Nmea Explanation
Nmea Explanation
Association for use in boat navigation and control systems. Because early GPS
sensors were designed for compatibility with these systems, GPS reporting protocols
are often a small subset of NMEA 0183 or mutated from such as subset. AIS, the
Marine Automatic Identification system, also uses NMEA0183-like packet formats.
The master of this document is in asciidoc format at the GPSD project website; you
are probably seeing it as a web page. You may encounter versions of it, in plain
ASCII, that do not have a revision number and do not list an editor. These are older
and should be considered obsolescent.
This collection of sentences is originally from the gpsdrive distribution, but adds more
information on the following topics:
While newer marine electronics uses this protocol, general-purpose GPSes have not
adopted it. Thus we do not attempt to document NMEA 2000 here; see [CANBUS],
[NMEA2000], and [KEVERSOFT] instead.
The NMEA 4.00 standard states, provocatively, that it is "in theory" backwards
compatible to 2.00, and that versions before 2.00 are not forward-compatible
[ANON].
Consumer-grade GPS sensors normally report over an RS232 port or a USB port
emulating an RS232 serial device; some use Bluetooth. Baud rate is variable, with
9600 probably the most common. Most devices use 8N1; there are rare exceptions
that use 7N2 (San Jose Navigation) or even 8O1 (Trimble).
In NMEA 2.3, several sentences (APB, BWC, BWR, GLL, RMA, RMB, RMC, VTG,
WCV, and XTE) got a new last field carrying the signal integrity information needed
by the FAA. (The values in the GGA mode field were extended to carry this
information as well.) Here are the values:
This field may be empty. In pre-2.3 versions it is omitted. [NTUM] says that
according to the NMEA specification, it dominates the Status field — the Status field
will be set to "A" (data valid) for Mode Indicators A and D, and to "V" (data invalid)
for all other values of the Mode Indicator. This is confirmed by [IEC].
In NMEA 3.0, the GBS sentence reports a complete set of error estimates. Note
however that many receivers claiming to emit "3.0" or "3.01" don’t actually ship this
sentence.
The start delimiter is normally $ (ASCII 36). Packets of AIVDM/AIVDO data, which
are otherwise formatted like NMEA, use !. Up to 4.00 these are the only permitted
start characters [ANON].
The first field of a sentence is called the "tag" and normally consists of a two-letter
talker ID followed by a three-letter type code.
Where a numeric latitude or longitude is given, the two digits immediately to the left
of the decimal point are whole minutes, to the right are decimals of minutes, and the
remaining digits to the left of the whole minutes are whole degrees.
Eg. 4533.35 is 45 degrees and 33.35 minutes. ".35" of a minute is exactly 21 seconds.
Eg. 16708.033 is 167 degrees and 8.033 minutes. ".033" of a minute is about 2
seconds.
In NMEA 3.01 (and possibly some earlier versions), the character "^" (HEX 5E) is
reserved as an introducer for two-character hex escapes using 0-9 and A-F, expressing
an ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) character [ANON].
The Checksum is mandatory, and the last field in a sentance. It is the 8-bit XOR of all
characters in the sentance, exclusing the "$", "I", or "*" characters; but including all
"," and "^". It is encoded as two hexadecimal characters (0-9, A-F), the most-
significant-nibble being sent first.
According to [UNMEA], the NMEA standard requires that a field (such as altitude,
latitude, or longitude) must be left empty when the GPS has no valid data for it.
However, many receivers violate this. It’s common, for example, to see
latitude/longitude/altitude figures filled with zeros when the GPS has no valid data.
Date and time in GPS is represented as number of weeks from the start of zero second
of 6 January 1980, plus number of seconds into the week. GPS time is not leap-
second corrected, though satellites also broadcast a current leap-second correction
which may be updated on three-month boundaries according to rotational bulletins
issued by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS).
