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14    <h3>Generic NMEA GPS Receiver</h3>
15<p>Last update:
16  <!-- #BeginDate format:En2m -->13-Jan-2020  07:12<!-- #EndDate -->
17  UTC</p>
18    <hr>
19    <h4>Synopsis</h4>
20
21    <p>
22      Address: 127.127.20.<i>u</i><br>
23      Reference ID: <tt>GPS</tt><br>
24      Driver ID: <tt>GPS_NMEA</tt><br>
25      Serial Port: <tt>/dev/gps<i>u</i></tt>; 4800 - 115200 bps, 8-bits, no parity<br>
26      Serial Port: <tt>/dev/gpspps<i>u</i></tt>; for just the PPS signal (this
27      is tried first for PPS, before <tt>/dev/gps<i>u</i></tt>)<br>
28      Serial Port: <tt>/dev/gps<i>u</i></tt>; symlink to server:port (for nmead)<br>
29      Features: <tt>tty_clk</tt>
30    </p>
31
32    <h4>Description</h4>
33
34    <p>
35      This driver supports GPS receivers with
36      the <tt>$GPRMC</tt>, <tt>$GPGLL</tt>, <tt>$GPGGA</tt>, <tt>$GPZDA</tt>
37      and <tt>$GPZDG</tt> NMEA sentences by default.&nbsp; Note that Accord's
38      custom NMEA sentence <tt>$GPZDG</tt> reports using the GPS timescale,
39      while the rest of the sentences report UTC.&nbsp; The difference between
40      the two is a whole number of seconds which increases with each leap
41      second insertion in UTC.&nbsp; To avoid problems mixing UTC and GPS
42      timescales, the driver disables processing of UTC sentences
43      once <tt>$GPZDG</tt> is received.
44      <br>
45      <strong>Caveat:</strong> Please see <a href="#talkerids">Talker
46      IDs</a> when using non-GPS or multi-system receivers.
47    </p>
48    <p>
49      The driver expects the receiver to be set up to transmit at least one
50      supported sentence every second.
51    </p>
52    <p>
53      The accuracy depends on the receiver used. Inexpensive GPS models are
54      available with a claimed PPS signal accuracy of
55      1 &mu;s or better relative to the broadcast
56      signal. However, in most cases the actual accuracy is limited by the
57      precision of the timecode and the latencies of the serial interface and
58      operating system.
59    </p>
60    <p>
61      If the Operating System supports PPSAPI
62      (<a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2783.txt">RFC 2783</a>), fudge flag1
63      1 enables its use.
64    </p>
65    <p>
66      The various GPS sentences that this driver recognises look like this:<br>
67      (others quietly ignored)
68    </p>
69
70    <p><table class="dlstable" border="1">
71      <caption>Accepted NMEA sentences</caption>
72      <tbody><tr>
73	<th>Sentence</th>
74	<th>Vendor</th>
75      </tr><tr>
76	<td class="ttf">$GPRMC,UTC,POS_STAT,LAT,LAT_REF,LON,LON_REF,SPD,HDG,DATE,MAG_VAR,MAG_REF*CS&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;</td>
77      </tr><tr>
78	<td class="ttf">$GPGLL,LAT,LAT_REF,LON,LON_REF,UTC,POS_STAT*CS&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;</td>
79      </tr><tr>
80	<td class="ttf">$GPGGA,UTC,LAT,LAT_REF,LON,LON_REF,FIX_MODE,SAT_USED,HDOP,ALT,ALT_UNIT,GEO,G_UNIT,D_AGE,D_REF*CS&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;</td>
81      </tr><tr>
