DIY Rooftop Raspberry Pi Aircraft ADS-B Build
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- I've built an outdoor ADS-B aircraft position tracker on a budget! It uses a Raspberry Pi, two SDR USB receivers, two homemade antennas and an inexpensive enclosure to house everything on our roof.
Instructions for PiAware:
flightaware.co...
SDR Receivers for 1090 MHz and 978 MHz:
www.amazon.com...
www.amazon.com...
Plastic box:
www.harborfrei...
Make your own antennas:
lucsmall.com/2...
1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna Calculator:
m0ukd.com/calc...
Updates: If building again, I'd make the antenna separation wider. I'm no RF expert, but I think being so close has decreased reception. The 978 performs better when the other antenna is removed.
I didn't mention in the video, but the third USB device is a WiFi adapter since this Raspberry Pi 2 doesn't have integrated WiFi.
Nice build! Is it still in alive and kicking?
Yep! No issues at all.
What if you twisted the wiring. Would that cancel out Rf
The antenna feed lines are shielded from the base of each antenna down, so I don't think anything internal is an issue.
Nice build, I have been thinking of something similar powered off a USB battery bank and solar panel. I just started messing around with SDR but have a few Raspberry Pi's and want to make a plane tracker and also an APRS IGate.
Nice! Yes, APRS is on my to do list as well.
Very cool. Living in an apartment .. my antenna is at roof level. I will be adding a 2nd setup in the next week or so. I do not have a huge amount of activity but tweaking it as we speak.
Nice! Honestly, the most valuable traffic to report is what is near you and lower altitude. The higher altitude traffic is picked up by so many other receivers.
I’m not interested in tracking airplanes, but I do enjoy seeing others ideas. That’s probably the best idea I’ve seen yet to keep things dry. I’m gonna implement this into my interests, great idea 😂
i wonder what happened to him ? i did like his videos when they came out.
Thanks! I hope it works as well for you.
Nicely done! Looks like fun to track all the planes like that!
Thanks! I have enjoyed learning more about the air traffic above our house with it.
Nice build. Love PVC pipe for these jobs.
Thanks! PVC is so versatile for so many thing other than plumbing!
i would like to do that also, thanks!
You should use 3M (Scotch 23) vulcanizing tape instead of electrical tape. Higley recommended for this kind of connector sealing.
I'm sure that will last longer, but electrical tape is what I had on hand at the time. Thanks!
Very good explanation, excelent setup, and antennas! My only observation would be to place RPi and cables better into the box. But really helped me a lot!
Thanks for watching! Since I spent quite a bit of time trying different antenna & SDR modules at the beginning, having the cables free was advantageous. They are all isolated, so there isn't a problem leaving them free.
Nicely done! Well thought out project. thanks for sharing.
Cheers and Well Done! I like it a lot!
Cool! How does this do in the hot summer sun? It seems like with no ventilation it could get VERY hot in there to the point where it might overheat.
It has been going over a year without issue. Our temperatures here are reasonably mild, so it might struggle elsewhere.
Love the content, just subscribed it
Very nice video! Thanks so much for this. Hopefully I can recreate this. Will keep you posted. (: How much did the whole project cost you at the time?
Thanks! Let me know if you build one.
Cost at the time would be hard to say. Much of it was pieces I already had left over from other things. Today, FlightAware sells a single frequency kit for $120. Doing some quick shopping around now, I'd estimate about $137 to reconstruct my build buying everything for both frequencies.
Raspberry Pi $35 (mythical pricing here in 2022)
MicroSD $5
USB power $7
FlightAware Pro Stick Plus $40
FlightAware Pro Stick $37
PVC parts $5
RG-58/WBC-195R cable, 2 feet $2
2 SMA connectors $1
Plastic box $5
You can save big not getting the FlightAware USB SDR radios, but get the generic ones on eBay for around $15 each. They don't have filters, so the range isn't as good, but they still work pretty well!
That is a pretty nice build and glad it is working. I'd like to do something like that but I would have to go through the roof.
Regarding the USB at 3:27, is that for the 978? And what is the green USB device at 3:57?
Yes, two SDRs: one for 978 and the other for 1090. The green adapter is the WiFi dongle as this older Raspberry Pi doesn't have built in WiFi.
And now you make a remote control for those airplanes.
Is heat an issue? Especially when receivers are in a box. I have a ADS-B receiver and its running hot out in a room, closing it in a box will make things a lot worse.
I've had no issues and haven't seen any performance hit when hit is warm. That said, we are near the coast, so the weather is mild.
