pyspartn

Current Status | Installation | Reading | Parsing | Generating | Serializing | Examples | Troubleshooting | Graphical Client | Author & License

pyspartn is an original Python 3 parser for the SPARTN © GPS/GNSS protocol. SPARTN is an open-source GPS/GNSS differential correction or DGPS protocol published by u-blox:

SPARTN Protocol (available in the public domain). © 2021 u-blox AG. All rights reserved.

The pyspartn homepage is located at https://github.com/semuconsulting/pyspartn.

This is an independent project and we have no affiliation whatsoever with u-blox.

FYI There are companion libraries which handle standard NMEA 0183 ©, UBX © (u-blox) and RTCM3 © GNSS/GPS messages:

• pyubx2
• pynmeagps
• pyrtcm

Current Status

The SPARTNReader class is capable of parsing individual SPARTN transport-layer messages from a binary data stream containing solely SPARTN data, with their associated metadata (message type/subtype, payload length, encryption parameters, etc.).

The SPARTNMessage class implements optional decrypt and decode algorithms for individual OCB, HPAC, GAD, BPAC and EAS-DYN message types. Test coverage is currently limited by available SPARTN test data sources.

Sphinx API Documentation in HTML format is available at https://www.semuconsulting.com/pyspartn.

Contributions welcome - please refer to CONTRIBUTING.MD.

Bug reports and Feature requests - please use the templates provided. For general queries and advice, please use the Discussion Forum.

Installation

pyspartn is compatible with Python 3.9 - 3.13¹.

In the following, python3 & pip refer to the Python 3 executables. You may need to substitute python for python3, depending on your particular environment (on Windows it's generally python). It is strongly recommended that the Python 3 binaries (\Scripts or /bin) and site_packages directories are included in your PATH (most standard Python 3 installation packages will do this automatically if you select the 'Add to PATH' option during installation).

The recommended way to install the latest version of pyspartn is with pip:

python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyspartn

If required, pyspartn can also be installed into a virtual environment, e.g.:

python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade virtualenv
python3 -m virtualenv env
source env/bin/activate (or env\Scripts\activate on Windows)
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyspartn
...
deactivate

¹ On some 32-bit Linux platforms (e.g. Raspberry Pi OS 32), it may be necessary to install Rust compiler support in order to install the cryptography library which pyspartn depends on to decrypt SPARTN messages. See cryptography install README.

For Conda users, pyspartn is also available from conda-forge:

conda install -c conda-forge pyspartn

Reading (Streaming)

class pyspartn.spartnreader.SPARTNReader(stream, **kwargs)

You can create a SPARTNReader object by calling the constructor with an active stream object. The stream object can be any data stream which supports a read(n) -> bytes method (e.g. File or Serial, with or without a buffer wrapper). pyspartn implements an internal SocketWrapper class to allow sockets to be read in the same way as other streams.

Individual SPARTN messages can then be read using the SPARTNReader.read() function, which returns both the raw binary data (as bytes) and the parsed data (as a SPARTNMessage, via the parse() method). The function is thread-safe in so far as the incoming data stream object is thread-safe. SPARTNReader also implements an iterator. See examples below.

Example - Serial input:

from serial import Serial
from pyspartn import SPARTNReader
with Serial('/dev/tty.usbmodem14101', 38400, timeout=3) as stream:
   spr = SPARTNReader(stream)
   raw_data, parsed_data = spr.read()
   if parsed_data is not None:
      print(parsed_data)

Example - File input (using iterator).

from pyspartn import SPARTNReader
with open('spartndata.log', 'rb') as stream:
   spr = SPARTNReader(stream)
   for raw_data, parsed_data in spr:
      print(parsed_data)

Example - Socket input (using iterator):

import socket
from pyspartn import SPARTNReader
with socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as stream:
   stream.connect(("localhost", 50007))
   spr = SPARTNReader(stream)
   for raw_data, parsed_data in spr:
      print(parsed_data)

Encrypted Payloads

At time of writing, most proprietary SPARTN message sources (e.g. Thingstream PointPerfect © MQTT) use encrypted payloads (eaf=1). In order to decrypt and decode these payloads, a valid decryption key is required. Keys are typically 32-character hexadecimal strings valid for a 4 week period.