82	<td class="ttf">$GPZDA,UTC,DD,MM,YYYY,TH,TM,*CS&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;</td>
83      </tr><tr>
84	<td class="ttf">$GPZDG,GPSTIME,DD,MM,YYYY,AA.BB,V*CS&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;</td>
85	<td>Accord</td>
86      </tr><tr>
87      </tr><tr>
88	<td class="ttf">$PGRMF,gpsWk,gpsTow,DATE,UTC,LEAPS,LAT,LAT_REF,LON,LON_REF,TYPE,MODE,SPD,HDOP,TDOP*CS&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;</td>
89	<td>Garmin</td>
90      </tr><tr>
91	  <td class="ttf">$PUBX,04,UTC,DATE,utcTow,utcWk,LEAPS,clkBias,clkDrift,tpGran,*CS&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;</td>
92	  <td>UBLOX</td>
93      </tr>
94    </tbody></table></p>
95
96    <p><table class="dlstable" border="1">
97      <caption>NMEA data items</caption>
98      <tbody><tr>
99	<th>Symbol</th>
100	<th>Meaning and Format</th>
101      </tr>
102
103      <tr>
104	<td class="ttf">ALT</td>
105	<td>Antenna Altitude</td>
106      </tr><tr>
107	<td class="ttf">ALT_UNIT</td>
108	<td>Altitude Units (Metres/Feet)</td>
109      </tr><tr>
110	<td class="ttf">DATE</td>
111	<td>Date (ddmmyy)</td>
112      </tr><tr>
113	<td class="ttf">DD</td>
114	<td>Day of the month (1-31)</td>
115      </tr><tr>
116	<td class="ttf">D_AGE</td>
117	<td>Age of last DGPS Fix</td>
118      </tr><tr>
119	<td class="ttf">D_REF</td>
120	<td>Reference ID of DGPS station</td>
121      </tr><tr>
122	<td class="ttf">FIX_MODE</td>
123	<td>Position Fix Mode (0 = Invalid, &gt;0 = Valid)</td>
124      </tr><tr>
125	<td class="ttf">GEO</td>
126	<td>Geoid/Elipsoid separation</td>
127      </tr><tr>
128	<td class="ttf">GPSTIME</td>
129	<td>Time of day on GPS timescale. Hours, minutes and seconds [fraction (opt.)] (hhmmss[.f])</td>
130      </tr><tr>
131	<td class="ttf">gpsTow</td>
132	<td>GPS week time, seconds since start of GPS week (0..604799)</td>
133      </tr><tr>
134	<td class="ttf">gpsWk</td>
135	<td>Week number in the GPS time scale (may exceed 1024)</td>
136      </tr><tr>
137	<td class="ttf">G_UNIT</td>
138	<td>Geoid units (M/F)</td>
139      </tr><tr>
140	<td class="ttf">HDG</td>
141	<td>Heading/track made good (degrees True) (x.x)</td>
142      </tr><tr>
143	<td class="ttf">HDOP</td>
144	<td>Horizontal Dilution of Precision</td>
145      </tr><tr>
146	<td class="ttf">LAT</td>
147	<td>Latitude (llll.ll)</td>
148      </tr><tr>
149	<td class="ttf">LAT_REF</td>
150	<td>Latitude direction (N = North, S = South)</td>
151      </tr><tr>
152	<td class="ttf">LEAPS</td>
153	<td>Leap seconds or difference between GPS time scale and UTC</td>
154      </tr><tr>
155	<td class="ttf">LON</td>
156	<td>Longitude (yyyyy.yy)</td>
157      </tr><tr>
158	<td class="ttf">LON_REF</td>
159	<td>Longitude direction (E = East, W = West)</td>
160      </tr><tr>
161	<td class="ttf">MAG_REF</td>
162	<td>Magnetic variation (E = East, W = West)</td>
163      </tr><tr>
164	<td class="ttf">MAG_VAR</td>
165	<td>Magnetic variation (degrees) (x.x)</td>
166      </tr><tr>
167	<td class="ttf">MM</td>
168	<td>Month of the year (1-12)</td>
169      </tr><tr>
170	<td class="ttf">POS_STAT</td>
