|device |Yes |string |Name of the originating device
|real_sec |Yes |numeric |seconds from the PPS source
|real_nsec |Yes |numeric |nanoseconds from the PPS source
|clock_sec |Yes |numeric |seconds from the system clock
|clock_nsec |Yes |numeric |nanoseconds from the system clock
|precision |Yes |numeric |NTP style estimate of PPS precision
|shm |Yes |string |shm key of this PPS
|qErr |No |numeric |Quantization error of the PPS, in picoseconds.
Sometimes called the "sawtooth" error.
|===

This message is emitted once per second to watchers of a device
emitting PPS, and reports the time of the start of the GPS second
(when the 1PPS arrives) and seconds as reported by the system clock
(which may be NTP-corrected) at that moment.

The message contains two second/nanosecond pairs: real_sec and
real_nsec contain the time the GPS thinks it was at the PPS edge;
clock_sec and clock_nsec contain the time the system clock thinks it
was at the PPS edge. real_nsec is always to nanosecond precision.
clock_nsec is nanosecond precision on most systems.

There are various sources of error in the reported clock times. For
PPS delivered via a real serial-line strobe, serial-interrupt latency
plus processing time to the timer call should be bounded above by
about 10 microseconds; that can be reduced to less than 1 microsecond
if your kernel supports <<RFC-2783>>. USB1.1-to-serial control-line
emulation is limited to about 1 millisecond. seconds.

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"PPS","device":"/dev/ttyUSB0",
     "real_sec":1330212592, "real_nsec":343182,
     "clock_sec":1330212592,"clock_nsec":343184,
     "precision":-3}
----

=== OSC

This message reports the status of a GPS-disciplined oscillator
(GPSDO). The GPS PPS output (which has excellent long-term stability)
is typically used to discipline a local oscillator with much better
short-term stability (such as a rubidium atomic clock).

An OSC object has the following elements:

.OSC object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "OSC"
|device |Yes |string |Name of the originating device.
|running |Yes |boolean |If true, the oscillator is currently running.
Oscillators may require warm-up time at the start of the day.
|reference |Yes |boolean |If true, the oscillator is receiving a GPS
PPS signal.
|disciplined |Yes |boolean |If true, the GPS PPS signal is
sufficiently stable and is being used to discipline the local
oscillator.
|delta |Yes |numeric |The time difference (in nanoseconds) between the
GPS-disciplined oscillator PPS output pulse and the most recent GPS
PPS input pulse.
|===

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"OSC","running":true,"device":"/dev/ttyUSB0",
    "reference":true,"disciplined":true,"delta":67}
----

== CORE PROTOCOL COMMANDS

And here are the commands you can send to *gpsd*.

=== ?VERSION;

Returns an object with the following attributes:

.VERSION object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "VERSION"

|release |Yes |string |Public release level

|rev |Yes |string |Internal revision-control level.

|proto_major |Yes |numeric |API major revision level.

|proto_minor |Yes |numeric |API minor revision level.

|remote |No |string |URL of the remote daemon reporting this version.
If empty, this is the version of the local daemon.
|===

The daemon ships a VERSION response to each client when the client
first connects to it.

When the C client library parses a response of this kind, it will
assert the VERSION_SET bit in the top-level set member.

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"VERSION","version":"2.40dev",
    "rev":"06f62e14eae9886cde907dae61c124c53eb1101f",
    "proto_major":3,"proto_minor":1
}
----

=== ?DEVICES;

Returns a device list object with the following elements:

.DEVICES object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "DEVICES"

|devices |Yes |list |List of device descriptions

|remote |No |string |URL of the remote daemon reporting the device
set. If empty, this is a DEVICES response from the local daemon.
|===

When the C client library parses a response of this kind, it will
assert the DEVICELIST_SET bit in the top-level set member.

Here's an example:

----
{"class"="DEVICES","devices":[
    {"class":"DEVICE","path":"/dev/pts/1","flags":1,"driver":"SiRF binary"},
    {"class":"DEVICE","path":"/dev/pts/3","flags":4,"driver":"AIVDM"}]}
----

The daemon occasionally ships a bare DEVICE object to the client (that
is, one not inside a DEVICES wrapper). The data content of these
objects will be described later as a response to the ?DEVICE command.