In addition to the key, the SPARTN decryption algorithm requires a 32-bit gnssTimeTag value. The provision of this 32-bit gnssTimeTag depends on the incoming data stream:

• Some SPARTN message types (e.g. HPAC and a few OCB messages) include the requisite 32-bit gnssTimeTag in the message header (denoted by timeTagtype=1). Others (e.g. GAD and most OCB messages) use an ambiguous 16-bit gnssTimeTag value for reasons of brevity (denoted by timeTagtype=0). In these circumstances, a nominal 'basedate' must be provided by the user, representing the UTC datetime on which the datastream was originally created to the nearest half day, in order to convert the 16-bit gnssTimeTag to an unambiguous 32-bit value.
• If you're parsing data in real time, this basedate can be left at the default datetime.now(timezone.utc).
• If you're parsing historical data, you will need to provide a basedate representing the UTC datetime on which the data stream was originally created, to the nearest half day.
• If a nominal basedate of TIMEBASE (datetime(2010, 1, 1, 0, 0, tzinfo=timezone.utc)) is provided, pyspartn.SPARTNReader can attempt to derive the requisite gnssTimeTag value from any 32-bit gnssTimetag in a preceding message of the same subtype in the same data stream, but unless and until this eventuality occurs (e.g. unless an HPAC message precedes an OCB message of the same subtype), decryption may fail. Always set the quitonerror argument to ERRLOG or ERRIGNORE to log or ignore such initial failures.

The current decryption key can also be set via environment variable MQTTKEY, but bear in mind this will need updating every 4 weeks.

Example - Real time serial input with decryption:

from serial import Serial
from pyspartn import SPARTNReader
with Serial('/dev/tty.usbmodem14101', 9600, timeout=3) as stream:
   spr = SPARTNReader(stream, decode=1, key="930d847b779b126863c8b3b2766ae7cc")
   for raw_data, parsed_data in spr:
      print(parsed_data)

Example - Historical file input with decryption, using an known basedate:

from datetime import datetime, timezone
from pyspartn import SPARTNReader

with open('spartndata.log', 'rb') as stream:
   spr = SPARTNReader(stream, decode=1, key="930d847b779b126863c8b3b2766ae7cc", basedate=datetime(2023, 4, 18, 20, 48, 29, 977255, tzinfo=timezone.utc))
   for raw_data, parsed_data in spr:
      print(parsed_data)

Example - Historical file input with decryption, using a nominal TIMEBASE basedate:

from datetime import datetime, timezone
from pyspartn import SPARTNReader, TIMEBASE, ERRLOG

with open('spartndata.log', 'rb') as stream:
   spr = SPARTNReader(stream, decode=1, key="930d847b779b126863c8b3b2766ae7cc", basedate=TIMEBASE, quitonerror=ERRLOG)
   for raw_data, parsed_data in spr:
      print(parsed_data)

... (first few messages may fail decryption, until we find a usable 32-bit gnssTimeTag ...)
"Message type SPARTN-1X-OCB-GPS timetag 33190 not successfully decrypted - check key and basedate"
"Message type SPARTN-1X-OCB-GLO timetag 31234 not successfully decrypted - check key and basedate"
... (but the rest should be decrypted OK ...)

Parsing

You can parse individual SPARTN messages using the static SPARTNReader.parse(data) function, which takes a bytes array containing a binary SPARTN message and returns a SPARTNMessage object. If the message payload is encrypted (eaf=1), a decryption key and UTC basedate must be provided. See examples below.

NB: Once instantiated, a SPARTNMMessage object is immutable.