171	<td>Position status. (A = Data valid, V = Data invalid)</td>
172      </tr><tr>
173	<td class="ttf">SAT_USED</td>
174	<td>Number of Satellites used in solution</td>
175      </tr><tr>
176	<td class="ttf">SPD</td>
177	<td>Speed over ground. (knots) (x.x)</td>
178      </tr><tr>
179	<td class="ttf">UTC</td>
180	<td>Time of day on UTC timescale. Hours, minutes and seconds [fraction (opt.)] (hhmmss[.fff])</td>
181      </tr><tr>
182	<td class="ttf">YYYY</td>
183	<td>Year</td>
184      </tr><tr>
185	<td class="ttf">WEEK</td>
186	<td>GPS week (0-1023)</td>
187      </tr><tr>
188	<td class="ttf">WSEC</td>
189	<td>Seconds since start of week (0-604799)</td>
190      </tr><tr>
191	<td class="ttf">LEAP</td>
192	<td>GPS leap seconds, that is, seconds ahead of UTC</td>
193      </tr><tr>
194	<td class="ttf">AA.BB</td>
195	<td>Denotes the signal strength (should be &lt; 05.00)</td>
196      </tr><tr>
197	<td class="ttf">V</td>
198	<td>GPS sync status<br>
199	  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'0' =&gt; INVALID time,<br>
200	  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'1' =&gt; accuracy of +/- 20ms,<br>
201	  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'2' =&gt; accuracy of +/- 100ns</td>
202      </tr><tr>
203	<td class="ttf">CS</td>
204	<td> Checksum</td>
205      </tr><tr>
206	<td class="ttf">&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;</td>
207	<td>Sentence terminator.</td>
208      </tr>
209    </tbody></table></p>
210
211
212    <h4><a name="talkerids"/>NMEA Talker IDs</h4>
213
214    <p>
215      GNSS receivers use a distinct talker ID for the GNSS they
216      process. Receivers capable of tracking different systems at the same time
217      can emit <tt>$GPRMC</tt> (GPS), <tt>$GLRMC</tt> (GLONASS),
218      <tt>$GARMC</tt> (Galileo), <tt>$GNRMC</tt> (generic/combined) and others
219      all in one data stream.
220    </p><p>
221      The driver supports this to a certain degree by ignoring the
222      talker ID on the standard sentences RMC, GLL, GGA, ZDA and ZDG. (It
223      possibly should not do that on the latter, but for now, that's the way
224      it is.) So whenever <tt>$GPRMC</tt> is mentioned in this document,
225      substitute any possible talker ID your receiver might emit -- it will
226      still match.
227    </p><p>
228      This approach has a drawback. It is easy to use for single-system
229      receivers, but it cannot separate the data streams for multi-system
230      receiver modules. It is therefore undefined which GNSS actually
231      provides the data, and this can lead to strange behavior. This is
232      especially true if the different GNSS provide very different signal
233      quality to the receiver; the driver is not able to cherry-pick the best
234      source and might actually end up in using the worst available.  It is
235      therefore recommended to set up such a receiver to either use just a
236      single GNSS (which would defeat its purpose) or to emit only the
237      combined data, which usually has the <tt>GN</tt> talker ID defined by
238      the NMEA standard.
