Astro

TM Transfer Frame operations: encode, decode, inspect, and analyze CCSDS TM Transfer Frames (CCSDS 132.0-B-3).

Subcommands

Command	Description
`astro tm decode`	Decode a TM Transfer Frame into header fields and data
`astro tm encode`	Construct a TM Transfer Frame from fields
`astro tm inspect`	Annotated frame breakdown with hex dump
`astro tm gaps`	Detect MC/VC counter gaps in a frame stream
`astro tm demux`	Filter frames by Virtual Channel ID
`astro tm gen`	Generate synthetic TM Transfer Frames

Common flags

Flag	Default	Description
`--input`	`hex`	Input format: `hex` or `bin`
`--format`	varies	Output format: `text`, `json`, or `hex`

Stream commands (gaps, demux) require --frame-len to split the input into fixed-length frames. They read as they go, so they work on a live pipe and on a capture larger than memory.

astro tm decode

Decode a TM Transfer Frame from raw bytes. CRC is verified automatically.

astro tm decode [file] [flags]

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
`--input`	`hex`	Input format: `hex` or `bin`
`--format`	`text`	Output format: `text`, `json`, or `hex`

Examples

# Decode from hex stdin
astro tm encode --scid 26 --vcid 1 --data 0102030405 | astro tm decode --input hex

# Decode with JSON output
astro tm encode --scid 26 --vcid 1 --data 0102030405 | astro tm decode --input hex --format json

# Decode a binary file
astro tm decode --input bin frame.bin

astro tm encode

Construct a TM Transfer Frame from header fields and hex-encoded data. CRC-16-CCITT is computed automatically.

astro tm encode [flags]

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
`--scid`	`0`	Spacecraft ID (0-1023)
`--vcid`	`0`	Virtual Channel ID (0-7)
`--data`	(required)	Data field as hex string
`--ocf`		Operational Control Field as hex string (4 bytes)
`--format`	`hex`	Output format: `text`, `json`, or `hex`

Examples

# Encode a basic TM frame
astro tm encode --scid 26 --vcid 1 --data 0102030405

# Encode with Operational Control Field
astro tm encode --scid 26 --vcid 1 --data 0102030405 --ocf 00000000

# Encode with JSON output
astro tm encode --scid 26 --vcid 1 --data 0102030405 --format json

astro tm inspect

Display an annotated breakdown of a TM Transfer Frame showing primary header fields, secondary header (if present), data field hex dump, OCF, FEC, and full raw frame dump.

astro tm inspect [file] [flags]

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
`--input`	`hex`	Input format: `hex` or `bin`

Examples

# Inspect from pipe
astro tm encode --scid 26 --vcid 1 --data 0102030405 | astro tm inspect --input hex

# Inspect binary file
astro tm inspect --input bin frame.bin

Sample Output

TM Transfer Frame Inspector
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Primary Header (6 bytes)
  Version .............. 0
  Spacecraft ID ........ 26 (0x01A)
  Virtual Channel ID ... 1
  OCF Flag ............. false
  MC Frame Count ....... 0
  VC Frame Count ....... 0
  FSH Flag ............. false
  Sync Flag ............ false
  Packet Order Flag .... false
  Segment Length ID .... 3
  First Header Ptr ..... 0 (0x000)
  MCID ................. 26
  GVCID ................ 209
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Data Field (5 bytes)
  0000  01 02 03 04 05                                    |.....|
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Frame Error Control: 0x292B (CRC-16-CCITT)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Raw Frame (13 bytes)
  0000  01 a2 00 00 18 00 01 02  03 04 05 29 2b           |...........)+|

astro tm gaps

Scan a stream of concatenated TM Transfer Frames and report any gaps in the Master Channel (MC) and Virtual Channel (VC) frame counters. Each gap line gives the number of frames that went missing, not just that the counter jumped.

Both counters are eight bits and the arithmetic is modular, so 254 -> 255 -> 1 reports the one frame that was lost, not 254 of them. Counters are tracked per spacecraft: a capture holding two SCIDs is compared within each, never across them.

astro tm gaps [file] [flags]

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
`--input`	`hex`	Input format: `hex` or `bin`
`--frame-len`	(required)	Fixed frame length in bytes

Examples

# Detect gaps in a binary capture
astro tm gaps --input bin --frame-len 1115 capture.bin

# Detect gaps in hex input
astro tm gaps --input hex --frame-len 13 frames.hex

astro tm demux

Demultiplex a stream of concatenated TM Transfer Frames, outputting only frames matching the specified Virtual Channel ID.

astro tm demux [file] [flags]

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
`--input`	`hex`	Input format: `hex` or `bin`
`--format`	`text`	Output format: `text`, `json`, or `hex`
`--frame-len`	(required)	Fixed frame length in bytes
`--vcid`	(required)	Virtual Channel ID to filter (0-7)

Examples

# Extract VCID 2 frames from a binary capture
astro tm demux --input bin --frame-len 1115 --vcid 2 capture.bin

# Demux with JSON output
astro tm demux --input hex --frame-len 13 --vcid 0 --format json frames.hex

# Demux and pipe to inspect
astro tm demux --input bin --frame-len 1115 --vcid 0 --format hex capture.bin | astro tm decode --input hex --format json

astro tm gen

Generate a stream of synthetic TM Transfer Frames with incrementing master and virtual channel counters and random data.

astro tm gen [flags]

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
`--scid`	`0`	Spacecraft ID (0-1023)
`--vcid`	`0`	Virtual Channel ID (0-7)
`--count`	`10`	Number of frames to generate
`--data-size`	`1024`	Data field size in bytes per frame
`--format`	`bin`	Output format: `bin` or `hex`

Examples

# Generate 10 TM frames
astro tm gen --scid 26 --vcid 1 --count 10 --data-size 1024

# Generate and check for gaps, which should find none
astro tm gen --scid 26 --vcid 0 --count 50 --data-size 100 | astro tm gaps --input bin --frame-len 108

Piping

# Encode -> Inspect
astro tm encode --scid 26 --vcid 1 --data 0102030405 | astro tm inspect --input hex

# Encode -> Decode as JSON
astro tm encode --scid 26 --vcid 1 --data 0102030405 | astro tm decode --input hex --format json

# Encode with OCF -> Inspect
astro tm encode --scid 26 --vcid 1 --data 0102030405 --ocf 00000000 | astro tm inspect --input hex

See also: the protocol page for the standard and the Go API, and the conformance statement for what is and is not implemented.