=== ?WATCH;

This command sets watcher mode. It also sets or elicits a report of
per-subscriber policy and the raw bit. An argument WATCH object
changes the subscriber's policy. The response describes the
subscriber's policy. The response will also include a DEVICES object.

A WATCH object has the following elements:

.WATCH object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "WATCH"
|enable |No |boolean |Enable (true) or disable (false) watcher mode.
Default is true.
|json |No |boolean |Enable (true) or disable (false) dumping of JSON
reports. Default is false.
|nmea |No |boolean |Enable (true) or disable (false) dumping of binary
packets as pseudo-NMEA. Default is false.
|raw |No |integer |Controls 'raw' mode. When this attribute is set to
1 for a channel, *gpsd* reports the unprocessed NMEA or AIVDM data
stream from whatever device is attached. Binary GPS packets are
hex-dumped. RTCM2 and RTCM3 packets are not dumped in raw mode. When
this attribute is set to 2 for a channel that processes binary data,
*gpsd* reports the received data verbatim without hex-dumping.
|scaled |No |boolean |If true, apply scaling divisors to output before
dumping; default is false.
|split24 |No |boolean |If true, aggregate AIS type24 sentence parts.
If false, report each part as a separate JSON object, leaving the
client to match MMSIs and aggregate. Default is false. Applies only to
AIS reports.
|pps |No |boolean |If true, emit the TOFF JSON message on each cycle
and a PPS JSON message when the device issues 1PPS. Default is false.
|device |No |string |If present, enable watching only of the specified
device rather than all devices. Useful with raw and NMEA modes in
which device responses aren't tagged. Has no effect when used with
enable:false.
|remote |No |string |URL of the remote daemon reporting the watch set.
If empty, this is a WATCH response from the local daemon.
|===

There is an additional boolean "timing" attribute which is
undocumented because that portion of the interface is considered
unstable and for developer use only.

In watcher mode, GPS reports are dumped as TPV and SKY responses. AIS,
Subframe and RTCM reporting is described in the next section.

When the C client library parses a response of this kind, it will
assert the POLICY_SET bit in the top-level set member.

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"WATCH", "raw":1,"scaled":true}
----

=== ?POLL;

The POLL command requests data from the last-seen fixes on all active
GPS devices. Devices must previously have been activated by ?WATCH to
be pollable.

Polling can lead to possibly surprising results when it is used on
a device such as an NMEA GPS for which a complete fix has to be
accumulated from several sentences. If you poll while those sentences
are being emitted, the response will contain only the fix data collected
so far in the current epoch. It may be as much as one cycle time
(typically 1 second) stale.

The POLL response will contain a timestamped list of TPV objects
describing cached data, and a timestamped list of SKY objects
describing satellite configuration. If a device has not seen fixes, it
will be reported with a mode field of zero.

.POLL object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "POLL"
|time |Yes |Numeric |Timestamp in ISO 8601 format. May have a
fractional part of up to .001sec precision.
|active |Yes |Numeric |Count of active devices.
|tpv |Yes |JSON array |Comma-separated list of TPV objects.
|sky |Yes |JSON array |Comma-separated list of SKY objects.
|===

Here's an example of a POLL response:

----
{"class":"POLL","time":"2010-06-04T10:31:00.289Z","active":1,
    "tpv":[{"class":"TPV","device":"/dev/ttyUSB0",
            "time":"2010-09-08T13:33:06.095Z",
            "ept":0.005,"lat":40.035093060,
            "lon":-75.519748733,"track":99.4319,"speed":0.123,"mode":2}],
    "sky":[{"class":"SKY","device":"/dev/ttyUSB0",
            "time":1270517264.240,"hdop":9.20,
            "satellites":[{"PRN":16,"el":55,"az":42,"ss":36,"used":true},
                          {"PRN":19,"el":25,"az":177,"ss":0,"used":false},
                          {"PRN":7,"el":13,"az":295,"ss":0,"used":false},
                          {"PRN":6,"el":56,"az":135,"ss":32,"used":true},
                          {"PRN":13,"el":47,"az":304,"ss":0,"used":false},
                          {"PRN":23,"el":66,"az":259,"ss":0,"used":false},
                          {"PRN":20,"el":7,"az":226,"ss":0,"used":false},
                          {"PRN":3,"el":52,"az":163,"ss":32,"used":true},
                          {"PRN":31,"el":16,"az":102,"ss":0,"used":false}
]}]}
----