Example - without payload decryption or decoding:

from pyspartn import SPARTNReader

transport = b"s\x00\x12\xe2\x00|\x10[\x12H\xf5\t\xa0\xb4+\x99\x02\x15\xe2\x05\x85\xb7\x83\xc5\xfd\x0f\xfe\xdf\x18\xbe\x7fv \xc3`\x82\x98\x10\x07\xdc\xeb\x82\x7f\xcf\xf8\x9e\xa3ta\xad"
msg = SPARTNReader.parse(transport, decode=0)
print(msg)

<SPARTN(SPARTN-1X-OCB-GPS, msgType=0, nData=37, eaf=1, crcType=2, frameCrc=2, msgSubtype=0, timeTagtype=0, gnssTimeTag=3970, solutionId=5, solutionProcId=11, encryptionId=1, encryptionSeq=9, authInd=1, embAuthLen=0, crc=7627181, )>

Example - with payload decryption and decoding (requires key and, for messages where timeTagtype=0, a nominal basedate):

from datetime import datetime, timezone
from pyspartn import SPARTNReader

transport = b"\x73\x04\x19\x62\x03\xfa\x20\x5b\x1f\xc8\x31\x0b\x03\xd3\xa4\xb1\xdb\x79\x21\xcb\x5c\x27\x12\xa7\xa8\xc2\x52\xfd\x4a\xfb\x1a\x96\x3b\x64\x2a\x4e\xcd\x86\xbb\x31\x7c\x61\xde\xf5\xdb\x3d\xa3\x2c\x65\xd5\x05\x9f\x1c\xd9\x96\x47\x3b\xca\x13\x5e\x5e\x54\x80"
msg = SPARTNReader.parse(
    transport,
    decode=1,
    key="6b30302427df05b4d98911ebff3a4d95",
    basedate=datetime(2023, 6, 27, 22, 3, 0, tzinfo=timezone.utc),
)
print(msg)

<SPARTN(SPARTN-1X-GAD, msgType=2, nData=50, eaf=1, crcType=2, frameCrc=2, msgSubtype=0, timeTagtype=0, gnssTimeTag=32580, solutionId=5, solutionProcId=11, encryptionId=1, encryptionSeq=63, authInd=1, embAuthLen=0, crc=6182016, SF005=37, SF068=1, SF069=0, SF030=7, SF031_01=32, SF032_01=43.20000000000002, SF033_01=18.700000000000017, SF034_01=6, SF035_01=2, SF036_01=0.6, SF037_01=2.3000000000000003, SF031_02=33, SF032_02=43.20000000000002, SF033_02=23.30000000000001, SF034_02=6, SF035_02=3, SF036_02=0.6, SF037_02=1.7000000000000002, SF031_03=34, SF032_03=40.099999999999994, SF033_03=12.100000000000023, SF034_03=2, SF035_03=6, SF036_03=1.9000000000000001, SF037_03=1.1, SF031_04=35, SF032_04=39.70000000000002, SF033_04=18.700000000000017, SF034_04=3, SF035_04=3, SF036_04=1.3000000000000003, SF037_04=2.3000000000000003, SF031_05=36, SF032_05=54.80000000000001, SF033_05=-3.1999999999999886, SF034_05=6, SF035_05=2, SF036_05=0.6, SF037_05=3.1, SF031_06=37, SF032_06=49.099999999999994, SF033_06=-5.5, SF034_06=4, SF035_06=7, SF036_06=0.8, SF037_06=1.1, SF031_07=38, SF032_07=46.0, SF033_07=10.600000000000023, SF034_07=3, SF035_07=2, SF036_07=0.9, SF037_07=2.3000000000000003, SF031_08=39, SF032_08=46.0, SF033_08=1.8000000000000114, SF034_08=7, SF035_08=2, SF036_08=0.7000000000000001, SF037_08=2.3000000000000003)>

The SPARTNMessage object exposes different public attributes depending on its message type or 'identity'. SPARTN data fields are denoted SFnnn - use the datadesc() helper method to obtain a more user-friendly text description of the data field.

from datetime import datetime, timezone
from pyspartn import SPARTNReader, datadesc
msg = SPARTNReader.parse(b"s\x02\xf7\xeb\x08\xd7!\xef\x80[\x17\x88\xc2?\x0f\x ... \xc4#fFy\xb9\xd5", decode=True, key="930d847b779b126863c8b3b2766ae7cc", basedate=datetime(2024, 4, 18, 20, 48, 29, 977255, tzinfo=timezone.utc))
print(msg)
print(msg.identity)
print(msg.gnssTimeTag)
print(datadesc("SF005"), msg.SF005)
print(datadesc("SF061a"), msg.SF061a_10_05)