GPS date and time are subject to a rollover problem in the 10-bit week number
counter, which will re-zero every 1024 weeks (roughly every 20 years). The last
rollover (and the first since GPS went live in 1980) was in 1999; the next would fall
in 2019, but plans are afoot to upgrade the satellite counters to 13 bits; this will delay
the next rollover until 2173.
For accurate time reporting, therefore, a GPS requires a supplemental time references
sufficient to identify the current rollover period, e.g. accurate to within 512 weeks.
Many NMEA GPSes have a wired-in assumption about the UTC time of the last
rollover and will thus report incorrect times outside the rollover period they were
designed in.
For these reasons, NMEA GPSes should not be considered high-quality references for
absolute time. Some do, however, emit pulse-per-second RS232 signals which can be
used to improve the precision of an external clock. See [PPS] for discussion.
The "Navigation receiver warning" is A for Active and V for Void. (or warning). You
will see it when either there is no satellite lock, or to indicate a valid fix that has a
DOP too high, or which fails an elevation test. In the latter case the visible sats are
below some fixed elevation of the horizon (usually 15%, but some GPSes make this
adjustable) making position unreliable due to poor geometry and more variable signal
lag induced by lengthened atmosphere transit.
Mode is associated with the GSA sentence associated with the last fix. It reports
whether the fix was no good, sufficient for 2D, or sufficient for 3D (values 1, 2, and
3).
Status will be 0 when the sample from from which the reporting sentence was
generated does not have a valid fix, 1 when it has a valid (normal-precision) fix, and 2
when the fig is DGPS corrected (reducing the base error).
In addition, some sentences may use empty fields to signify invalid data. It is not clear
whether NMEA 0183 allows this, but real-world software must cope.
Talker IDs
NMEA sentences do not identify the individual device that issued them; the format
was originally designed for shipboard multidrop networks on which it’s possible only
to broadcast to all devices, not address a specific one.
NMEA sentences do, however, include a "talker ID" a two-character prefix that
identifies the type of the transmitting unit. By far the most common talker ID is "GP",
identifying a generic GPS, but all of the following are well known:
Until the U.S. Coast Guard terminated the Omega Navigation System in 1997,
another common talker prefix was "OM" for an Omega Navigation System receiver.
Here is a more complete list of talker ID prefixes. Most are not relevant to GPS
systems.
Note that talker IDs made obsolete by newer revisions of the standards may still be
emitted by older devices. Support for them may be present in the GPSD project.
Satellite IDs
Satellites may be identified by one of two different numbers in sentences such as
GSV: a PRN number associated with their radio code, or an NMEA-ID.
For satellites 1-32, the GPS constellation, these numbers are the same. For satellites
associated with WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System), EGNOS (European
Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), and MSAS (Multi-functional Satellite
Augmentation System), they are different.
Documentation on IDs for GLONASS satellites is scanty. The manual for one
GLONASS-capable receiver has this to say:
To avoid possible confusion caused by repetition of satellite ID numbers when using
multiple satellite systems, the following convention has been adopted:
1. GPS satellites are identified by their PRN numbers, which range from 1 to 32.
2. The numbers 33-64 are reserved for WAAS satellites. The WAAS system
PRN numbers are 120-138. The offset from NMEA WAAS SV ID to WAAS
PRN number is 87. A WAAS PRN number of 120 minus 87 yields the SV ID
of 33. The addition of 87 to the SV ID yields the WAAS PRN number.
3. The numbers 65-96 are reserved for GLONASS satellites. GLONASS
satellites are identified by 64+satellite slot number. The slot numbers are 1
through 24 for the full constellation of 24 satellites, this gives a range of 65
through 88. The numbers 89 through 96 are available if slot numbers above 24
are allocated to on-orbit spares.
Other sources such as [SATSTAT] confirm that the NMEA standard assigns NMEA
IDs 65-96 to GLONASS. It goes on with the following table:
1 - 32 GPS
33 - 54 Various SBAS systems (EGNOS, WAAS, SDCM, GAGAN, MSAS)
55 - 64 not used (might be assigned to further SBAS systems)
65 - 88 GLONASS
89 - 96 GLONASS (future extensions?)