[NOTE]
====
Client software should not assume the field inventory of the POLL
response is fixed for all time. As *gpsd* collects and caches more data
from more sensor types, those data are likely to find their way into
this response.
====

=== ?DEVICE; ?DEVICE=

This command reports (when followed by ';') the state of a device, or
sets (when followed by '=' and a DEVICE object) device-specific
control bits, notably the device's speed and serial mode and the
native-mode bit. The parameter-setting form will be rejected if more
than one client is attached to the channel and a device path is not
specified.

Pay attention to the response, because it is possible for this command
to fail if the GPS does not support a command or only supports some
combinations of modes. In case of failure, the daemon and GPS will
continue to communicate at the old speed.

Use the parameter-setting form with caution. On USB and Bluetooth
GPSes it is also possible for serial mode setting to fail either
because the serial adaptor chip does not support non-8N1 modes or
because the device firmware does not properly synchronize the serial
adaptor chip with the UART on the GPS chipset when the speed changes.
These failures can hang your device, possibly requiring a GPS power
cycle or (in extreme cases) physically disconnecting the NVRAM backup
battery.

A DEVICE object has the following elements:

.DEVICE object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "DEVICE"

|activated |No |string |Time the device was activated as an ISO8601
time stamp. If the device is inactive this attribute is absent.

|bps |No |integer |Device speed in bits per second.

|cycle |No |real |Device cycle time in seconds.

|driver |No |string |GPSD's name for the device driver type. Won't be
reported before *gpsd* has seen identifiable packets from the device.

|flags |No |integer |Bit vector of property flags. Currently defined
flags are: describe packet types seen so far (GPS, RTCM2, RTCM3, AIS).
Won't be reported if empty, e.g. before *gpsd* has seen identifiable
packets from the device.

|hexdata |No |string |Data, in bare hexadecimal, to send to the GNSS
receiver.

|mincycle |No |real |Device minimum cycle time in seconds. Reported
from ?DEVICE when (and only when) the rate is switchable. It is
read-only and not settable.

|native |No |integer |0 means NMEA mode and 1 means alternate mode
(binary if it has one, for SiRF and Evermore chipsets in particular).
Attempting to set this mode on a non-GPS device will yield an error.

|parity |No |string |N, O or E for no parity, odd, or even.

|path |No |string |Name the device for which the control bits are
being reported, or for which they are to be applied. This attribute
may be omitted only when there is exactly one subscribed channel.

|readonly |No |boolean |True if device is read-only.

|sernum |No |string |Hardware serial number (if the device driver
returns that value).

|stopbits |Yes |integer |Stop bits (1 or 2).

|subtype |No |string |Whatever version information the device driver
returned.

|subtype1 |No |string |More version information the device driver
returned.
|===

The serial parameters will (bps, parity, stopbits) be omitted in a
response describing a TCP/IP source such as an Ntrip, DGPSIP, or AIS
feed; on a serial device they will always be present.

The contents of the flags field should be interpreted as follows:

.Device flags
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|C #define |Value |Description
|SEEN_GPS |0x01 |GPS data has been seen on this device
|SEEN_RTCM2 |0x02 |RTCM2 data has been seen on this device
|SEEN_RTCM3 |0x04 |RTCM3 data has been seen on this device
|SEEN_AIS |0x08 |AIS data has been seen on this device
|===

When the C client library parses a response of this kind, it will
assert the DEVICE_SET bit in the top-level set member.

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"DEVICE","bps":4800,"parity":"N","stopbits":1,"native":0}
----

When a client is in watcher mode, the daemon will ship it DEVICE
notifications when a device is added to the pool or deactivated.

When the C client library parses a response of this kind, it will assert
the DEVICE_SET bit in the top-level set member.

