RS232 / NMEA Output

Updated on Mar 4, 2026

The RS232 output is present to provide a connection to a computer for configuring the settings of VBOX Omega through VBOX Setup software. It also can output NMEA format messages.

Protocol:

115200 Baud, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit
 

Message format:

$VBOmega$glbtttaaaaoooovvvhhAAAVVVDspprrSSHHPPRRyyxxYYzzddTTTkkqQQT1T1wwwWWWiicc
 

ParameterNumber of bytesDescription
$VBOmega$7Header
g1GPS satsNumber of GPS satellites used
l1GLONASS satsNumber of GLONASS satellites used
b1BeiDou or Galileo satsNumber of BeiDou or Galileo satellites used dependent on the GNSS settings selected
ttt3(MSB first)TimeTicks since midnight UTC, incrementing every 10 ms
aaaa4 (MSB first)LatitudeSigned integers, 0.0000001° per bit
oooo4 (MSB first)LongitudeSigned integers, 0.0000001° per bit
vvv3 (MSB first)Velocity0.001 km/h per bit
hh2 (MSB first)Heading0.01° per bit
AAA3 (MSB first)Altitude0.01 m per bit
VVV3 (MSB first)Vertical velocity0.001 m/s per bit
s1Solution type
pp2 (MSB first)Pitch angle derived from KF0.01° per bit
rr2 (MSB first)Roll angle derived from KF0.01° per bit
SS2 (MSB first)Slip angle derived from KF0.01° per bit
HH2 (MSB first)Heading derived from KF0.01° per bit
PP2 (MSB first)Pitch rate derived from internal/external IMU0.01°/sec per bit
RR2 (MSB first)Roll rate derived from internal/external IMU0.01°/sec per bit
yy2 (MSB first)Yaw rate derived from internal/external IMU0.01°/sec per bit
xx2 (MSB first)X accel from internal/external IMU0.01 m/s² per bit
YY2 (MSB first)Y accel from internal/external IMU0.01 m/s² per bit
zz2 (MSB first)Z accel from internal/external IMU0.01 m/s² per bit
dd2 (MSB first)DateDOS format
TTT3 (MSB first)Trigger event time*Not supported by VBOX Omega0.000001 ms per bit
kk2 (MSB first)Kalman Filter Status
q1Position Quality
QQ2 (MSB first)Speed Quality0.001 m/s per bit
T1T12 (MSB first)T10.0000001 ms per bit
www3 (MSB first)Wheel speed 10.001 m/s per bit
WWW3 (MSB first)Wheel speed 20.001 m/s per bit
ii2 (MSB first)Heading_IMU2 derived from KF0.01° per bit
cc2 (MSB first)ChecksumSeeCRC Calculation examplebelow

CRC Calculation example:

s[n] is a string containing the message

Polynomial:= 4129

CRC:=0;

for Loop:=1 to Length(s) do

begin

Temp:=s[Loop];

CRC:= CRC xor (integer(Temp) *256);

CRC:= CRC mod 65536;

for i:=7 downto 0 do

begin

if ( (CRC and 32768)=32768) then

begin

CRC:= CRC *2 ;

CRC:= CRC xor Polynomial;

end

else

begin

CRC:= CRC *2 ;

end;

CRC:=CRC mod 65536;

end;

end;

result:=CRC;

The VBOX Omega can output 6 types of NMEA messages:

  • GGA
  • GLL
  • RMC
  • VTG
  • ZDA
  • RLS

The contents of RLS are shown below:
 

$PTPSR_RLS_V_hhmmss.ss_IMUheading_IMUpitch_IMUroll_IMU3Dquality*cs
 

NameASCII StringUnitsDescription
FormatExample
$PTPSRstring$PTPSRMessage ID
RLSstringRLSSentence formatter
VcharacterVWhether the UTC time is validV=valid or N=not valid
hhmmss.sshhmmss.ss114105.00UTC TimeCurrent time
IMUheadingstring157.531DegreesHeading angle of IMU
IMUpitchstring002.473DegreesPitch angle of IMU
IMUrollstring-02.635DegreesRoll angle of IMU
IMU3Dqualitystring000.1923D quality of IMU
cshexadecimal*5FChecksum