A very nice construction. What temperature does your Raspi have in summer?
My first construction was like yours. (everything on the roof) But my Raspi got too hot. Now I have moved the Raspi into the (heat-insulated) roof box. At the moment my CPU temperature is 31°C. In summer just over 40°C. The Raspi works without any problems.
Many greetings from Germany
I've found the SDR runs very hot, and I've had one fail. I put vents in the box and that cured it.
can u also see military aircrafts with that?
Sometimes. Military aircraft choose when to beacon and when not to. I do see a decent number of military aircraft on my receiver. I think then tend to transmit when traveling between controlled air spaces, in areas shared with non-military aircraft.
Has someone ever told you you're the spitting image of actor David Costabile??
Ha! No, that is a new one!
Nice project, did I miss what the 970Mhz was for, ADSB is 1090 but what's 970Mhz for ?.
Rgs
Wayne
978 MHz is a second ADS-B band here in the United States.
Does it track aircraft with just Mode s transmitter ?
I think by default you get ADS-B, Mode S, and MLAT. There is an option to also listen to Mode A & C.
Neat project!
Did you encounter any problems with heat, from the electronics enclosed in a airtight box exposed to direct sunlight?
I haven't had any issues and it has been running over a year now.
@@ShumanProjects Thanks for the feedback. Good to know.
This is great, but I have a question no one seems to answer. Why buy a Raspberry Pi, antennae, etc to track aircraft when you already can through ADS-B Exchange free of charge?
This is what feeds ADS-B Exchange. From their website:
"This wouldn’t be possible without our amazing community of volunteers and feeders hosting airplane tracking equipment all over the globe. And we are always looking for new participants to expand our network. Be sure to check out the “how to feed” page to find out how you can help."
In my case, there was missing coverage on 978 MHz in my area, so you can thank me specifically for that data on ADS-B Exchange.
What is the total cost. Advantages of building on your own over purchasing the equipment ..and what is the reliability of home made. Also do you need to have an fcc radio license
Much of it was pieces I already had left over from other things. Today, FlightAware sells a single frequency kit for $120. Doing some quick shopping around now, I'd estimate about $137 to reconstruct my build buying everything for both frequencies.
Raspberry Pi $35 (mythical pricing here in 2022)
MicroSD $5
USB power $7
FlightAware Pro Stick Plus $40
FlightAware Pro Stick $37
PVC parts $5
RG-58/WBC-195R cable, 2 feet $2
2 SMA connectors $1
Plastic box $5
You can save big not getting the FlightAware USB SDR radios, but get the generic ones on eBay for around $15 each. They don't have filters, so the range isn't as good, but they still work pretty well!
I've had zero reliability issues.
No license needed. This is listen only. No transmitting.
Thanks for the great video ! Looking to do that myself too but have 0 knowledge in Raspberry Pi. And I would like to stream the ADS-B data to all the tracker websites (FlightAware, FlightRadar24, AdsbExchange, Radarbox, etc..). Is it possible with only one antenna? Do I have to code or just download each platform image on the sd card?
Why don’t you just buy a radarbox xrange. It does everything you say and you don’t need any knowledge for it.
1. Looks like that would cost three times what I paid for parts, so your idea is more expensive.
2. The xrange looks to only have one radio for 1090 MHz, so my cheaper solution covers both 1090 MHz and 978 MHz.
3. Some people buy furniture at the store and some people make their own. I like to make stuff more than buy it.
4. "Don't need any knowledge..." ? I love to learn and understand, so building something new is more enjoyable to me than some prepackaged thing.
I'm not saying you have to build your own setup, but I'm certainly glad I did.
Thanks Paul! You can run one copy of the SDR software (dump1090/dump978) per SDR and have multiple processes reading from it. I have four different sites I'm feeding to from one Raspberry Pi. Be aware each new site does add CPU/memory load. There are many write ups that walk through getting multiple feeds going. Good luck!
I like the setup but do you have temperature issues with the Raspberry Pi? I’m assuming it’s in direct sunlight in that sealed box with no fan aspiration. Is there a reason why you didn’t run the antenna wires into your house and then connect to the Raspberry Pi where it would be in a climate controlled area?
It has been running for over a year now without any temperature issues. Our area has mild weather, so I'm sure that helps. My goal was to keep the RF path as short as possible. I don't have any great places to easily route coax from the roof to the interior of the house without long runs. I also liked the idea of everything self contained. Thanks for watching!
Long rf feedlines can be a problem in terms of loss at these frequencies so keeping them short is a good idea.
