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VBOX 4 Serial (RS232) Protocol (With Decoder)

Updated on Apr 20, 2026

The following information relates to all VBOX 4 products.

The VBOX units output the serial protocol through the RS232/CAN port, the USB port and via Bluetooth.

The RS232 output protocol is 115200 Baud, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit.


Message format: 

$VBOX4$,nnnn0000,stttaaaaoooovvhheeezzyyxxffffjjjj1111222233334444lpddddddqqrrii77778888kkmmmgggg559966cc

The $VBOX4$ and commas are in ASCII, the rest is in binary. 

The byte ordering format is big-endian (Motorola). 

Although not all of the channels listed below are present in the serial stream by default (you can select them in the VBOX Setup software), the following table shows the order in which they will appear in the data stream.

Enter the first 4 bytes (nnnn) as 8 hexadecimal characters. Rows whose bit masks are present will be highlighted. Click a description to view the specification for that channel.

Current mask:
Click a highlighted description in the table below to view its specification.
Part of String Type Bytes Description Bit mask
nnnn 4 Reserved to indicate channel presence
0000 4 Reserved
s Integer 1 0x00000001
ttt Integer 3 0x00000002
aaaa Signed 4 0x00000004
oooo Signed 4 0x00000008
vv Integer 2 0x00000010
hh Integer 2 0x00000020
eee Integer 3 0x00000040
zz Signed 2 0x00000080
yy Signed 2 0x00000100
xx Signed 2 0x00000200
ffff Integer 4 0x00000400
jjjj Integer 4 0x00000800
1111 Float 4 0x00001000
2222 Float 4 0x00002000
qq Integer 2 0x00200000
rr Integer 2 0x00400000
ii Integer 2 0x00800000
7777 Integer 4 0x01000000
gggg Float 4 0x10000000
cc 2 Checksum

This is a message that contains additional channels to the serial message. Information in this message will provide you with an exact position in Longitude and Latitude. 

If your VBOX 4 unit has RTK enabled and configured for 2cm DGPS (CMR, RTCM V3, NTRIP), and you have set either the Latitude or Longitude channel to be sent over serial, the NEWPOS message will be added to the serial string and the data stream will look like the following example:

$VBOX4$,nnnn0000,stttaaaaoooovvhheeezzmmmggggcc$NEWPOS,aaaaaaaabbbbbbbbcc

$NEWPOS,aaaaaaaabbbbbbbbcc is the additional exact Longitude and Latitude information to the serial data stream.

Part of stringBytesDescription
$NEWPOS7String header
,1comma separator
aaaaaaaa8Longitude
64-bit float. little-endian (Intel).
The least-significant byte is stored first.
bbbbbbbb8Latitude
64-bit float.
cc2Checksum

This is a message that contains additional channels to the serial message. Information in this message can be linked to anything that is not covered in standard serial, such as modules, ADAS channels, etc. This information is either configured in the setup software or requested by VBOX Test Suite.

You can use VBOX Setup to configure additional channels, by adding modules, CAN channels, and ADAS systems and by ticking the advanced box and selecting send to serial.

When any of these channels are selected to be present in the Serial data stream the data stream will look like the following example:

$VBOX4$,nnnn0000,stttaaaaoooovvhheeezzmmmggggcc$NEWCAN,####,1111.....wwwwzz

$NEWCAN,####,1111.....wwwwzz  is the additional CAN channel information to the serial data stream.

Note: The order in which the data will come across depends upon the order in which you select the channels from the set-up screen. For example, if the first channel you choose to log is FIM Channel 1 then the first 4 bytes will contain the data from the FIM. If the second channel was ADC02 Channel 4 then the next 4 bytes will contain data for the ADC02. If you then remove (choose not to log) FIM Channel 1 and select ADC02 Channel 1 then the first 4 bytes will now contain the data for ADC02 Channel 1.

The data transmitted for each channel is in a standard IEEE 32-bit Float format.

The byte ordering format is big-endian (Motorola). 

Part of stringBytesDescription####,
bit mask
$NEWCAN7String header
####4Reserved to indicate channel presence
,1comma separator
11114Additional Channel 10x00000001
22224Additional Channel 20x00000002
33334Additional Channel 30x00000004
44444Additional Channel 40x00000008
55554Additional Channel 50x00000010
66664Additional Channel 60x00000020
77774Additional Channel 70x00000040
88884Additional Channel 80x00000080
99994Additional Channel 90x00000100
aaaa4Additional Channel 100x00000200
bbbb4Additional Channel 110x00000400
cccc4Additional Channel 120x00000800
dddd4Additional Channel 130x00001000
eeee4Additional Channel 140x00002000
ffff4Additional channel 150x00004000
gggg4Additional Channel 160x00008000
hhhh4Additional Channel 170x00010000
iiii4Additional Channel 180x00020000
jjjj4Additional Channel 190x00040000
kkkk4Additional Channel 200x00080000
llll4Additional Channel 210x00100000
mmmm4Additional Channel 220x00200000
nnnn4Additional Channel 230x00400000
oooo4Additional Channel 240x00800000
pppp4Additional Channel 250x01000000
qqqq4Additional Channel 260x02000000
rrrr4Additional Channel 270x04000000
ssss4Additional Channel 280x08000000
tttt4Additional Channel 290x10000000
uuuu4Additional Channel 300x20000000
vvvv4Additional Channel 310x40000000
wwww4Additional Channel 320x80000000
zz2Checksum