==== Examples

A notice of a deactivated device:

----
{"class":"DEVICE","path":"/dev/pts1","activated":0}
----

A send a u-blox receiver at /dev/ttyUSB2 a request for a UBX-MON-VER
message:

----
?DEVICE={"path":"/dev/ttyUSB2","hexdata":"b5620a0400000e34"}
----

The _gpsd_ daemon will respond with an ACK on success:

----
{"class":"ACK"}
----

=== ERROR

The daemon may ship an error object in response to a syntactically
invalid command line or unknown command. It has the following elements:

.ERROR notification object
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "ERROR"
|message |Yes |string |Textual error message
|===

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"ERROR","message":"Unrecognized request '?FOO'"}
----

When the C client library parses a response of this kind, it will assert
the ERR_SET bit in the top-level set member.

== RTCM2

RTCM-104 is a family of serial protocols used for broadcasting
pseudorange corrections from differential-GPS reference stations. Many
GPS receivers can accept these corrections to improve their reporting
accuracy.

RTCM-104 comes in two major and incompatible flavors, 2.x and 3.x. Each
major flavor has minor (compatible) revisions.

The applicable standard for RTCM Version 2.x is RTCM Recommended
Standards for Differential NAVSTAR GPS Service RTCM Paper 194-93/SC
104-STD. For RTCM 3.1 it is RTCM Paper 177-2006-SC104-STD. Ordering
instructions for both standards are accessible from the website of the
https://www.rtcm.org/[Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services]
under "Publications".

=== RTCM WIRE TRANSMISSIONS

Differential-GPS correction stations consist of a GPS reference receiver
coupled to a low frequency (LF) transmitter. The GPS reference receiver
is a survey-grade GPS that does GPS carrier tracking and can work out
its position to a few millimeters. It generates range and range-rate
corrections and encodes them into RTCM104. It ships the RTCM104 to the
LF transmitter over serial rs-232 signal at 100 baud or 200 baud
depending on the requirements of the transmitter.

The LF transmitter broadcasts the approximately 300khz radio signal that
differential-GPS radio receivers pick up. Transmitters that are meant to
have a higher range will need to transmit at a slower rate. The higher
the data rate the harder it will be for the remote radio receiver to
receive with a good signal-to-noise ration. (Higher data rate signals
can't be averaged over as long a time frame, hence they appear noisier.)

=== RTCM WIRE FORMATS

An RTCM 2.x message consists of a sequence of up to 33 30-bit words. The
24 most significant bits of each word are data and the six least
significant bits are parity. The parity algorithm used is the same
ISGPS-2000 as that used on GPS satellite downlinks. Each RTCM 2.x
message consists of two header words followed by zero or more data
words, depending upon the message type.

An RTCM 3.x message begins with a fixed leader byte 0xD3. That is
followed by six bits of version information and 10 bits of payload
length information. Following that is the payload; following the payload
is a 3-byte checksum of the payload using the Qualcomm CRC-24Q
algorithm.

=== RTCM2 JSON FORMAT

Each RTCM2 message is dumped as a single JSON object per message, with
the message fields as attributes of that object. Arrays of satellite,
station, and constellation statistics become arrays of JSON sub-objects.
Each sentence will normally also have a "device" field containing the
pathname of the originating device.

All attributes other than the device field are mandatory. Header
attributes are emitted before others.

==== Header portion

.SKY object
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|class |string |Fixed: "RTCM2".

|type |integer |Message type (1-9).

|station_id |integer |The id of the GPS reference receiver. The LF
transmitters also have (different) id numbers.

|zcount |real |The reference time of the corrections in the message in
seconds within the current hour. Note that it is in GPS time, which is
some seconds ahead of UTC (see the U.S. Naval Observatory's
[UTC-TAU] table of leap second corrections).

|seqnum |integer |Sequence number. Only 3 bits wide, wraps after 7.

|length |integer |The number of words after the header that comprise the
message.

|station_health |integer |Station transmission status. Indicates the
health of the beacon as a reference source. Any nonzero value means the
satellite is probably transmitting bad data and should not be used in a
fix. 6 means the transmission is unmonitored. 7 means the station is not
working properly. Other values are defined by the beacon operator.
|===

<message type> is one of

1::
  full corrections -- one message containing corrections for all GPS
  satellites in view. This is not common.
3::
  reference station parameters -- the position of the reference station
  GPS antenna.
4::
  datum -- the datum to which the DGPS data is referred.
5::
  constellation health -- information about the satellites the beacon
  can see.
6::
  null message -- just a filler.
7::
  radio beacon almanac -- information about this or other beacons.
9::
  subset corrections -- a message containing corrections for only a
  subset of the GPS satellites in view.
16::
  special message -- a text message from the beacon operator.
31::
  GLONASS subset corrections -- a message containing corrections for
  a set of the GLONASS satellites in view.