97 - 119 not used
120 - 151 not used (SBAS PRNs occupy this range)
152 - 192 not used
193 - 195 QZSS
196 - 200 QZSS (future extensions?)
201 - 235 BeiDou
GLONASS satellite numbers come in two flavors. If a sentence has a GL talker ID,
expect the skyviews to be GLONASS-only and in the range 1-32; you must add 64 to
get a globally-unique NMEA ID. If the sentence has a GN talker ID, the device emits
a multi-constellation skyview with GLONASS IDs aleady in the 65-96 range.
NMEA-Standard Sentences
Here are the NMEA-standard sentences we know about:
This sentence is generated by some units to indicate the status of arrival (entering the
arrival circle, or passing the perpendicular of the course line) at the destination
waypoint.
1 2 3 4 5 6
| | | | | |
$--AAM,A,A,x.x,N,c--c*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
Example: GPAAM,A,A,0.10,N,WPTNME*43
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | |
$--
ALM,x.x,x.x,xx,x.x,hh,hhhh,hh,hhhh,hhhh,hhhhhh,hhhhhh,hhhhhh,hhhhhh,h
hh,hhh,*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
Example:
$GPALM,1,1,15,1159,00,441d,4e,16be,fd5e,a10c9f,4a2da4,686e81,58cbe1,0a4,001*
5B
This sentence is sent by some GPS receivers to allow them to be used to control an
autopilot unit. This sentence is commonly used by autopilots and contains navigation
receiver warning flag status, cross-track-error, waypoint arrival status, initial bearing
from origin waypoint to the destination, continuous bearing from present position to
destination and recommended heading-to-steer to destination waypoint for the active
navigation leg of the journey.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
| | | | | | | | | | |
$--APA,A,A,x.xx,L,N,A,A,xxx,M,c---c*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
Example: $GPAPA,A,A,0.10,R,N,V,V,011,M,DEST,011,M*82
This is a fixed form of the APA sentence with some ambiguities removed.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12| 14|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
$--APB,A,A,x.x,a,N,A,A,x.x,a,c--c,x.x,a,x.x,a*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
Example: $GPAPB,A,A,0.10,R,N,V,V,011,M,DEST,011,M,011,M*82
Field Number:
Example 1: $GPBOD,099.3,T,105.6,M,POINTB,*01
Waypoint ID: "POINTB" Bearing 99.3 True, 105.6 Magnetic This sentence is
transmitted in the GOTO mode, without an active route on your GPS. WARNING:
this is the bearing from the moment you press enter in the GOTO page to the
destination waypoint and is NOT updated dynamically! To update the information,
(current bearing to waypoint), you will have to press enter in the GOTO page again.
Example 2: $GPBOD,097.0,T,103.2,M,POINTB,POINTA*52
This sentence is transmitted when a route is active. It contains the active leg
information: origin waypoint "POINTA" and destination waypoint "POINTB",
bearing between the two points 97.0 True, 103.2 Magnetic. It does NOT display the
bearing from current location to destination waypoint! WARNING Again this
information does not change until you are on the next leg of the route. (The bearing
from POINTA to POINTB does not change during the time you are on this leg.)
This sentence has been replaced by BWW in NMEA 4.00 (and posssibly earlier
versions) [ANON].
