Over on the Raspberry Pi Reddit discussion board user spfoamer has posted about his Raspberry Pi + RTL-SDR based outdoor ADS-B receiver. ADS-B stands for Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast and is a signal broadcast by aircraft that contains information about their locations. With a receiver like the RTL-SDR and correct software you can make an aircraft radar.
In his design the Raspberry Pi transmits location data back to a PC via an Ethernet cable. In addition the Raspberry Pi is also cleverly powered via power over Ethernet (POE) which uses unused wires in the Ethernet cable itself to carry the power. Since he uses a 12V power source, to obtain the needed 5V to power the Raspberry Pi spfoamer uses a UBEC (Universal Battery Elimination Circuit) which is an efficient device that converts voltages from up to 23V down to 5V. Additionally, he uses a 1/4 wave ground plane antenna and a 1090 MHz bandpass filter to eliminate out of band interference.
On the Pi itself he runs PiAware and contributes his data to the FlightAware network.
ADS-B with a Raspberry Pi, RTL-SDR, Bandpass Filter all powered via Ethernet cable.Close up of the inside of the box.
Recently we bought and tested one of Adam 9A4Qv’s ADS-B folded monopole antennas. This is a well thought out 50 ohm antenna designed for receiving ADS-B signals between 1030 and 1090 MHz. It has an omni directional radiation pattern (receives from all directions in the horizontal) and 3.67 dBi gain.
This antennas main defining feature is that it uses a DC grounded design which eliminates the static electricity problems other antennas can have. This allows this antenna to be connected to a receiver 24/7 without having to worry about ESD destroying the front end of your receiver or LNA. It is also small enough to be able to be used as a desktop antenna.
Folded Monopole ADS-B Antenna. Comes in two pieces which need to be soldered together.
The antenna is made of FR-4 laminate (PCB material) with a conductive layer covering the ground plane board and an upside down U-shaped trace in the vertical section. The antenna requires assembly and detailed assembly steps can be found on the antenna’s web page. Assembly of the antenna itself was straight forward just requiring two solder joints to be made to connect the vertical part to the ground plane. You will need to take care to ensure that the vertical antenna is completely vertical once soldered in.
The antenna also comes with no included coax cable and so a cable must be soldered on to the antenna first. The assembly instructions recommend using Teflon coax cable (such as RG316), however we didn’t have any on hand, so we just used regular RG174U and carefully soldered it on, making sure to not melt the inner insulation too much.
Fully constructed ADS-B antenna with RTL-SDR dongle for size comparison.
After fully constructing the antenna we ran a SWR test using an RTL-SDR and a noise source and found the antenna to have a SWR of approximately 1.46 at 1090 MHz resulting in about a 0.155 dB loss due to mismatches. A SWR value of 1.46 is very good for a receive only antenna like this. In one of Adams videos he used some higher quality coax and his tests showed the SWR of the antenna with a value of about 1.2102.
As for actual real world ADS-B performance we did not test it against any other ADS-B antennas, but it received aircraft from almost 350 km away from an indoor desktop location which we think is pretty good. In comparison the standard 11.5 cm stock antenna that comes with most dongles only had a range of about 250 km when placed in the same location. The maximum range of an ADS-B signal is around 500 – 600 km, which should be easily achievable with this antenna mounted outside on the roof.
Compared to other hobbyist ADS-B antenna offerings, Adam’s folded monopole antenna is one of the cheapest we could find, costing only 20 euros + 5 euros for shipping (~$26.5 USD total), although it does not come with a mount or weatherproofing. It is also one of the smallest, measuring just under 6 cm high and 14 cm in width and depth. Below we table Adam’s antenna with some alternatives for a comparison (prices converted from Euro to USD where applicable).
Note remember that as passive antenna gain is increased, the receive radiation pattern becomes flatter (which you may or may not want – you’ll receive better out towards the horizon but worse at higher elevations) and that an active antenna with an LNA is most useful when long runs of coax cable is used.
Flightaware.com is a web based online radar service for aircraft. The plane position data is obtained from contributors running ADS-B decoding hardware, such as a special ADS-B receiver box or simply an RTL-SDR dongle.
To increase the number of contributors, the team at FlightAware have released a new RTL-SDR compatible ADS-B decoder app for Android devices. The App is totally free and is also ad free. It can be downloaded from the Google Play store at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flightaware.android.flightfeeder. The intention of the app is to target users who may have an old Android device lying around, which can be put to good use in contributing data to FlightAware. More information about running the app can be found on their webpage.
When sharing data with FlightAware you are then eligible for a free enterprise account valued at $89.95 a month which allows you to access several advanced flight tracking features.
To use the app you’ll need an Android device, a USB OTG cable (ideally with external power port) and an RTL-SDR dongle. The USB OTG cable should ideally have an external power port and be powered from the mains with a power adapter as the battery can drain fast.
Youssef, the main programmer of SDR# and creator of the Airspy software defined radio has just released a beta version of an ADS-B decoder for the Airspy. The software is called “ADSB Spy” and is similar in operation to ADSB# which is used with the RTL-SDR dongle. The increased sensitivity and lower noise floor of the Airspy should help ADS-B enthusiasts get longer ranges and more aircraft on their screen.
Android app programmer Nikos recently wrote in to let us know about his new app called “Track your flight Europe”. His app can be used together with an RTL-SDR and USB OTG cable to track aircraft via ADS-B. The difference between Nikos’ app and other similar ADS-B apps is that his app is specifically designed for tracking the aircraft you are flying in by providing an offline map which does not require an internet connection to display.
Simon’s project works by using the RTL-SDR connected to the Raspberry Pi as an ADS-B receiver. From the ADS-B signals the current coordinates of nearby aircraft can be determined. Then by using some coordinate math, the Raspberry Pi can be told to point its camera in the direction of the aircraft. As well as videoing the passing aircraft, the Raspberry Pi also overlays text on to the video showing information such as flight number, source and destination airports, aircraft type, elevation and distance and date of observation.
In addition to all that, his software also automatically uploads the recorded videos onto his website. Here you can see the latest and closest video captures his system has performed.
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 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.
On this episode of Hak5, a popular YouTube technology channel, Shannon shows two Android based ADS-B RTL-SDR apps that we have mentioned on this blog previously. One is “ADS-B on USB SDR RTL” and the other is Avare ADS-B. Both are ADS-B apps that will display real time airplane positions on a map.
To run these apps you need a RTL-SDR dongle, a USB OTG cable and an Android phone.
Cellular Testing Tools and Mobile SDR Apps, Hak5 1708