==== Type 1 and 9: Correction data

One or more satellite objects follow the header for type 1 or type 9
messages. Here is the format:

.Satellite object
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|ident |integer |The PRN number of the satellite for which this is
correction data. See "<<PRNs>"

|udre |integer |User Differential Range Error (0-3). See the table
following for values.

|iod |integer |Issue Of Data, matching the IOD for the current ephemeris
of this satellite, as transmitted by the satellite. The IOD is a unique
tag that identifies the ephemeris; the GPS using the DGPS correction and
the DGPS generating the data must use the same orbital positions for the
satellite.

|prc |real |The pseudorange error in meters for this satellite as
measured by the beacon reference receiver at the epoch indicated by the
z_count in the parent record.

|rrc |real |The rate of change of pseudorange error in meters/sec for
this satellite as measured by the beacon reference receiver at the epoch
indicated by the z_count field in the parent record. This is used to
calculate pseudorange errors at other epochs, if required by the GPS
receiver.
|===

User Differential Range Error values are as follows:

.UDRE values
[cols=",",]
|===
|0 |1-sigma error <= 1 m
|1 |1-sigma error <= 4 m
|2 |1-sigma error <= 8 m
|3 |1-sigma error > 8 m
|===

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"RTCM2","type":1,
    "station_id":688,"zcount":843.0,"seqnum":5,"length":19,"station_health":6,
    "satellites":[
        {"ident":10,"udre":0,"iod":46,"prc":-2.400,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":13,"udre":0,"iod":94,"prc":-4.420,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":7,"udre":0,"iod":22,"prc":-5.160,"rrc":0.002},
        {"ident":2,"udre":0,"iod":34,"prc":-6.480,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":4,"udre":0,"iod":47,"prc":-8.860,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":8,"udre":0,"iod":76,"prc":-7.980,"rrc":0.002},
        {"ident":5,"udre":0,"iod":99,"prc":-8.260,"rrc":0.002},
        {"ident":23,"udre":0,"iod":81,"prc":-8.060,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":16,"udre":0,"iod":70,"prc":-11.740,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":30,"udre":0,"iod":4,"prc":-18.960,"rrc":-0.006},
        {"ident":29,"udre":0,"iod":101,"prc":-24.960,"rrc":-0.002}
]}
----

==== Type 3: Reference Station Parameters

Here are the payload members of a type 3 (Reference Station Parameters)
message:

.Reference Station Parameters
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|x |real |ECEF X coordinate.
|y |real |ECEF Y coordinate.
|z |real |ECEF Z coordinate.
|===

The coordinates are the position of the station, in meters to two
decimal places, in Earth Centred Earth Fixed coordinates. These are
usually referred to the WGS84 reference frame, but may be referred to
NAD83 in the US (essentially identical to WGS84 for all except
geodesists), or some other reference frame in other parts of the world.

An invalid reference message is represented by a type 3 header without
payload fields.

Here's an example:

----
{"class":"RTCM2","type":3,
    "station_id":652,"zcount":1657.2,"seqnum":2,"length":4,"station_health":6,
    "x":3878620.92,"y":670281.40,"z":5002093.59
}
----

==== Type 4: Datum

Here are the payload members of a type 4 (Datum) message:

.Datum
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|dgnss_type |string |Either "GPS", "GLONASS", "GALILEO", or "UNKNOWN".

|dat |integer |0 or 1 and indicates the sense of the offset shift given
by dx, dy, dz. dat = 0 means that the station coordinates (in the
reference message) are referred to a local datum and that adding dx, dy,
dz to that position will render it in GNSS coordinates (WGS84 for GPS).
If dat = 1 then the ref station position is in GNSS coordinates and
adding dx, dy, dz will give it referred to the local datum.

|datum_name |string |A standard name for the datum.

|dx |real |X offset.

|dy |real |Y offset.

|dz |real |Z offset.
|===

<dx> <dy> <dz> are offsets to convert from local datum to GNSS datum or
vice versa. These fields are optional.

An invalid datum message is represented by a type 4 header without
payload fields.