Field Number:
1. UTCTime
2. Waypoint Latitude
3. N = North, S = South
4. Waypoint Longitude
5. E = East, W = West
6. Bearing, True
7. T = True
8. Bearing, Magnetic
9. M = Magnetic
10. Nautical Miles
11. N = Nautical Miles
12. Waypoint ID
13. FAA mode indicator (NMEA 2.3 and later, optional)
14. Checksum
Example 1: $GPBWC,081837,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*13
Example 2:
GPBWC,220516,5130.02,N,00046.34,W,213.8,T,218.0,M,0004.6,N,EGLM*11
Field Number:
1. UTCTime
2. Waypoint Latitude
3. N = North, S = South
4. Waypoint Longitude
5. E = East, W = West
6. Bearing, True
7. T = True
8. Bearing, Magnetic
9. M = Magnetic
10. Nautical Miles
11. N = Nautical Miles
12. Waypoint ID
13. Checksum
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
| | | | | | |
$--BWW,x.x,T,x.x,M,c--c,c--c*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. Bearing Degrees, TRUE
2. T = True
3. Bearing Degrees, Magnetic
4. M = Magnetic
5. TO Waypoint
6. FROM Waypoint
7. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Depth, feet
2. f = feet
3. Depth, meters
4. M = meters
5. Depth, Fathoms
6. F = Fathoms
7. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Depth, feet
2. f = feet
3. Depth, meters
4. M = meters
5. Depth, Fathoms
6. F = Fathoms
7. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Depth, feet
2. f = feet
3. Depth, meters
4. M = meters
5. Depth, Fathoms
6. F = Fathoms
7. Checksum
In real-world sensors, sometimes not all three conversions are reported. So you night
see something like $SDDBT,,f,22.5,M,,F*cs
Field Number:
1. Decca chain identifier
2. Red Zone Identifier
3. Red Line Of Position
4. Red Master Line Status
5. Green Zone Identifier
6. Green Line Of Position
7. Green Master Line Status
8. Purple Zone Identifier
9. Purple Line Of Position
10. Purple Master Line Status
11. Red Line Navigation Use
12. Green Line Navigation Use
13. Purple Line Navigation Use
14. Position Uncertainity
15. N = Nautical Miles
16. Fix Data Basis
o 1 = Normal Pattern
o 2 = Lane Identification Pattern
o 3 = Lane Identification Transmissions
17. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Depth, meters
2. Offset from transducer, positive means distance from tansducer to water line
negative means distance from transducer to keel
3. Checksum
This sentence was incorrectly titled "Heading - Deviation & Variation" in [BETKE].
It’s documented at http://www.humminbird.com/normal.asp?id=853
Field Number:
Set (or report) frequency, mode of operation and transmitter power level of a
radiotelephone.
1 2 3 4 5
| | | | |
$--FSI,xxxxxx,xxxxxx,c,x*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. Transmitting Frequency
2. Receiving Frequency
3. Communications Mode (NMEA Syntax 2)
4. Power Level
5. Checksum
Field Number:
1. UTC time of the GGA or GNS fix associated with this sentence
2. Expected error in latitude (meters)
3. Expected error in longitude (meters)
4. Expected error in altitude (meters)
5. PRN of most likely failed satellite
6. Probability of missed detection for most likely failed satellite
7. Estimate of bias in meters on most likely failed satellite
8. Standard deviation of bias estimate
9. Checksum
Note: Source [MX521] describes a proprietary extension of GBS with a 9th data field.
The 8-field version is in NMEA 3.0.
11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | 12 13 14
15
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
$--
GGA,hhmmss.ss,llll.ll,a,yyyyy.yy,a,x,xx,x.x,x.x,M,x.x,M,x.x,xxxx*hh<C
R><LF>
Field Number:
This sentence is obsolete over most of its former coverage area. The
US/Canadian/Russian Loran-C network was shut down in 2010; it is still as of 2015
in limited use in Europe. Loran-C operations in Norway will cease from 1st Jan 2016.