239    <p>
240
241
242    <h4>The 'mode' byte</h4>
243
244    <p>
245      Specific GPS sentences and bitrates may be selected by setting bits of
246      the 'mode' in the server configuration line:<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;<tt>server
247      127.127.20.x mode X</tt>
248    </p>
249
250    <table border="1">
251      <caption>mode byte bits and bit groups</caption>
252      <tbody><tr>
253	<th align="center">Bit</th>
254	<th align="center">Decimal</th>
255	<th align="center">Hex</th>
256	<th align="left">Meaning</th>
257      </tr>
258
259      <tr>
260	<td align="center">0</td>
261	<td align="center">1</td>
262	<td align="center">1</td>
263	<td>process <tt>$GPRMC</tt></td>
264      </tr><tr>
265	<td align="center">1</td>
266	<td align="center">2</td>
267	<td align="center">2</td>
268	<td>process <tt>$GPGGA</tt></td>
269      </tr><tr>
270	<td align="center">2</td>
271	<td align="center">4</td>
272	<td align="center">4</td>
273	<td>process <tt>$GPGLL</tt></td>
274      </tr><tr>
275	<td align="center">3</td>
276	<td align="center">8</td>
277	<td align="center">8</td>
278	<td>process <tt>$GPZDA</tt> or <tt>$GPZDG</tt></td>
279      </tr><tr>
280	<td rowspan="6" align="center">4-6</td>
281	<td align="center">0</td>
282	<td align="center">0</td>
283	<td>linespeed 4800 bps</td>
284      </tr><tr>
285	<td align="center">16</td>
286	<td align="center">0x10</td>
287	<td>linespeed 9600 bps</td>
288      </tr><tr>
289	<td align="center">32</td>
290	<td align="center">0x20</td>
291	<td>linespeed 19200 bps</td>
292      </tr><tr>
293	<td align="center">48</td>
294	<td align="center">0x30</td>
295	<td>linespeed 38400 bps</td>
296      </tr><tr>
297	<td align="center">64</td>
298	<td align="center">0x40</td>
299	<td>linespeed 57600 bps</td>
300      </tr><tr>
301	<td align="center">80</td>
302	<td align="center">0x50</td>
303	<td>linespeed 115200 bps</td>
304      </tr><tr>
305	<td align="center">7</td>
306	<td align="center">128</td>
307	<td align="center">0x80</td>
308	<td>Write the sub-second fraction of the receive time stamp to the
309	clockstat file for all recognised NMEA sentences. This can be used to
310	get a useful value for fudge time2.<br><strong>Caveat:</strong> This
311	will fill your clockstat file rather fast. Use it only temporarily to
312	get the numbers for the NMEA sentence of your choice.</td>
313      </tr>
314      </tr><tr>
315        <td align="center">8</td>
316        <td align="center">256</td>
317        <td align="center">0x100</td>
318	<td>process <tt>$PGRMF</tt></td>
319      </tr><tr>
320        <td align="center">9</td>
321        <td align="center">512</td>
322        <td align="center">0x200</td>
323	<td>process <tt>$PUBX,04</tt></td>
324      </tr><tr>
325        <td align="center">10-15</td>
326        <td align="center"></td>
327        <td align="center">0xFC00</td>
328	<td>reserved - leave 0</td>
329      </tr><tr>
330        <td align="center">16</td>
331        <td align="center">65536</td>
332        <td align="center">0x10000</td>
333        <td>Append extra statistics to the clockstats line.
334        Details below.</td>
335       </tr><tr>
336        <td align="center">17</td>
337        <td align="center">131072</td>
338        <td align="center">0x20000</td>
339        <td>"Silent PPS" mode. Use the PPS channel (if enabled with
340          fudge flag 1) to get precise receive time stamps.
341          Do <em>not</em> set the PPS flag in the clock status, so the
342          clock is not considered as PPS peer.
343	</td>
344       </tr><tr>
345        <td align="center">18</td>
346        <td align="center">262144</td>
347        <td align="center">0x40000</td>
348        <td>Trust the date delivered via NMEA. Do this only if
349          you <em>really</em> trust the receiver!
350          See <a href="#datetrust">below</a>. <strong>Caveat:</strong>
351          This (hitherto undocumented) bit has moved!
352	</td>
353      </tr>
354    </tbody></table>
355
356
357    <p>
358      The default (mode 0) is to process all supported sentences at a linespeed
359      of 4800 bps, which results in the first one received and recognised in
360      each cycle being used.&nbsp; If only specific sentences should be
361      recognised, then the mode byte must be chosen to enable only the selected
362      ones.&nbsp; Multiple sentences may be selected by adding their mode bit
363      values, but of those enabled still only the first received sentence in a
364      cycle will be used.&nbsp; Using more than one sentence per cycle is
365      impossible, because
366      </p><ul>
367	<li>there is only <a href="#fudgetime2">fudge time2</a> available to
368	  compensate for transmission delays but every sentence would need a
369	  different one and
370	</li><li>using more than one sentence per cycle overstuffs the internal data
371	  filters.
