XTCE 1.3 RTF Avatar
  1. OMG Issue

XTCE13 — FromBinaryTransformAlgorithm/ToBinaryTransformAlgorithm should be allowed for all data encodings

  • Key: XTCE13-124
  • Status: closed  
  • Source: Space Applications Services ( Nicolae Mihalache)
  • Summary:

    Currently the FromBinaryTransformAlgorithm/ToBinaryTransformAlgorithm are allowed only for BinaryDataEncodingType with the comment "Used to convert binary data from an application data type to binary data". However the binary data encoding is used to encode/decode binary data, so not any application data (float, integer, time,...).

    We believe it is more beneficial to allow these algorithms to all data encoding types.

    For example a FromBinaryTransformAlgorithm attached to a IntegerDataEncoding can extract a varint like the ones used in protobuf (https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/encoding#varints).

    Similarly a ToBinaryTransformAlgorithm attached to a FloatDataEncoding can be used to encode a floating point number in an exotic format; for example bfloat16 is commonly used in AI chips (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bfloat16_floating-point_format)

  • Reported: XTCE 1.2 — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:57 GMT
  • Disposition: Deferred — XTCE 1.3
  • Disposition Summary:

    Extra data encoding not needed - instead use integer or float

    The committee recognizes that there might be a need here with emerging technologies, but not enough is available at this time to make a concrete and useful change.

  • Updated: Tue, 1 Jul 2025 15:04 GMT