==== Type 5: Constellation Health

One or more of these follow the header for type 5 messages -- one for
each satellite.

Here is the format:

.Constellation health
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|ident |integer |The PRN number of the satellite. See "<<PRNs>"

|iodl |bool |True indicates that this information relates to the
satellite information in an accompanying type 1 or type 9 message.

|health |integer |0 indicates that the satellite is healthy. Any other
value indicates a problem (coding is not known).

|snr |integer |The carrier/noise ratio of the received signal in the
range 25 to 55 dB(Hz).

|health_en |bool |If set to True it indicates that the satellite is
healthy even if the satellite navigation data says it is unhealthy.

|new_data |bool |True indicates that the IOD for this satellite will
soon be updated in type 1 or 9 messages.

|los_warning |bool |Line-of-sight warning. True indicates that the
satellite will shortly go unhealthy.

|tou |integer |Healthy time remaining in seconds.
|===

==== Type 6: Null

This just indicates a null message. There are no payload fields.

==== Unknown message

This format is used to dump message words in hexadecimal when the
message type field doesn't match any of the known ones.

Here is the format:

.Unknown Message
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|data |list |A list of strings.
|===

Each string in the array is a hex literal representing 30 bits of
information, after parity checks and inversion. The high two bits should
be ignored.

==== Type 7: Radio Beacon Almanac

Here is the format:

.Constellation health
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|lat |real |Latitude in degrees, of the LF transmitter antenna for the
station for which this is an almanac. North is positive.

|lon |real |Longitude in degrees, of the LF transmitter antenna for the
station for which this is an almanac. East is positive.

|range |integer |Published range of the station in km.

|frequency |real |Station broadcast frequency in kHz.

|health |integer |<health> is the health of the station for which this
is an almanac. If it is non-zero, the station is issuing suspect data
and should not be used for fixes. The ITU and RTCM104 standards differ
about the mode detailed interpretation of the <health> field and even
about its bit width.

|station_id |integer |The id of the transmitter. This is not the same as
the reference id in the header, the latter being the id of the reference
receiver.

|bitrate |integer |The transmitted bitrate.
|===

Here's an example:

....
{"class":"RTCM2","type":9,"station_id":268,"zcount":252.6,
        "seqnum":4,"length":5,"station_health":0,
        "satellites":[
            {"ident":13,"udre":0,"iod":3,"prc":-25.940,"rrc":0.066},
            {"ident":2,"udre":0,"iod":73,"prc":0.920,"rrc":-0.080},
            {"ident":8,"udre":0,"iod":22,"prc":23.820,"rrc":0.014}
]}
....

==== Type 13: GPS Time of Week

Here are the payload members of a type 13 (Groumf Tramitter Parameters)
message:

.Ground Transmitter Parameters
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|lat |real |Degrees latitude, signed. Positive is N, negative is S.

|lon |real |Degrees longitude, signed. Positive is E, negative is W.

|range |integer |Transmission range in km (1-1024).

|rangeflag |bool |If True, indicates that the estimated range is
different from that found in the type 7 message (which contains the
beacon's listed range). Generally indicates a range reduction due to
causes such as poor ionospheric conditions or reduced transmission
power.

|status |bool |If True, signals user to expect a type 16 explanatory
message associated with this station. Probably indicates some sort of
unusual event.
|===

This message type replaces message type 3 (Reference Station Parameters)
in RTCM 2.3.

==== Type 14: GPS Time of Week

Here are the payload members of a type 14 (GPS Time of Week) message:

.Reference Station Parameters
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|hour |integer |Hour of week (0-167).
|leapsecs |integer |Leap Seconds (0-63).
|week |integer |GPS week (0-123).
|===

Here's an example:

....
{"class":"RTCM2","type":14,"station_id":652,"zcount":1657.2,
        "seqnum":3,"length":1,"station_health":6,"week":601,"hour":109,
        "leapsecs":15}
....