[NORWAY]
12 14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11| 13|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
$--GLC,xxxx,x.x,a,x.x,a,x.x,a.x,x,a,x.x,a,x.x,a*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. GRI Microseconds/10
2. Master TOA Microseconds
3. Master TOA Signal Status
4. Time Difference 1 Microseconds
5. Time Difference 1 Signal Status
6. Time Difference 2 Microseconds
7. Time Difference 2 Signal Status
8. Time Difference 3 Microseconds
9. Time Difference 3 Signal Status
10. Time Difference 4 Microseconds
11. Time Difference 4 Signal Status
12. Time Difference 5 Microseconds
13. Time Difference 5 Signal Status
14. Checksum
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
| | | | | | | |
$--GLL,llll.ll,a,yyyyy.yy,a,hhmmss.ss,a,m,*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. Latitude
2. N or S (North or South)
3. Longitude
4. E or W (East or West)
5. Universal Time Coordinated (UTC)
6. Status A - Data Valid, V - Data Invalid
7. FAA mode indicator (NMEA 2.3 and later)
8. Checksum
Field Number:
1. UTC
2. Latitude
3. N or S (North or South)
4. Longitude
5. E or W (East or West)
6. Mode indicator (non-null)
7. Total number of satelites in use,00-99
8. HDROP
9. Antenna altitude, meters, re:mean-sea-level(geoid.
10. Goeidal separation meters
11. Age of diferential data
12. Differential reference station ID
13. Checksum
The Mode indicator is two or more characters, with the first and second defined for
GPS and GLONASS. Further characters may be defined. For each system, the
character can have a value (table may be incomplete):
Field Number:
Example: $GPGRS,024603.00,1,-1.8,-2.7,0.3,,,,,,,,,*6C
Note that the talker ID may be GP, GL, or GN, depending on if the residuals are for
GPS-only, GLONASS-only, or combined solution, respectively.
Field Number:
1 2 3 14 15 16 17 18
| | | | | | | |
$--GSA,a,a,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x.x,x.x,x.x*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n
| | | | | | | |
$--GSV,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,...*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
Example: $GPGSV,3,1,11,03,03,111,00,04,15,270,00,06,01,010,00,13,06,292,00*74
$GPGSV,3,2,11,14,25,170,00,16,57,208,39,18,67,296,40,19,40,246,00*74
$GPGSV,3,3,11,22,42,067,42,24,14,311,43,27,05,244,00,,,,*4D
Some GPS receivers may emit more than 12 quadruples (more than three GPGSV
sentences), even though NMEA-0813 doesn’t allow this. (The extras might be WAAS
satellites, for example.) Receivers may also report quads for satellites they aren’t
tracking, in which case the SNR field will be null; we don’t know whether this is
formally allowed or not.
Field Number:
1. time difference
2. time difference
3. time difference
4. time difference
5. time difference n) checksum
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
| | | | | | | |
$--GXA,hhmmss.ss,llll.ll,a,yyyyy.yy,a,c--c,X*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. UTC of position fix
2. Latitude
3. East or West
4. Longitude
5. North or South
6. Waypoint ID
7. Satelite number
8. Checksum
Field Number:
Vessel heading in degrees with respect to magnetic north produced by any device or
system producing magnetic heading.
1 2 3
| | |
$--HDM,x.x,M*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
Actual vessel heading in degrees true produced by any device or system producing
true heading.
