ADS-B Onboard a 737 with Realtime Primary Flight and Navigation Display

Recently we found this video from 2013 on YouTube by user carcharias04 showing an RTL-SDR being used for ADS-B on board a 737-800 commercial jet. In the video he uses a custom program that interfaces with RTL1090 and XHSI, which is a navigation display program for the popular flight simulator known as X-Plane.

With his RTL-SDR, RTL1090, his custom software and XHSI running he is able to see a real time display of the primary flight and navigation displays which are the same or similar to the instruments used by the pilots in the cockpit.

Unfortunately, it seems like the uploaders custom interface program is not available anywhere that we know of.

Update 1: The software is this interface available on GitHub. Schumann-resonance from the comments section has uploaded a precompiled binary file here http://www57.zippyshare.com/v/49667810/file.html.

Update 2: To get it to work you need to first set the Table 2 name in RTL1090 to “tableb”, then run RTL1090 first before opening RTL1090-XHSI. Then enter the ICAO of the flight you’d like to use in the text box at the top of the interface window. Now data should begin to appear in the RTL1090-XHSI Window. Now you can open XHSI and it should automatically begin using the ADS-B data.

RTL1090 ADSB live on board Boeing 737-800

18 comments

  1. Jaroslav

    The file rtl1090XHSI.exe is no longer available on the given link. Can someone provide it to me? Thank you in advance.

  2. Queeg

    Well… not to be a Debbie Downer, but… in the US operating an unapproved radio on an aircraft is prohibited by the FAA. Even receivers are capable of producing interference. I can’t speak for European rules and yes, I do realize the video was shot over Austria.

    • captain butthead

      Debs..your cellphone and laptop will emit more RF energy (a millionth of a watt) 0.000 001 W than that RTL dongle that you are referring to..when the captain of your next flight makes radio contact with the ground.that transmitter is 400 watts.Collins HFS900D used in B737NG

  3. satcom

    Works well with rtl1090 and the interface
    I have just one issue. When I introduce nav data to the FD display I am finding that the aircraft position is displaced about 180km to the east of its actual position
    Is this a known problem ?
    Many thanks

  4. Alexander

    Also works with data from the Radarcape (tested on Ubuntu Linux):

    ./modesmixer2 –inConnect xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:10003 –globes 31008:tableb:UUDD
    mono rtl1090XHSI.exe
    ./XHSI2

    You must replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with the IP address of your Radarcape.

    See also:
    Radarcape
    ModeSMixer

    Btw. very cool blog post!

    Kind Regards
    Alex

  5. adsbspotter

    I have rtl1090 & rtl1090XHSI and XHSI-2-0-beta-7 with aptnav201310XP900zip ,how do you configure this for ADS-B for navigation display? I have researched i cant find anyone who has this working.what is form1 etc,help would be appreciated.

    • m0odv

      Thanks admin for the update and installation guide and links to the .exe binary file,now i have navigation display (ND) and primary flight display (PFD) working perfectly.I just need to find how to display symbols on the ground ( waypoints NavAid VOR etc ) in ND.
      Well done!!

        • m0odv

          I extracted the apt.dat file 103kbs from aptnav 201310XP900 into XHSI1090 and now have the VOR/DME Vortac airports and waypoints in the ND.
          Works very well.Thank you.

          • gines rosique

            when I point to the folder where I have the apt.dat it only shows as empty(as if the folder does not contain any file), so I can not use the apt.dat file. Any idea to solve this issue? I use Windows 7 64 bits.
            The program works fine, but because of this issue, not waypoints, neither VORs on the PFD.
            Thanks in advance

  6. Schuhmann-resonance

    Does anyone got the RTL1090-XHSI Interface running and working?
    I managed to build an .exe , but it won’t show data.
    Altough it shows “RTL1090 is not running” when I shut down or disable http-server in RTL1090’s config.
    So perhaps it can’t connect because the HTTP-server name tables are missing in RTL1090-XHSI.

        • stano

          i get this stuff working on linux (ubuntu 14.10) with modesdeco2 and modesmixer2 and mono
          first google/download modesdeco2/modesmixer2 and start them (its something like dump1090, just replace ppm with yours):
          ./modesdeco2 –freq-correction 64 –gain 49.6 –rbs –beast 30005 –location 48.151034:17.084648 –web 8080
          ./modesmixer2 –inConnect 127.0.0.1:30005 –globes 31008:tableb:UUDD

          then use mono to start rtl1090XHSI.exe
          mono rtl1090XHSI.exe

          and at last start XHSI, its in java and there is linux binary

    • admin

      Seems you need to first set the Table 2 name in RTL1090 to “tableb”, then run RTL1090 first before opening RTL1090-XHSI. Then enter the ICAO of the flight you’d like to use in the text box at the top of the interface window.

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