pyunigps 1.0.0

Unicore UNI protocol parser and generator

pyunigps

Current Status | Installation | Reading | Parsing | Generating | Serializing | Examples | Extensibility | Author & License

pyunigps is an original Python 3 parser for the UNI protocol. UNI is our term for the proprietary binary data output protocol implemented on Unicore ™ GNSS receiver modules. pyunigps can also parse NMEA 0183 © and RTCM3 © protocols via the underlying pynmeagps and pyrtcm packages from the same author, covering all the protocols that Unicore UNI GNSS receivers are capable of outputting.

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

This is an independent project and we have no affiliation whatsoever with Unicore.

Current Status

This Beta implements a comprehensive set of messages for Unicore "NebulasIV" High Precision GPS/GNSS devices, including the UM96n and UM98n series, but is readily extensible. Refer to UNI_MSGIDS in unitypes_core.py for the complete list of message definitions currently defined. UNI protocol information sourced from public domain Unicore Reference Commands R1.13 © Dec 2025 Unicore https://en.unicore.com/uploads/file/Unicore%20Reference%20Commands%20Manual%20For%20N4%20High%20Precision%20Products_V2_EN_R1.13.pdf

FYI:

Unicore "NebulasIV" GNSS receivers are configured using TTY commands (ASCII text over serial port) e.g. "SATSINFOB COM1 1". The command response will be an ASCII text message resembling an NMEA sentence e.g. "$command,SATSINFOB COM1 1,response: OK*46" or "$command,SATSXXXXB COM1 1,response: PARSING FAILD NO MATCHING FUNC SATSXXXXB*01".

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

Contributions welcome - please refer to CONTRIBUTING.MD.

Bug reports and Feature requests - please use the templates provided. For general queries and advice, post a message to one of the pyunigps Discussions channels.

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Installation

pyunigps is compatible with Python>=3.10. 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).

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

python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyunigps

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

python3 -m venv env
source env/bin/activate # (or env\Scripts\activate on Windows)
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyunigps

For Conda users, pyunigps is available from conda forge:

conda install -c conda-forge pyunigps

---

Reading (Streaming)

class pyunigps.UNIreader.UNIReader(stream, *args, **kwargs)

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

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

The constructor accepts the following optional keyword arguments:

• protfilter: NMEA_PROTOCOL (1), UNI_PROTOCOL (2), RTCM3_PROTOCOL (4). Can be OR'd; default is NMEA_PROTOCOL | UNI_PROTOCOL | RTCM3_PROTOCOL (7)
• quitonerror: ERR_IGNORE (0) = ignore errors, ERR_LOG (1) = log errors and continue (default), ERR_RAISE (2) = (re)raise errors and terminate
• validate: VALCKSUM (0x01) = validate checksum (default), VALNONE (0x00) = ignore invalid checksum or length
• parsebitfield: 1 = parse bitfields ('X' type properties) as individual bit flags, where defined (default), 0 = leave bitfields as byte sequences
• msgmode: GET (0) (default), SET (1), POLL (2)

Example A - Serial input (using iterator). This example will output both UNI and NMEA messages but not RTCM3, and log any errors:

from serial import Serial

from pyunigps import ERR_LOG, NMEA_PROTOCOL, UNI_PROTOCOL, VALCKSUM, UNIReader

with Serial("/dev/ttyACM0", 115200, timeout=3) as stream:
    unr = UNIReader(
        stream,
        protfilter=UNI_PROTOCOL | NMEA_PROTOCOL,
        quitonerror=ERR_LOG,
        validate=VALCKSUM,
        parsebitfield=1,
    )
    for raw_data, parsed_data in unr:
        print(parsed_data)

<UNI(SATSINFO, cpuidle=96, timeref=1, timestatus=1, wno=2215, tow=367199000, version=0, leapsecond=18, delay=16, numsat=50, reserved1=0, reserved2=0, reserved3=0, L1B1IE1=1, L2CL2B2IE5b=1, L5B3IE5aL5=0, B1CL1C=1, B2aG3E6=0, B2bL2P=1, prn_01=2, azi_01=302, elev_01=51, sysstatus_01_01=0, cno_01_01=45, freqstatus_01_01=0, freqno_01_01=2, sysstatus_01_02=0, cno_01_02=42, freqstatus_01_02=9, freqno_01_02=2, ... prn_50=36, azi_50=286, elev_50=19, sysstatus_50_01=3, cno_50_01=34, freqstatus_50_01=2, freqno_50_01=3, sysstatus_50_02=3, cno_50_02=42, freqstatus_50_02=17, freqno_50_02=3, sysstatus_50_03=3, cno_50_03=38, freqstatus_50_03=12, freqno_50_03=3)>