1 2 3
| | |
$--HDT,x.x,T*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. Heading Degrees, true
2. T = True
3. Checksum
Field Number:
Field Number:
Field Number)
Field Number:
1. GRI Microseconds/10
2. Master Relative SNR
3. Master Relative ECD
4. Time Difference 1 Microseconds
5. Time Difference 1 Signal Status
6. Time Difference 2 Microseconds
7. Time Difference 2 Signal Status
8. Time Difference 3 Microseconds
9. Time Difference 3 Signal Status
10. Time Difference 4 Microseconds
11. Time Difference 4 Signal Status
12. Time Difference 5 Microseconds
13. Time Difference 5 Signal Status
14. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Frequency to use
2. Frequency mode, A=auto, M=manual
3. Beacon bit rate
4. Bitrate, A=auto, M=manual
5. Frequency for MSS message status (null for no status)
6. Checksum
Field Number:
Field Number:
1. Degrees
2. Unit of Measurement, Celcius
3. Checksum
Field Number:
Field Number:
1. Omega Pair 1
2. Omega Pair 1
3. Omega Pair 1
4. Checksum
Field Number:
Field Number:
1. waypoint ID
n) checksum
Field Number:
1. Blink Warning
2. Latitude
3. N or S
4. Longitude
5. E or W
6. Time Difference A, uS
7. Time Difference B, uS
8. Speed Over Ground, Knots
9. Track Made Good, degrees true
10. Magnetic Variation, degrees
11. E or W
12. Checksum
RMB - Recommended Minimum Navigation Information
14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13| 15
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
$--RMB,A,x.x,a,c--c,c--
c,llll.ll,a,yyyyy.yy,a,x.x,x.x,x.x,A,m,*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
Example:
$GPRMB,A,0.66,L,003,004,4917.24,N,12309.57,W,001.3,052.5,000.5,V*0B
12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11| 13
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
$--
RMC,hhmmss.ss,A,llll.ll,a,yyyyy.yy,a,x.x,x.x,xxxx,x.x,a,m,*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. UTC Time
2. Status, V=Navigation receiver warning A=Valid
3. Latitude
4. N or S
5. Longitude
6. E or W
7. Speed over ground, knots
8. Track made good, degrees true
9. Date, ddmmyy
10. Magnetic Variation, degrees
11. E or W
12. FAA mode indicator (NMEA 2.3 and later)
13. Checksum
A status of V means the GPS has a valid fix that is below an internal quality
threshold, e.g. because the dilution of precision is too high or an elevation mask test
failed.
Field Number:
1. Rate Of Turn, degrees per minute, "-" means bow turns to port
2. Status, A means data is valid
3. Checksum
RPM - Revolutions
1 2 3 4 5 6
| | | | | |
$--RPM,a,x,x.x,x.x,A*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
Field Number:
RTE - Routes
1 2 3 4 5 x n
| | | | | | |
$--RTE,x.x,x.x,a,c--c,c--c, ..... c--c*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
The Garmin 65 and possibly other units report a $GPR00 in the same format.
This sentence is transmitted before each individual sentence where there is a need for
the Listener to determine the exact source of data in the system. Examples might
include dual-frequency depthsounding equipment or equipment that integrates data
from a number of sources and produces a single output.
1 2
| |
$--STN,x.x,*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. Talker ID Number
2. Checksum
Field Number)
Field number:
Field Number:
Field Number:
Field Number:
13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12|
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
$--
TRF,hhmmss.ss,xxxxxx,llll.ll,a,yyyyy.yy,a,x.x,x.x,x.x,x.x,xxx,A*hh<CR
><LF>
Field Number:
1. UTC Time
2. Date, ddmmyy
3. Latitude
4. N or S
5. Longitude
6. E or W
7. Elevation Angle
8. Number of iterations
9. Number of Doppler intervals
10. Update distance, nautical miles
11. Satellite ID
12. Data Validity
13. Checksum
Field Number:
[GLOBALSAT] gives this in a slightly different form, with 14th and 15th fields
conveying time of observation and whether target acquisition was automatic or
manual.
Field Number:
1. Longitudinal water speed, "-" means astern
2. Transverse water speed, "-" means port
3. Status, A = Data Valid
4. Longitudinal ground speed, "-" means astern
5. Transverse ground speed, "-" means port
6. Status, A = Data Valid
7. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Degress True
2. T = True
3. Degrees Magnetic
4. M = Magnetic
5. Knots (speed of current)
6. N = Knots
7. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Degress True
2. T = True
3. Degrees Magnetic
4. M = Magnetic
5. Knots (speed of vessel relative to the water)
6. N = Knots
7. Kilometers (speed of vessel relative to the water)
8. K = Kilometers
9. Checksum
[GLOBALSAT] describes a different format in which the first three fields are water-
temperature measurements. It’s not clear which is correct.
