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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html><head>
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
+ content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"><title>GPSD-NG client driver</title>
+
+ <link href="scripts/style.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet">
+ <style type="text/css">
+ table.dlstable { font-size:85%; }
+ td.ttf{ font-family:Courier; font-weight:bold; }
+ </style></head>
+
+
+
+ <body>
+ <h3>GPSD NG client driver</h3>
+<p>Last update:
+ <!-- #BeginDate format:En2m -->30-Apr-2015 05:53<!-- #EndDate -->
+ UTC</p>
+ <hr>
+ <h4>Synopsis</h4>
+
+ <p>
+ Address: 127.127.46.<i>u</i><br>
+ Reference ID: <tt>GPSD</tt><br>
+ Driver ID: <tt>GPSD_JSON</tt><br>
+ Serial Port: <tt>/dev/gps<i>u</i></tt> as symlink to the true
+ device (not used directly; see below)<br>
+ Features: <tt></tt>
+ </p>
+
+ <!-- --------------------------------------------------------- -->
+
+ <br><h4>Description</h4>
+ <p>
+ This driver is a client driver to the <i>GPSD</i> daemon, which
+ over the time became increasingly popular for UN*Xish
+ platforms. <i>GPSD</i> can manage several devices in parallel,
+ aggregate information, and acts as a data hub for client
+ applications. <i>GPSD</i> can also auto-detect and handle PPS
+ hardware signals on serial ports. Have a look
+ at <a href="http://www.catb.org/gpsd/">the
+ <i>GPSD</i> project page</a>.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <b>It is important to understand that this driver works best
+ using a GPS device with PPS support.</b>
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The GPSD-NG protocol is text based, using JSON notation to
+ transfer records in form of JSON objects. The driver uses a
+ TCP/IP connection to <tt>localhost:gpsd</tt> to connect to the
+ daemon and then requests the GPS
+ device <tt>/dev/gps<i>u</i></tt> to be watched. (Different clock
+ units use different devices, and
+ <i>GPSD</i> is able to give only the relevant information to a clock
+ instance.)
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This driver does not expect <i>GPSD</i> to be running or the
+ clock device to be present <i>a priori</i>; it will try to
+ re-establish a lost or hitherto unsuccessful connection and will
+ wait for device to come up in <i>GPSD.</i> There is an initial
+ 10 seconds delay between a connection loss or failed attempt and
+ the next reconnect attempt; this makes sure that there is no
+ thrashing on the network layer. If the connection fails again,
+ an exponential back off is used with an upper limit of
+ approximately 10 minutes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The overall accuracy depends on the receiver used. The driver
+ uses the error estimations (95% probability limits) provided by
+ <i>GPSD</i> to set the clock precision dynamically according to
+ these readings.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The driver needs the VERSION, TPV, PPS, WATCH and TOFF objects
+ of the <i>GPSD</i> protocol. (Others are quietly ignored.) The
+ driver can operate without the TOFF objects, which are available
+ with the <i>protocol</i> version 3.10 and above. (Not to be
+ confused with the <i>release</i> version of <i>GPSD</i>!)
+ Running without TOFF objects has a negative impact on the jitter
+ and offset of the serial timing information; if possible, a
+ version of <i>GPSD</i> with support for TOFF objects should be
+ used.
+ </p>
+ <p>The acronym <u>STI</u> is used here as a synonym for <i>serial
+ time information</i> from the data channel of the receiver, no
+ matter what objects were used to obtain it.
+ </p>
+
+ <!-- --------------------------------------------------------- -->
+
+ <br><h4>Naming a Device</h4>
+ <p>
+ The <i>GPSD</i> driver uses the same device name as the NMEA
+ driver, namely <tt>/dev/gps<i>u</i></tt>. There is a simple
+ reason for that: While the NMEA driver and the <i>GPSD</i>
+ driver can be active at the same time <b>for different
+ devices</b>, they cannot access the same device at a
+ time. Having the same name helps on that. It also eases
+ migration from using NMEA directly to using <i>GPSD</i>, as no
+ new links etc need to be created.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <i>GPSD</i> is normally started with the device name to access;
+ it can also be instructed by hot-plug scripts to add or remove
+ devices from its device pool. Luckily, the symlinks used by the
+ NMEA driver are happily accepted and used by <i>GPSD</i>; this
+ makes it possible to use the symlink names as device
+ identification. This makes the migration from the built-in NMEA
+ driver a bit easier.
+ </p>
+ <p><b>Note:</b> <i>GPSD</i> (as of version 3.10) cannot use kernel
+ mode PPS on devices that are hot-plugged. This would require to
+ attach the PPS line discipline to the character special file,
+ which is not possible when running with root privileges already
+ dropped. This is not likely to change in the future.