Example B - File input (using iterator). This will only output UNI data, and fail on any error:

from pyunigps import ERR_RAISE, UNI_PROTOCOL, VALCKSUM, UNIReader

with open("pygpsdata_u980.log", "rb") as stream:
    unr = UNIReader(
        stream, protfilter=UNI_PROTOCOL, validate=VALCKSUM, quitonerror=ERR_RAISE
    )
    for raw_data, parsed_data in unr:
        print(parsed_data)

Example C - Socket input (using iterator). This will output UNI, NMEA and RTCM3 data, and ignore any errors:

import socket

from pyunigps import (
    ERR_IGNORE,
    NMEA_PROTOCOL,
    UNI_PROTOCOL,
    RTCM3_PROTOCOL,
    VALCKSUM,
    UNIReader,
)

with socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as stream:
    stream.connect(("localhost", 50007))
    unr = UNIReader(
        stream,
        protfilter=NMEA_PROTOCOL | UNI_PROTOCOL | RTCM3_PROTOCOL,
        validate=VALCKSUM,
        quitonerror=ERR_IGNORE,
    )
    for raw_data, parsed_data in unr:
        print(parsed_data)

---

Parsing

pyunigps.UNIreader.UNIReader.parse(message: bytes, **kwargs)

You can parse individual UNI messages using the static UNIReader.parse(data) function, which takes a bytes array containing a binary UNI message and returns a UNIMessage object.

NB: Once instantiated, a UNIMessage object is immutable.

The parse() method accepts the following optional keyword arguments:

• validate: VALCKSUM (0x01) = validate checksum (default), VALNONE (0x00) = ignore invalid checksum or length
• parsebitfield: 1 = parse bitfields ('X' type properties) as individual bit flags, where defined (default), 0 = leave bitfields as byte sequences
• msgmode: GET (0) (default), SET (1), POLL (2)

Example A - parsing BESTNAV output message:

from pyunigps import GET, VALCKSUM, UNIReader

msg = UNIReader.parse(
    b"\xaaD\xb5YF\x08x\x00\x00\xa0e\t\xe8\...\x98\x15\xa5\xf1",
    validate=VALCKSUM,
    parsebitfield=1,
)
print(msg)

"<UNI(BESTNAV, cpuidle=89, timeref=0, timestatus=160, wno=2405, tow=75521000, version=0, leapsecond=18, delay=13, solstatus=0, postype=16, lat=43.450634678833644, lon=-1.1303087675041795, hmsl=36.32093767914921, undulation=51.67765808105469, datumid=61, latstd=2.6222991943359375, lonstd=1.9253981113433838, hmslstd=2.7721946239471436, stationid=0, diffage=0.0, solage=0.0, numsvs=25, numsolnsvs=21, reserved1=21, reserved2=0, reserved3=1, rtkverify=0, psrionocorr=1, gale1=1, gale5b=0, gale5a=0, bdsb1l=1, bdsb3l=0, bdsb2a=0, bdsb1c=0, gpsl1=1, gpsl2=0, gpsl5=0, glol1=1, glol2=0, bdsb2l=0, vsolstatus=0, veltype=8, latency=0.0, age=0.0, horspd=0.06034742542911377, trkgnd=192.53216796929004, vertspd=-0.001533079795667136, verspdstd=0.14649531245231628, horspdstd=0.11643162369728088)>"      

The UNIMessage object exposes different public attributes depending on its message type or 'identity'. Helper methods are available to convert position coordinates into different formats. Attributes which are enumerations may have corresponding decodes in pyunigps.unitypes_decodes e.g. the BESTNAV message has the following attributes:

from pyunigps import POSTYPE, PSRIONOCORR, SOLSTATUS, latlon2dms, llh2iso6709, wnotow2utc
print(msg.identity)
print(wnotow2utc(msg.wno, msg.tow, msg.leapsecond))
print(msg.lat, msg.lon, msg.hmsl)
print(latlon2dms(msg.lat, msg.lon))
print(llh2iso6709(msg.lat, msg.lon, msg.hmsl))
print(msg.solstatus, SOLSTATUS[msg.solstatus])
print(msg.postype, POSTYPE[msg.postype])
print(msg.psrionocorr, PSRIONOCORR[msg.psrionocorr])

BESTNAV
2026-02-08 20:58:23+00:00
43.450634678833644, -1.1303087675041795, 36.32093767914921
('43°27′2.28484″N', '1°7′49.11156″W')
+43.450634678833644-1.1303087675041794+36.32093767914921CRSWGS_84/
0 SOL_COMPUTED
16 SINGLE
1 Klobuchareph

The payload attribute always contains the raw payload as bytes. Attributes within repeating groups are parsed with a two-digit suffix (prn_01, prn_02, etc.).