Field Number:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
| | | | | | | | | |
$--VTG,x.x,T,x.x,M,x.x,N,x.x,K,m,*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. Track Degrees
2. T = True
3. Track Degrees
4. M = Magnetic
5. Speed Knots
6. N = Knots
7. Speed Kilometers Per Hour
8. K = Kilometers Per Hour
9. FAA mode indicator (NMEA 2.3 and later)
10. Checksum
Note: in some older versions of NMEA 0183, the sentence looks like this:
1 2 3 4 5
| | | | |
$--VTG,x.x,x,x.x,x.x,*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
1. True course over ground (degrees) 000 to 359
2. Magnetic course over ground 000 to 359
3. Speed over ground (knots) 00.0 to 99.9
4. Speed over ground (kilometers) 00.0 to 99.9
5. Checksum
The two forms can be distinguished by field 2, which will be the fixed text T in the
newer form. The new form appears to have been introduced with NMEA 3.01 in
2002.
Field Number:
Field Number:
1. Velocity
2. N = knots
3. Waypoint ID
4. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Distance, Nautical Miles
2. N = Nautical Miles
3. Distance, Kilometers
4. K = Kilometers
5. TO Waypoint
6. FROM Waypoint
7. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Latitude
2. N or S (North or South)
3. Longitude
4. E or W (East or West)
5. Waypoint name
6. Checksum
Field Number:
1. Transducer Type
2. Measurement Data
3. Units of measurement
4. Name of transducer
There may be any number of quadruplets like this, each describing a sensor. The last
field will be a checksum as usual.
Field Number:
1. Status
o V = Loran-C Blink or SNR warning
o V = general warning flag or other navigation systems when a reliable
fix is not available
2. Status
o V = Loran-C Cycle Lock warning flag
o A = OK or not used
3. Cross Track Error Magnitude
4. Direction to steer, L or R
5. Cross Track Units, N = Nautical Miles
6. FAA mode indicator (NMEA 2.3 and later, optional)
7. Checksum
Field Number:
ZDA - Time & Date - UTC, day, month, year and local time zone
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
| | | | | | |
$--ZDA,hhmmss.ss,xx,xx,xxxx,xx,xx*hh<CR><LF>
Field Number:
Example: $GPZDA,160012.71,11,03,2004,-1,00*7D
Field Number:
Field Number:
Other sentences
There is evidence for the existence of the following NMEA sentences on the Web:
Vendor extensions
This list is very incomplete.
Field number:
[PASHR] describes this sentence as NMEA, though other sources say it is Ashtech
proprietary and describe a different format.
Example:
$PASHR,085335.000,224.19,T,-01.26,+00.83,+00.00,0.101,0.113,0.267,1,0*06
Field Number:
Example: $PGRME,15.0,M,45.0,M,25.0,M*22
Field Number:
$PRWIZCH,n,s,n,s,n,s,n,s,n,s,n,s,n,s,n,s,n,s,n,s,n,s,n,s,c*hh<CR><LF>
Fields consist of 12 pairs of a satellite PRN followed by a signal quality number in the
range 0-7 (0 worst, 7 best).
$PUBX,00,hhmmss.ss,Latitude,N,Longitude,E,AltRef,NavStat,Hacc,Vacc,SO
G,COG,Vvel,+ageC,HDOP,VDOP,TDOP,GU,RU,DR,*hh<CR><LF>
Example:
$PUBX,00,081350.00,4717.113210,N,00833.915187,E,546.589,G3,2.1,2.0,0.007,77.
52,0+.007,,0.92,1.19,0.77,9,0,0*5F<CR><LF>
Example:
$PUBX,01,075142.00,467125.245,E,5236949.763,N,498.235,G3,2.1,1.9,0.005,85.63,
0.0+00,,0.78,0.90,0.52,12,0,0*65
Example: $PUBX,03,11,23,-,,,45,010,29,-,,,46,013,07,-
,,,42,015,08,U,067,31,42,025,10,U,19+5,33,46,026,18,U,326,08,39,026,17,-
,,,32,015,26,U,306,66,48,025,27,U,073,10,36,+026,28,U,089,61,46,024,15,-
,,,39,014*0D
Example:
$PUBX,04,073731.00,091202,113851.00,1196,113851.00,1930035,-
2660.664,43,*3C<CR><+LF>
‘TM’ indicates message generated by SML tracking system. ‘VTD’ is name of the
message.