<SPARTN(SPARTN-1X-HPAC-GPS, msgType=1, nData=495, eaf=1, crcType=2, frameCrc=11, msgSubtype=0, timeTagtype=1, gnssTimeTag=451165680, solutionId=5, solutionProcId=11, encryptionId=1, encryptionSeq=30, authInd=1, embAuthLen=0, crc=7977429, SF005=152, SF068=1, SF069=0, SF030=9, SF031_01=0, SF039_01=0, SF040T_01=1, SF040I_01=1, SF041_01=1, SF042_01=1, SF043_01=0.0, SF044_01=1, SF048_01=-0.21199999999999997, SF049a_01=0.0, SF049b_01=0.0010000000000000009, SF054_01=1, SatBitmaskLen_01=0, SF011_01=880836738, SF055_01_01=1, SF056_01_01=1, SF060_01_01=-11.120000000000005, ..., SF061a_10_05=-0.27200000000000557, SF061b_10_05=0.1839999999999975, SF055_10_06=2, SF056_10_06=1, SF060_10_06=7.640000000000043, SF061a_10_06=-1.3840000000000003, SF061b_10_06=-0.7920000000000016)>
'SPARTN-1X-HPAC-GPS'
451165680
('Solution issue of update (SIOU)', 152)
('Large ionosphere coefficient C01', -0.27200000000000557)

Attributes in nested repeating groups are suffixed with a 2-digit index for each nested level e.g. SF032_06, SF061a_10_05. See examples below for illustrations of how to iterate through grouped attributes.

Enumerations for coded values can be found in spartntables.py.

The payload attribute always contains the raw payload as bytes.

Iterating Through Group Attributes

To iterate through nested grouped attributes, you can use a construct similar to the following (this example iterates through SF032 Area reference latitude values in a SPARTN-1X-GAD message):

vals = []
for i in range(parsed_data.SF030 + 1):  # attribute or formula representing group size
    vals.append(getattr(parsed_data, f"SF032_{i+1:02d}"))
print(vals)

See examples parse_ocb.py, parse_hpac.py and parse_gad.py for illustrations of how to convert parsed and decoded OCB, HPAC and GAD payloads into iterable data structures.

Generating

class pyspartn.spartnmessage.SPARTNMessage(**kwargs)

You can create an SPARTNMessage object by calling the constructor with the following keyword arguments:

1. transport as bytes

Example:

from pyspartn import SPARTNMessage
msg = SPARTNMessage(transport=b"s\x00\x12\xe2\x00|\x10[\x12H\xf5\t\xa0\xb4+\x99\x02\x15\xe2\x05\x85\xb7\x83\xc5\xfd\x0f\xfe\xdf\x18\xbe\x7fv \xc3`\x82\x98\x10\x07\xdc\xeb\x82\x7f\xcf\xf8\x9e\xa3ta\xad")
print(msg)

<SPARTN(SPARTN-1X-OCB-GPS, msgType=0, nData=37, eaf=1, crcType=2, frameCrc=2, msgSubtype=0, timeTagtype=0, gnssTimeTag=3970, solutionId=5, solutionProcId=11, encryptionId=1, encryptionSeq=9, authInd=1, embAuthLen=0, crc=7627181, )>

Serializing

The SPARTNMessage class implements a serialize() method to convert a SPARTNMMessage object to a bytes array suitable for writing to an output stream.

e.g. to create and send a SPARTN-1X-OCB-GPS message type:

from serial import Serial
serialOut = Serial('/dev/ttyACM1', 38400, timeout=5)
from pyspartn import SPARTNMessage
msg = SPARTNMessage(transport=b"s\x00\x12\xe2\x00|\x10[\x12H\xf5\t\xa0\xb4+\x99\x02\x15\xe2\x05\x85\xb7\x83\xc5\xfd\x0f\xfe\xdf\x18\xbe\x7fv \xc3`\x82\x98\x10\x07\xdc\xeb\x82\x7f\xcf\xf8\x9e\xa3ta\xad")
print(msg)
output = msg.serialize()
print(output)
serialOut.write(output)

