SatPulse: A server-oriented alternative to gpsd(satpulse.net)

SatPulse: A server-oriented alternative to gpsd

https://satpulse.net/2026/04/11/design-of-satpulse-compared-with-gpsd.html

1 comments

Author here. When I started working on SatPulse a few years ago, I was focused on a narrow use case: making it easy to create your own PTP server using inexpensive hardware. But it turned out that producing a really good solution for this use case involved building a fairly general GNSS subsystem, with some unique capabilities including vendor-independent configuration and support for a wide range of modern Chinese GNSS hardware (see https://satpulse.net/2026/04/01/a-tour-of-the-gps-modules-su...). With SatPulse 0.2, I have extended the GNSS subsystem, and the daemon and CLI built on top of it, to work for a range of timing and positioning use cases beyond the original PTP focus. To be clear, I am not trying to replace gpsd, which does an excellent job of what it sets out to do. But I think there is room for another approach, particularly for server environments, where explicit configuration makes sense. I have also done an experimental cross-platform GUI powered by the same Go library that is used by the daemon and CLI: https://satpulse.net/2026/04/26/desktop-gui-preview.html.

Happy to answer questions.