Field Number:
References
[BETKE] "The NMEA 0183 protocol"
http://www.scribd.com/mcocco/d/6365285-The-NMEA-0183-Protocol
Probably the ancestor of this document. Compiled by Klaus Betke and dated
May 2000 with a revision in 2001.
[CANBUS] "Wikipedia: CAN bus" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus
[NMEA2000] "Wikipedia: NMEA 2000"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NMEA_2000
[KEVERSOFT]
http://www.keversoft.com/downloads/packetlogger_20120305_explain.txt
[DEPRIEST] "NMEA data" http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/nmea.htm
Used for PMGNST and the FAA mode code.
[MX521] "MX521 GPS/DGPS Sensor Installation Manual" http://www.mx-
marine.com/downloads/MX521_Install_manual_051804.pdf Used for GBS,
GRS.
[MX535] "MX535 UAIS Ship Borne Class A Transponder Unit Techical &
Installation Manual" http://www.mx-
marine.com/downloads/mx535/MX535_Tech_Manual_Rev_E.pdf Used for
GNS.
[ZODIAC] "Zodiac Serial Data Interface Specification"
http://users.rcn.com/mardor/serial.pdf Used for PRWIZCH.
[GH79L4N] "Specifications for GPS Receiver GH-79L4-N"
http://www.tecsys.de/db/gps/gh79l1an_intant.pdf Used for GPDTM.
[GIDS] "GPS - NMEA sentence information" http://aprs.gids.nl/nmea/ Used
for BWC, MSK, MSS.
[NMEAFAQ] "The NMEA FAQ" http://vancouver-
webpages.com/peter/nmeafaq.txt Used for R00.
[UNMEA] "Understanding NMEA 0183" http://pcptpp030.psychologie.uni-
regensburg.de/trafficresearch/NMEA0183/ Source for the claim that NMEA
requires undefined data fields to be empty.
[NTUM] "NemaTalker User Manual"
http://www.sailsoft.nl/NemaTalker/UserManual/InstrGPS.htm Source for the
claim that Mode Indicator dominates Status.
[IEC61162-1] "International Standard IEC 61162-1" (preview)
http://domino.iec.ch/preview/info_iec61162-1%7Bed2.0%7Den.pdf
[SEATALK] "SeaTalk Technical Reference"
http://www.thomasknauf.de/seatalk.htm
[SATSTAT] "NMEA IDs" https://github.com/mvglasow/satstat/wiki/NMEA-
IDs
[GLOBALSAT] "NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) 0183
Protocol" http://www.usglobalsat.com/faq_details/NMEA.htm
[PASHR] "News - NMEA PASHR Output Format Added"
http://www.oxts.com/default.asp?pageRef=76&newsID=69
[WAAS] "WAAS Information" http://gpsinformation.net/exe/waas.html
[PPS] "Pulse per second" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_per_second
[MALTESE] "Procurement of a Fixed-Wing Maritime Patrol Aircraft"
https://secure2.gov.mt/eprocurement/Tenders/file.ashx?f=9832DB05E65C774
258580284031EC72CC315D954A7108B5E.
"NMEA 0183 Advancements" (describes P value of FAA mode)
http://www.nmea.org/Assets/0183_advancements_nmea_oct_1_2010%20(2).p
df
"Data Interface in Digital Selective Calling Class-D Radios"
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/DSC_Datagrams.html
Anonymous commentator(s) are persons who have volunteered information
about the NMEA standard(s) but do not wish to be identified.
[NORWAY] "Etterretninger for sjøfarende" Notoces for Mariners, see p26
http://kartverket.no/efs-documents/editions/2015/efs01-2015.pdf