+ </p>
+
+ <!-- --------------------------------------------------------- -->
+
+ <br><h4>The 'mode' word</h4>
+ <p>
+ A few operation modes can be selected with the mode word.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <table border="1" frame="box" rules="all">
+ <th colspan="3">The Mode Word</th>
+ <tr> <td>Bits</td><td>Value</td><td>Description</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr> <td rowspan="4"align="center">0..1</td>
+ <td align="center">0</td>
+ <td>STI only operation. This mode is affected by the timing
+ stability of whatever protocol is used between the GPS
+ device and GPSD.
+ <br>
+ Running on STI only is not recommended in general. Possible
+ use cases include:
+ <ul>
+ <li>The receiver does not provide a PPS signal.
+ <li>The receiver <i>does</i> provide a PPS signal and
+ the secondary PPS unit is used.
+ <li>The receiver has a stable serial timing and a proper
+ fudge can be established.
+ <li>You have other time sources available and want to
+ establish a useful fudge value for <tt>time2</tt>.
+ </ul>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center">1</td>
+ <td>Strict operation. This mode needs a valid PPS and a
+ valid STI to combine the absolute time from the STI with
+ the time stamp from the PPS record. Does not feed clock
+ samples if no valid PPS+STI pair is available.
+ <br><br>
+ This type of operation results in an ordinary clock with a
+ very low jitter as long as the PPS data is available, but
+ the clock fails once PPS drops out. This mode is a
+ possible choice for receivers that provide a PPS signal
+ most of the time but have an unstable serial timing that
+ cannot be fudge-compensated.
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr><td align="center">2</td>
+ <td>Automatic mode. Tries to operate in strict mode unless
+ it fails to process valid samples for some time, currently
+ 120s. Then it reverts to STI-only operation until the PPS
+ is stable again for 40s, when strict mode is engaged
+ again.
+ <br><br><b>Important Notice: This is an expiremental
+ feature!</b><br> Switching between strict and STI-only
+ mode will cause changes in offset and jitter. Use this
+ mode only if STI-only works fairly well with your setup,
+ or if you expect longer dropouts of the PPS signal and
+ prefer to use STI alone over not getting synchronised at
+ all.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center">3</td>
+ <td><i>(reserved for future extension, do not use)</i></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center">2..31</td>
+ <td colspan="2"><i>(reserved for future extension, do not
+ use)</i></td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </p>
+
+ <!-- --------------------------------------------------------- -->
+
+ <br><h4>Syslog flood throttle</h4>
+ <p>This driver can create a lot of syslog messages when things go
+ wrong, and cluttering the log files is frowned upon. So we
+ attempt to log persistent or recurring errors only once per
+ hour. On the other hand, when tracking a problem the syslog
+ flood throttle can get into the way.</p>
+ <p>Therefore, fudge <i>flag3</i> can be used to <i>disable</i> the
+ flood throttle at any time; the throttle is engaged by
+ default. Running with the syslog flood throttle disabled for
+ lengthy time is not recommended unless the log files are closely
+ monitored.</p>
+
+ <!-- --------------------------------------------------------- -->
+
+ <br><h4>PPS secondary clock unit</h4>
+ <p>Units with numbers &ge;128 act as secondary clock unit for the
+ primary clock unit (u mod 128). A secondary unit processes only
+ the PPS data from <i>GPSD</i> and needs the corresponding master
+ unit to work<a href="#fn1" name="fn1bl"><sup>1</sup></a>. Use
+ the 'noselect' keyword on the primary unit if you are not
+ interested in its data.
+ </p><p>The secondary unit employs the usual precautions before
+ feeding clock samples:</p>
+ <ul>
+ <li>The system must be already in a synchronised state.
+ <li>The system offset must be less than 400ms absolute.
+ <li>The phase adjustment from the PPS signal must also be less
+ than 400ms absolute.
+ </ul>
+ <p>If fudge flag <tt>flag1</tt> is set for the secondary unit, the
+ unit asserts the PPS flag on the clock as long as PPS data is
+ available. This makes the unit eligible as PPS peer and should
+ only be used if the GPS receiver can be trusted for the quality
+ of its PPS signal<a href="fn2"
+ name="fn2bl"><sup>2</sup></a>. The PPS flag gets cleared if no
+ PPS records can be aquired for some time. The unit also flushes
+ the sample buffer at this point to avoid the use of stale PPS
+ data.</p>
+ <p><b>Attention:</b> This unit uses its own PPS fudge value
+ which must be set as fudge <tt>time1</tt>. Only the fudge
+ values <tt>time1</tt> and <tt>flag1</tt> have an impact on secondary
+ units.</p>
+
+ <!-- --------------------------------------------------------- -->
+
+ <br><h4>Clockstats</h4>
+ <p>If flag4 is set when the driver is polled, a clockstats record
+ is written for the primary clock unit. (The secondary PPS unit
+ does not provide clock stats on its own.) The first 3 fields are
+ the normal date, time, and IP address common to all clockstats
+ records.