372      </li></ul>
373      The driver uses 4800 bits per second by default, but faster bitrates can
374      be selected using bits 4 to 6 of the mode field.
375    </p>
376
377    <p>
378      <strong>Caveat:</strong> Using higher line speeds does not necessarily
379      increase the precision of the timing device.&nbsp; Higher line speeds are
380      not necessarily helpful for the NMEA driver, either.&nbsp; They can be
381      used to accomodate for an amount of data that does not fit into a
382      1-second cycle at 4800 bps, but high-speed high-volume NMEA data is likely
383      to cause trouble with the serial line driver since NMEA supports no
384      protocol handshake.&nbsp; Any device that is exclusively used for time
385      synchronisation purposes should be configured to transmit the relevant
386      data only, e.g. one <tt>$GPRMC</tt> or <tt>$GPZDA</tt> per second, at a
387      linespeed of 4800 bps or 9600 bps.
388    </p>
389
390    <h4><a name="datetrust"/>About distrusting NMEA date stamps</h4>
391    <p>
392      Trusting the calendar dates delivered via NMEA is a risky thing, and by
393      default these dates are handled with a huge dose of skepticism.  Many
394      receivers deliver a correct calendar date for a period of just 1024 weeks,
395      with a starting point baked somewhere into their firmware.  Beyond that,
396      they warp back to the begin of their era and simply provide wrong date
397      information.  To battle this widely observed effect, the date delivered is
398      by default reduced to GPS time again and then (re-)mapped according to the
399      base date, either the implicit value or the value set via "tos basedate".
400      If the receiver can <em>really</em> be trusted to deliver the right date
401      (which is not impossible, just more expensive for the manufacturer), then
402      mode bit 18 can be used to bypass the era mapping.  Setting this bit is
403      not needed under most circumstances, and setting it with an unreliable
404      receiver can have severe effects. Handle with care.
405    </p><p>
406      <strong>Note:</strong> This functionality was available for some time as
407      undocumented feature, with a different bit value.  It was moved in the
408      process of becoming officially acknowledged to avoid excessive scattering
409      of the mode bit mask.
410    </p>
411
412
413    <h4>Monitor Data</h4>
414
415    <p>The last GPS sentence that is accepted or rejected is written to the
416    clockstats file and available with <code>ntpq -c clockvar</code>.
417    (Logging the rejected sentences lets you see/debug why they were rejected.)
418    Filtered sentences are not logged.</p>
419
420    <p>
421      If the 0x10000 mode bit is on and clockstats is enabled, several extra
422      counters will be appended to the NMEA sentence that gets logged.
423      For example:
424<pre>
42556299 76876.691 127.127.20.20 $GPGGA,212116.000,3726.0785,N,12212.2605,W,1,05,2.0,17.0,M,-25.7,M,,0000*5C  228 64 0 0 64 0
426</pre>
427    </p>
428
429    <table border="1">
430      <caption>Clockstats</caption>
431      <tbody><tr>
432	<th align="center">Column</th>
433	<th align="center">Sample</th>
434	<th align="left">Meaning</th>
435      </tr>
436
437      <tr>
438	<td align="center">1</td>
439	<td align="center">56299</td>
440	<td>MJD</td>
441      </tr><tr>
442	<td align="center">2</td>
443	<td align="center">76876.691</td>
444	<td>Time of day in seconds</td>
445      </tr><tr>
446	<td align="center">3</td>
447	<td align="center">127.127.20.20</td>
448	<td>IP Address from server config line</td>
449      </tr><tr>
450	<td align="center">4</td>
451	<td align="center">$GPGGA,...0*5C</td>
452	<td>NMEA Sentence</td>
453      </tr><tr>
454        <td align="center">5</td>
455        <td align="center">228</td>
456        <td>Number of sentences received</td>
457      </tr><tr>
458        <td align="center">6</td>
459        <td align="center">64</td>
460        <td>Number of sentences accepted and used for timekeeping</td>
461      </tr><tr>
462        <td align="center">7</td>
463        <td align="center">0</td>
464        <td>Number of sentences rejected because they were marked invalid (poor signal)</td>
465      </tr><tr>
466        <td align="center">8</td>
467        <td align="center">0</td>
468        <td>Number of sentences rejected because of bad checksum or invalid date/time</td>
469      </tr><tr>
470        <td align="center">9</td>
471        <td align="center">64</td>
472        <td>Number of sentences filtered by mode bits or same second</td>
473      </tr><tr>
474        <td align="center">10</td>
475        <td align="center">0</td>
476        <td>Number of PPS pulses used, overrides NMEA sentences</td>
477      </tr>
478    </tbody></table>
479
480    Sentences like $GPGSV that don't contain the time will get
481    counted in the total but otherwise ignored.