<SPARTN(SPARTN-1X-OCB-GPS, msgType=0, nData=37, eaf=1, crcType=2, frameCrc=2, msgSubtype=0, timeTagtype=0, gnssTimeTag=3970, solutionId=5, solutionProcId=11, encryptionId=1, encryptionSeq=9, authInd=1, embAuthLen=0, crc=7627181, )>
b's\x00\x12\xe2\x00|\x10[\x12H\xf5\t\xa0\xb4+\x99\x02\x15\xe2\x05\x85\xb7\x83\xc5\xfd\x0f\xfe\xdf\x18\xbe\x7fv \xc3`\x82\x98\x10\x07\xdc\xeb\x82\x7f\xcf\xf8\x9e\xa3ta\xad'

Examples

The following examples are available in the /examples folder:

1. spartnparser.py - illustrates how to parse SPARTN transport layer data from a binary SPARTN datastream.
2. spartn_decrypt.py - illustrates how to decrypt and decode a binary SPARTN log file (e.g. from the spartn_mqtt_client.py or spartn_ntrip_client.py examples below).
3. spartn_mqtt_client.py - implements a simple SPARTN MQTT client using the pygnssutils.GNSSMQTTClient class. NB: requires a valid ClientID for a SPARTN MQTT service e.g. u-blox Thingstream PointPerfect MQTT.
4. spartn_ntrip_client.py - implements a simple SPARTN NTRIP client using the pygnssutils.GNSSNTRIPClient class. NB: requires a valid user and password for a SPARTN NTRIP service e.g. u-blox Thingstream PointPerfect NTRIP.
5. rxmpmp_extract_spartn.py - ilustrates how to extract individual SPARTN messages from the accumulated UBX-RXM-PMP data output by an NEO-D9S L-band correction receiver.
6. parse_gad.py - illustrates how to convert parsed GAD message types into WKT area polygon format for display on a map (see, for example, gad_plot_map.png).
7. parse_hpac.py and parse_ocb.py - illustrate how to convert parsed HPAC and OCB message types into iterable data structures.

Troubleshooting

1. SPARTNTypeError or SPARTNParseError when parsing encrypted messages with 16-bit gnssTimetags (timeTagtype=0), e.g. GAD or some OCB messages:

   pyspartn.exceptions.SPARTNTypeError: Error processing attribute 'group' in message type SPARTN-1X-GAD

   This is almost certainly due to an invalid decryption key and/or basedate. Remember that keys are only valid for a 4 week period, and basedates are valid for no more than half a day. Note also that different GNSS constellations use different UTC datums e.g. GLONASS timestamps are based on UTC+3. Check with your SPARTN service provider for the latest decryption key(s), and check the original creation date of your SPARTN datasource.

2. SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED error when attempting to connect to SPARTN MQTT service using gnssmqttclient on MacOS:

   [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1000)

   This is because gnssmqttclient is unable to locate the RootCA certificate for the MQTT Broker. This can normally be resolved as follows:

   • Install the latest version of certifi: python3 -m pip install --upgrade certifi
   • Run the following command from the terminal (substituting your Python path and version as required): /Applications/Python\ 3.12/Install\ Certificates.command

3. Unable to install crytography library required by pyspartn on 32-bit Linux platforms:

   Building wheel for cryptography (PEP 517): started
   Building wheel for cryptography (PEP 517): finished with status 'error'

   Refer to cryptography installation README.md.

4. Checking for successful decryption. SPARTNMessage objects implement a protected attribute _padding, which represents the number of redundant bits added to the payload content in order to byte-align the payload with the number of bytes specified in the transport layer payload length attribute nData. If the payload has been successfully decrypted and decoded, the value of _padding should always be between 0 and 8. Checking 0 <= msg._padding <= 8 provides an informal (but not necessarily definitive) check of successful decryption and decoding (see, for example, spartn_decrypt.py).

Graphical Client

A python/tkinter graphical GPS client which supports NMEA, UBX, RTCM3 and SPARTN protocols is available at:

https://github.com/semuconsulting/PyGPSClient

Author & License Information

semuadmin@semuconsulting.com

pyspartn is maintained entirely by unpaid volunteers. It receives no funding from advertising or corporate sponsorship. If you find the utility useful, please consider sponsoring the project with the price of a coffee...