Max working temp of raspberry pi is around 150F and the SDR may be even lower than that. Spray painting the outside of the box white will help a lot.
How to see our ac location
To see all the aircraft from all of the listeners, go to www.flightaware.com/
If you want to directly see the aircraft being received by your setup, point your web browser to the local IP address of your raspberry pi.
Can this device track UAVs or drones?
There are no US requirements today for drones to broadcast ADS-B telemetry.
Looking to replicate this project except raspberry pi are not available 😑. Is the 978MHz PiAware ADS-B Kit worth it for the price?
You might be able to save a few bucks piecing a similar kit together from Amazon & eBay, but it actually look like a pretty good deal for what you get. I didn't use the filter, so I can't comment on how that would improve performance. I also don't know if the Zero can handle two receivers on one Pi. Do you only want 978MHz or are adding to an existing install? Most of my traffic is on 1090MHz.
@@ShumanProjects
Thanks for the input I will do some amazon and ebay searching. This will be my first build.
are you feeding adsbexchange too? if not, please consider doing so..
Yes! I started with the FlightAware image and have added OpenSky, ADS-B Exchange, and Flightradar24 to the same Raspberry Pi. I think I have about maxed the CPU at this point.
@@ShumanProjects awesome!
@@ShumanProjects I have always wondered if it would be possible to feed to more than one sever with the one Pi. I ended making two complete, separate stations, one for FR24 and the other for RadarBox.
Yes! You can certainly feed multiple sites from the same Pi. I guess now with a second one you could set them both up to feed both sites, then move the second one somewhere else for more coverage!
@@ShumanProjects Will look into that!
wow how noticeable that will be. i just have a 1090MHz fiberglass antenna up on the roof
Glad you have something working for you. As for noticing my build, you can't see the box from the street at all. The antennas have line of sight to the horizon, so it works out well for my goals here: cheap, elevated, and no drilling holes in the house.
Can you add the weather to it?
I'm not sure I follow the question. If you are asking if it is weatherproof, than yes. It has survived outside for over two years. If you are asking about some kind of weather monitoring, that would be interesting, but not something I have experience with.
@@ShumanProjects the ADA-B for the DIY aviation build receiver has a weather AHRS USB option. If you have a USB slot open that is where it would go. Search DIY aviation ADS-B.
You forgot the part where you show us ... you know, how to make the antenna. All you showed us is you waterproofing the already made antenna. .___.
Sorry, I could have called that out in the video. There are already a bunch of people that have done a great job covering that, so I didn't rehash the antenna. This is the page I started from: discussions.flightaware.com/t/three-easy-diy-antennas-for-beginners/16348
What range are you getting?
With my current settings, FlightAware reports about half the updates are from 0-50 miles and the other half are from 50-100 miles. It does get a small amount from the 100-150 mile range and a very few 150-200 mile messages.
I was getting more range with higher sensitivity/gain, but the local traffic was overwhelming the receiver. Since I was intentionally trying to fill a local gap in coverage, it made sense to bring the sensitivity down to favorite the more local signals.
Does flightradar24 give you money for tracking airplane?
499$ /YEAR ?
I'm not aware of anyone paying you, but many of these sights like FlightAware and Flightradar24 offer you free account subscriptions that would otherwise cost money in exchange for your data contribution.
they don't
you get a free account subscription though
does rtl-sdr v3 work with this setup?
Yes, while I don't have hands on experience with it, I do see posts about people using it. One difference with some other SDR adapters is it looks like the RTL-SDR doesn't include a filter to limit to just the ADS-B frequencies and doesn't include an LNA. It will still work, but won't pull in some of the weaker signals.
I started with a unbranded SDR module without a filter and LNA. It worked fine to get started.
@@ShumanProjects thanks for these info.
BNC connectors are not waterproof. N connectors are waterproof.
Very true! I like the build of my second antenna that didn't use an external connector better. I did tape up the BNC connection, but it is probably time for me to go up and inspect how it is doing.
Would this run on a pi pico?
No, the Pico doesn't have enough CPU or RAM to run this and is more of a microcontroller than a small computer like the Raspberry Pi 3, 4, or Zero.
Where ya located? Looks like about the same coverage as I was getting
Without giving too much detail here in public, near the coast and roughly in the middle of the circle 😉
@@ShumanProjects Oh okay. I've got one deployed in Bakersfield, and I'm about to deploy another in Morro Bay
Nice! How are you mounting them?
@@ShumanProjects the pi's/SDRs are mounted inside in my network racks and I used the dual band 2ft antenna from ADSB exchange mounted to the side of the house at the peak of the roof