What is RTCM3
Contents
RTCM3
RTCM (Radio Technical Commission For Maritime Services) standard 10403.3 or RTCM3 is the most widely used differential corrections standard among GNSS manufacturers and users today.
The introduction of MSM (Multiple Signal Message) within RTCM3 enabled significant advancements in multi-system and multi-signal GNSS data representation.
- RTCM3 corrections are BINARY.
If a file with logged RTCM3 correction data is opened in a text editor like Notepad, it will appear as unreadable binary “garbage”.
Binary files, especially large ones, are better viewed using a file manager with HEX view (e.g., FAR).
Despite being binary, RTCM3 logs may contain some human-readable text, particularly in messages like 1007, 1008, and 1033, which include information such as base receiver model, antenna details, etc.
Full List of RTCM3 Messages
| ID | Message Description |
|---|---|
| 1001 | L1-Only GPS RTK Observables |
| 1002 | Extended L1-Only GPS RTK Observables |
| 1003 | L1&L2 GPS RTK Observables |
| 1004 | Extended L1&L2 GPS RTK Observables |
| 1005 | Stationary RTK Reference Station ARP |
| 1006 | Stationary RTK Reference Station ARP with Antenna Height |
| 1007 | Antenna Descriptor |
| 1008 | Antenna Descriptor & Serial Number |
| 1009 | L1-Only GLONASS RTK Observables |
| 1010 | Extended L1-Only GLONASS RTK Observables |
| 1011 | L1&L2 GLONASS RTK Observables |
| 1012 | Extended L1&L2 GLONASS RTK Observables |
| 1013 | System Parameters |
| 1014 | Network Auxiliary Station Data |
| 1015 | GPS Ionospheric Correction Differences |
| 1016 | GPS Geometric Correction Differences |
| 1017 | GPS Combined Geometric and Ionospheric Correction Differences |
| 1018 | RESERVED for Alternative Ionospheric Correction Difference Message |
| 1019 | GPS Ephemerides |
| 1020 | GLONASS Ephemerides |
| 1021 | Helmert / Abridged Molodenski Transformation Parameters |
| 1022 | Molodenski-Badekas Transformation Parameters |
| 1023 | Residuals, Ellipsoidal Grid Representation |
| 1024 | Residuals, Plane Grid Representation |
| 1025–1027 | Projection Parameters |
| 1028 | Reserved for Global to Plate-Fixed Transformation |
| 1029 | Unicode Text String |
| 1030–1031 | GNSS Network RTK Residual Messages |
| 1032 | Physical Reference Station Position Message |
| 1033 | Receiver and Antenna Descriptors |
| 1034–1035 | GNSS Network FKP Gradient |
| 1037–1039 | GLONASS Correction Differences |
| 1042 | BeiDou Satellite Ephemeris Data |
| 1044 | QZSS Ephemerides |
| 1045–1046 | Galileo Ephemeris Data |
SSR (State Space Representation) Messages
| ID | Description |
|---|---|
| 1057–1062 | SSR GPS Corrections |
| 1063–1068 | SSR GLONASS Corrections |
| 1071–1077 | GPS MSM (Multiple Signal Messages) |
| 1081–1087 | GLONASS MSM |
| 1091–1097 | Galileo MSM |
| 1101–1107 | SBAS MSM |
| 1111–1117 | QZSS MSM |
| 1121–1127 | BeiDou MSM |
| 1131–1137 | IRNSS MSM |
| 1230 | GLONASS L1 and L2 Code-Phase Biases |
| 1240–1263 | SSR Corrections for Galileo, QZSS, SBAS, BDS |
| 1264–1270 | SSR Phase Bias & Ionosphere Spherical Harmonics |
Proprietary RTCM3 Messages
| ID | Vendor |
|---|---|
| 4095 | Ashtech |
| 4094 | Trimble Navigation Ltd. |
| 4093 | NovAtel Inc. |
| 4092 | Leica Geosystems |
| 4091 | Topcon Positioning Systems |
| 4090 | Geo++ |
| 4089 | Septentrio Satellite Navigation |
| 4088 | IfEN GmbH |
| 4087 | Fugro |
| 4086 | inPosition GmbH |
| 4085 | European GNSS Supervisory Authority |
| 4084 | Geodetics, Inc. |
| 4083 | German Aerospace Center, Institute of Communications and Navigation (DLR) |
| 4082 | Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information |
| 4081 | Seoul National University GNSS Lab |
| 4080 | NavCom Technology, Inc. |
| 4079 | SubCarrier Systems Corp. (SCSC) |
| 4078 | ComNav Technology Ltd. |
| 4077 | Hemisphere GNSS Inc. |
| 4076 | International GNSS Service (IGS) |
| 4075 | Alberding GmbH |
| 4074 | Unicore Communications Inc. |
| 4073 | Mitsubishi Electric Corp. |
| 4072 | u-blox AG |
| 4071 | Wuhan Navigation and LBS |
| 4070 | Wuhan MengXin Technology |
| 4069 | VERIPOS Ltd |
| 4068 | Qianxun Location Networks Co. Ltd |
| 4067 | China Transport Telecommunications & Information Center |
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