482
483    <p>
484      <a href="https://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Support/ConfiguringNMEARefclocks">Configuring
485      NMEA Refclocks</a> might give further useful hints for specific hardware
486      devices that exhibit strange or curious behaviour.
487    </p>
488
489    <p>
490      To make a specific setting, select the corresponding decimal values from
491      the mode byte table, add them all together and enter the resulting
492      decimal value into the clock configuration line.
493    </p>
494
495    <h4>Setting up the Garmin GPS-25XL</h4>
496
497    Switch off all output with by sending it the following string.
498    <pre>"$PGRMO,,2&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;"</pre>
499    <p>Now switch only $GPRMC on by sending it the following string.</p>
500    <pre>"$PGRMO,GPRMC,1&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;"</pre>
501
502    <p>On some systems the PPS signal isn't switched on by default. It can be
503    switched on by sending the following string.</p>
504    <pre>"$PGRMC,,,,,,,,,,,,2&lt;cr&gt;&lt;lf&gt;"</pre>
505
506    <h4>Fudge Factors</h4>
507
508    <dl>
509      <dt><tt>time1 <i>time</i></tt></dt>
510      <dd>Specifies the PPS time offset calibration factor, in seconds and fraction, with default 0.0.</dd>
511      <dt><a name="fudgetime2"><tt>time2 <i>time</i></tt></a></dt>
512      <dd>Specifies the serial end of line time offset calibration factor, in seconds and fraction, with default
513	0.0.</dd>
514      <dt><tt>stratum <i>number</i></tt></dt>
515      <dd>Specifies the driver stratum, in decimal from 0 to 15, with default 0.</dd>
516      <dt><tt>refid <i>string</i></tt></dt>
517      <dd>Specifies the driver reference identifier, an ASCII string from one to four characters, with
518	default <tt>GPS</tt>.</dd>
519      <dt><tt>flag1 0 | 1</tt></dt>
520      <dd>Disable PPS signal processing if 0 (default); enable PPS signal processing if 1.</dd>
521      <dt><tt>flag2 0 | 1</tt></dt>
522      <dd>If PPS signal processing is enabled, capture the pulse on the rising edge if 0 (default); capture on the
523	falling edge if 1.</dd>
524      <dt><tt>flag3 0 | 1</tt></dt>
525      <dd>If PPS signal processing is enabled, use the <tt>ntpd</tt> clock discipline if 0 (default); use the kernel
526	discipline if 1.</dd>
527      <dt><tt>flag4 0 | 1</tt></dt>
528      <dd>Obscures location in timecode: 0 for disable (default), 1 for enable.</dd>
529    </dl>
530
531    <p>Additional Information</p>
532    <p><tt>flag1</tt>, <tt>flag2</tt>, and <tt>flag3</tt> are ignored under Windows.</p>
533    <p><a href="../refclock.html">Reference Clock Drivers</a></p>
534    <hr>
535    <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="scripts/footer.txt"></script>
536  </body></html>
537