Struct Frame

Struct Frame is a Python library for frame-based data parsing and serialization, designed specifically for embedded systems communication with a matching C++ implementation.

Get Struct Frame

Available on PyPI.

Documentation & Source Code

• Documentation: https://struct-frame.mylonics.com
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/mylonics/struct-frame

Motivation

I wanted something lightweight and cross-platform for message serialization - a C++ implementation that works for embedded systems. Existing solutions like Embedded Proto and Cap’n Proto are not lightweight; they have a huge encoding burden.

I wanted to be able to create and parse messages directly in a buffer to reduce an extra copy step. MAVLink was the best option available, but sometimes a smaller header is important for low bandwidth links, and MAVLink doesn’t have the direct buffer feature mentioned above.

Struct Frame addresses these needs with a minimal footprint design optimized for embedded systems communication.

Key Features

• Minimal footprint design for resource-constrained embedded systems
• Direct buffer manipulation to avoid extra copy steps
• Cross-platform Python library with matching C++ implementation
• Simple frame definition using Python dataclasses
• Support for variable-length data and nested structures