==== Type 16: Special Message

.Special Message
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|message |string |A text message sent by the beacon operator.
|===

==== Type 31: Correction data

One or more GLONASS satellite objects follow the header for type 1 or
type 9 messages. Here is the format:

.Satellite object
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Name |Type |Description
|ident |integer |The PRN number of the satellite for which this is
correction data. See "<<PRNs>>"

|udre |integer |User Differential Range Error (0-3). See the table
following for values.

|change |boolean |Change-of-ephemeris bit.

|tod |uinteger |Count of 30-second periods since the top of the hour.

|prc |real |The pseudorange error in meters for this satellite as
measured by the beacon reference receiver at the epoch indicated by the
z_count in the parent record.

|rrc |real |The rate of change of pseudorange error in meters/sec for
this satellite as measured by the beacon reference receiver at the epoch
indicated by the z_count field in the parent record. This is used to
calculate pseudorange errors at other epochs, if required by the GPS
receiver.
|===

Here's an example:

....
{"class":"RTCM2","type":31,"station_id":652,"zcount":1642.2,
    "seqnum":0,"length":14,"station_health":6,
    "satellites":[
        {"ident":5,"udre":0,"change":false,"tod":0,"prc":132.360,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":15,"udre":0,"change":false,"tod":0,"prc":134.840,"rrc":0.002},
        {"ident":14,"udre":0,"change":false,"tod":0,"prc":141.520,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":6,"udre":0,"change":false,"tod":0,"prc":127.000,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":21,"udre":0,"change":false,"tod":0,"prc":128.780,"rrc":0.000},
        {"ident":22,"udre":0,"change":false,"tod":0,"prc":125.260,"rrc":0.002},
        {"ident":20,"udre":0,"change":false,"tod":0,"prc":117.280,"rrc":-0.004},
        {"ident":16,"udre":0,"change":false,"tod":17,"prc":113.460,"rrc":0.018}
]}
....

== RTCM3 DUMP FORMAT

The support for RTCM104v3 dumping is incomplete and buggy. Do not
attempt to use it for production! Anyone interested in it should read
the source code.

== AIS DUMP FORMATS

AIS support is an extension. It may not be present if your instance of
*gpsd* has been built with a restricted feature set.

AIS packets are dumped as JSON objects with class "AIS". Each AIS report
object contains a "type" field giving the AIS message type and a
"scaled" field telling whether the remainder of the fields are dumped in
scaled or unscaled form. (These will be emitted before any type-specific
fields.) It will also contain a "device" field naming the data source.
Other fields have names and types as specified in the AIVDM/AIVDO
Protocol Decoding document on the GPSD project website; each message
field table may be directly interpreted as a specification for the
members of the corresponding JSON object type.

By default, certain scaling and conversion operations are performed for
JSON output. Latitudes and longitudes are scaled to decimal degrees
rather than the native AIS unit of 1/10000th of a minute of arc. Ship
(but not air) speeds are scaled to knots rather than tenth-of-knot
units. Rate of turn may appear as "nan" if is unavailable, or as one of
the strings "fastright" or "fastleft" if it is out of the AIS encoding
range; otherwise it is quadratically mapped back to the turn sensor
number in degrees per minute. Vessel draughts are converted to decimal
meters rather than native AIS decimeters. Various other scaling
conversions are described in "AIVDM/AIVDO Protocol Decoding".

== SUBFRAME DUMP FORMATS

Subframe support is always compiled into *gpsd* but many GPSes do not
output subframe data or the *gpsd* driver may not support subframes.

Subframe packets are dumped as JSON objects with class "SUBFRAME". Each
subframe report object contains a "frame" field giving the subframe
number, a "tSV" field for the transmitting satellite number, a "TOW17"
field containing the 17 MSBs of the start of the next 12-second message
and a "scaled" field telling whether the remainder of the fields are
dumped in scaled or unscaled form. It will also contain a "device" field
naming the data source. Each SUBFRAME object will have a sub-object
specific to that subframe page type. Those sub-object fields have names
and types similar to those specified in the IS-GPS-200 document; each
message field table may be directly interpreted as a specification for
the members of the corresponding JSON object type.

.SUBFRAME object
|===
|Name |Always? |Type |Description
|class |Yes |string |Fixed: "SUBFRAME"
|device |Yes |string |Name of the originating device.
|frame |No |integer |Frame number
|gnssId |Yes |integer |Constellation of transmitting satellite
|scaled |Yes |boolean |True is values scaled
|tSV |Yes |integer |ID of transmitting satellite (Not PRN)
|TOW17 |No |integer |Type 17 bits of the next GPS Time Of Week
|===

[id="PRNs"]
== PRN, GNSS id, SV id, and SIG id

This JSON refers to individual satellites by PRN, and by the combinarion
of GNSS id and SV id.