+ </p><p>
+ <table border="1" frame="box" rules="all">
+ <th colspan="2">The Clockstats Line</th>
+ <tr> <td>field</td><td>Description</td> </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center">1</td>
+ <td>Date as day number since NTP epoch.</td>
+ </tr><tr>
+ <td align="center">2</td>
+ <td>Time as seconds since midnight.</td>
+ </tr><tr>
+ <td align="center">3</td>
+ <td>(Pseudo-) IP address of clock unit.</td>
+ </tr><tr>
+ <td align="center">4</td>
+ <td>Number of received known JSON records since last
+ poll. The driver knows about TPV, PPS, TOFF, VERSION and
+ WATCH records; others are silently ignored.
+ </td>
+ </tr><tr>
+ <td align="center">5</td>
+ <td>Bad replies since last poll. A record is considered
+ malformed or a bad reply when it is missing vital fields
+ or the fields contain malformed data that cannot be
+ parsed.
+ </td>
+ </tr><tr>
+ <td align="center">6</td>
+ <td>Number of sample cycles since last poll that were
+ discarded because there was no GPS fix. This is
+ effectively the number of TPV records with a fix value
+ &lt; 2 or without a time stamp.
+ </td>
+ </tr><tr>
+ <td align="center">7</td>
+ <td>Number of serial time information records (TPV or TOFF,
+ depending on the GPSD version) received since last poll.
+ </td>
+ </tr><tr>
+ <td align="center">8</td>
+ <td>Number of serial time information records used for
+ clock samples since the last poll.
+ </td>
+ </tr><tr>
+ <td align="center">9</td>
+ <td>Number of PPS records received since the last poll.</td>
+ </tr><tr>
+ <td align="center">10</td>
+ <td>Number of PPS records used for clock samples on the
+ secondary channel since the last poll.
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </p>
+
+ <!-- --------------------------------------------------------- -->
+
+ <br><h4>Fudge Factors</h4>
+
+ <dl>
+ <dt><tt>time1 <i>time</i></tt></dt>
+ <dd>Specifies the PPS time offset calibration factor, in seconds
+ and fraction, with default 0.0.</dd>
+ <dt><a name="fudgetime2"><tt>time2 <i>time</i></tt></a></dt>
+ <dd><em>[Primary Unit]</em> Specifies the TPV/TIME time offset
+ calibration factor, in seconds and fraction, with default
+ 0.0.</dd>
+ <dt><tt>stratum <i>number</i></tt></dt>
+ <dd>Specifies the driver stratum, in decimal from 0 to 15, with
+ default 0.</dd>
+ <dt><tt>refid <i>string</i></tt></dt>
+ <dd>Specifies the driver reference identifier, an ASCII string
+ from one to four characters, with default <tt>GPSD</tt>.</dd>
+ <dt><tt>flag1 0 | 1</tt></dt><dd><em>[<b>Secondary</b>
+ Unit]</em> When set, flags the secondary clock unit as a
+ potential PPS peer as long as good PPS data is available.
+ </dd>
+ <dt><tt>flag2 0 | 1</tt></dt>
+ <dd><em>[Primary Unit]</em> When set, <u>disables</u> the
+ processing of incoming PPS records. Intended as an aide to
+ test the effects of a PPS dropout when using automatic mode
+ (mode 2).
+ </dd>
+ <dt><tt>flag3 0 | 1</tt></dt><dd><em>[Primary Unit]</em>
+ If set, <u>disables</u> the log throttle. Useful when tracking
+ problems in the interaction between <i>GPSD</i> and <i>NTPD</i>,
+ since now all error events are logged. Persistent/recurrent
+ errors can easily fill up the log, so this should only be
+ enabled during bug hunts.</dd>
+ <dt><tt>flag4 0 | 1</tt></dt><dd><em>[Primary Unit]</em>
+ If set, write a clock stats line on every poll cycle.
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+
+ <!-- -- footnotes -------------------------------------------- -->
+
+ <hr>
+ <p><a name="fn1" href="#fn1bl"><sup>1</sup>) </a>Data transmission
+ an decoding is done only once by the primary unit. The decoded
+ data is then processed independently in both clock units. This
+ avoids double transmission over two sockets and decoding the
+ same data twice, but the primary unit is always needed as a
+ downside of this approach.
+ </p>
+ <p><a name="fn2" href="#fn2bl"><sup>2</sup>) </a>The clock driver
+ suppresses the processing PPS records when the TPV/TIME data
+ indicates the receiver has no fix. It can also deal with
+ situations where the PPS signal is not delivered
+ to <i>GPSD</i>. But once it is available, it is also processed
+ and used to create samples. If a receiver cannot be trusted for
+ the precision of its PPS signal, it should not be used to create
+ a possible PPS peer: These get extra clout and can effectively
+ become the sole source of input for the control loop. You do not
+ want to use sloppy data for that.
+ <hr>
+ <p>Additional Information</p>
+ <p><a href="../refclock.html">Reference Clock Drivers</a></p>
+ <hr>
+ <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="scripts/footer.txt"></script>
+ </body></html>