---

Generating

class pyunigps.UNImessage.UNIMessage(msggrp, msgid, **kwargs)

You can create a UNIMessage object by calling the constructor with the following parameters:

1. message id in each integer or string format (must be a valid id or name from pyunigps.UNI_MSGIDS)
2. (optional) a series of keyword parameters representing the message header and payload.
3. (optional) parsebitfield keyword - 1 = define bitfields as individual bits (default), 0 = define bitfields as byte sequences.

The message payload can be defined via keyword arguments in one of three ways:

1. A single keyword argument of payload containing the full payload as a sequence of bytes (any other keyword arguments will be ignored). NB the payload keyword argument must be used for message types which have a 'variable by size' repeating group.
2. One or more keyword arguments corresponding to individual message attributes. Any attributes not explicitly provided as keyword arguments will be set to a nominal value according to their type.
3. If no keyword arguments are passed, the payload is assumed to be null.
4. If the wno or tow arguments are omitted, they will default to the current datetime and leapsecond offset.

Example A - generate a VERSION message from individual keyword arguments:

from pyunigps import UNIMessage
msg = UNIMessage(
    msgid=17,
    wno=2406,
    tow=34534543,
    device=18,
    swversion="R4.10Build5251",
    authtype="HRPT00-S10C-P",
    psn="-",
    efuseid="ffff48ffff0fffff",
    comptime="2021/11/26",
)
print(msg)

<UNI(VERSION, cpuidle=0, timeref=0, timestatus=0, wno=2406, tow=34534543, version=0, leapsecond=18, delay=0, device=18, swversion=R4.10Build5251, authtype=HRPT00-S10C-P, psn=-, efuseid=ffff48ffff0fffff, comptime=2021/11/26)>

---

Serializing

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

e.g. to serialize and send a VERSION message:

from serial import Serial
from pyunigps import UNIMessage
serialOut = Serial('COM1', 115200, timeout=5)
print(msg)
output = msg.serialize()
print(output)
serialOut.write(output)

<UNI(VERSION, cpuidle=0, timeref=0, timestatus=0, wno=2406, tow=34534543, version=0, leapsecond=18, delay=0, device=18, swversion=R4.10Build5251, authtype=HRPT00-S10C-P, psn=-, efuseid=ffff48ffff0fffff, comptime=2021/11/26)>
b'\xaaD\xb5\x00\x11\x004\x01\x00\x00f\t\x8f\xf4\x0e\x02\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x12\x00\x00\x00R4.10Build5251                   HRPT00-S10C-P                                                                                                                    -                                                                 ffff48ffff0fffff                 2021/11/26                                 \x11t\x19\x1f'

---

Examples

The following command line examples can be found in the \examples folder:

1. uniusage.py illustrates basic usage of the UNIMessage and UNIReader classes.
2. unipoller.py illustrates how to stream UNI messages while simultaneously applying ASCII text configuration commands.

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Extensibility

The UNI protocol is principally defined in the modules unitypes_*.py as a series of dictionaries. Message payload definitions must conform to the following rules:

1. attribute names must be unique within each message class
2. attribute types must be one of the valid types (S1, U2, X4, etc.). A suffix of "*f" signifies a scaling factor of f is to be applied to the raw value.
3. repeating or bitfield groups must be defined as a tuple ('numr', {dict}), where:
   'numr' is either:
     a. an integer representing a fixed number of repeats e.g. 32
     b. a string representing the name of a preceding attribute containing the number of repeats e.g. 'numsat'
     c. an 'X' attribute type ('X1', 'X2', 'X4', etc) representing a group of individual bit flags
     d. 'None' for a 'variable by size' repeating group. Only one such group is permitted per payload and it must be at the end.
   {dict} is the nested dictionary of repeating items or bitfield group

Repeating attribute names are parsed with a two-digit suffix (prn_01, prn_02, etc.). Nested repeating groups are supported.

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Author & License Information

[e-mail]

pyunigps 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...