Beware.  What most people think of as the PRN is not the PRN that each
constellation (GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, etc.) uses in its documentation.

Each constellation numbers its PRNs starting from 1.  GPS reserves all
PRNs up to 1023.  What most users think of as the PRN is what NMEA
calls a PRN, which is not the native, standardized, PRN.  NMEA PRNs
started out as the GPS PRNs, but when other constellations became
available, GNSS receiver vendors overloaded that NMEA field.  Without
standardizing, or coordinating, between themselves.  Some receivers use
different PRN mappings depending on runtime configuration.  Don't expect
any specificity in an NMEA PRN, there is no consensus meaning.

To leave this mess behind, receiver vendors now refer to each satellite
by its constellation (GPS, GLONASS, etc.), and its PRN (starting at 1)
within that constellation.

*gpsd* refers to each constellation by its gnssid, and each satellite
within that constellation by its native PRN (svid).  Of course there is
no standardization, or consensus, on these ids, so *gpsd* decided on its
own.  These are loosely based on the u-blox usage:

.gnssid and svid table
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Constellation |Abr |gnssid |svid (native PRN)
|BeiDou       |BD|3|1-37
|Galileo      |GA|2|1-36
|GLONASS      |GL|6|1-32, 255
|GPS          |GP|0|1-32
|IMES         |IM|4|1-10
|NavIC (IRNSS)|IR|7|1-11
|QZSS         |QZ|5|1-7
|SBAS         |SB|1|120-158
|===

Of course the story does not end there.  Modern satellites transmit on
more than one band (L1, L2, L5, etc.) and using more than one signal
modulation (C/a, CM, CL. P, etc.).  So a GPS satellellite (gnssid = 0),
with a native PRN of 3 (svid = 3) may transmitting on L2 and L5 using
several modulations.  Each of those may be reported individually by your
receiver, by Gisnal ID (sigid) with it own data on Health, SNR, Used,
etc.

If you have a multi band receiver, and really want to understand
its sigids, then prepare to spend a lot of quality time with their
documentation.  As new receivers appear, with new bands and modulations,
it is impossible to keep up.  Here is a table of some sigids known to
*gpsd*:

.sigid table
[cols=",,",options="header",]
|===
|Constellation|sigid| signal name
|BeiDou| 0|B1I D1
|| 1|B1I D2
|| 2|B2I D1
|| 3|B2I D2
|| 7|B2a
|Galileo|  0|E1 C
|| 1|E1 B
|| 3|E5 aI
|| 4|E5 aQ
|| 5|E5 bl
|| 6|E5 bQ
|GLONASS|  0|L1 OF
|| 2|L2 OF
|GPS|      0|L1C/A
|| 3|L2 CL
|| 4|L2 CM
|| 6|L5 I
|| 7|L5 Q
|IRNSS| ??|
|QZSS| 0|L1C/A
|| 4|L2 CM
|| 5|L2 CL
|SBAS|     0|L1C/A
|| ?|L5I
|===

== READING

Reading the raw JSON can be tedious.  You can pretty print, and
colorize, your JSON with <<jq>> to make reading easier.  Using *jq*
to pretty print a JSON file can be as simple as:

----
$ jq .  GPSD.json
----

To grab 10 seconds of live *gpsd* JSON, and pretty print it:

----
$ gpspipe -w -x 10 | jq .
----

If you only want to see the TPV messages:

----
$ gpspipe -w -x 10 | fgrep TPV | jq .
----

== SEE ALSO

*gpsd*(8), *libgps*(3), *libgpsmm*(3), *jq*(1)

== RESOURCES

*Project web site:* {gpsdweb}

[[RFC-2783]] [RFC 2783]: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2783 +
Pulse-Per-Second API for UNIX-like Operating Systems

[[RFC-7159]] [RFC 7159]: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7159 +
The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format

[[jq]] [jq]: https://github.com/stedolan/jq

[[UTC-TAI]]: https://maia.usno.navy.mil/ser7/tai-utc.dat USNO table of +
UTC to TAI corrections.

== COPYING

This file is Copyright by the GPSD project +
SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-clause
