Announcing PiAware 3! (Latest version: 3.8.0)

The plane information default location displays it right over the map zoom buttons, so I edited the CSS to start with left 40 instead of 20. I know it’s movable, but starting out with a better value helps.

I’ve upgraded now, and I’ve tentatively used this:

var scaleFactor = Math.max(1.0, Math.min(1.2, 0.15 * Math.pow(1.24, ZoomLvl))).toFixed(3);

Not sure why toFixed was set to 1, unnecessarily reducing the precision of the zoom adjustment. I changed that, but I doubt it makes a significant difference.

It’s used as a key to avoid regenerating unnecessarily, the rounding was to avoid small differences generating different keys. I guess since ZoomLvl is only ever integers it doesn’t really matter.

In dump1090-mutability 1.15~dev, with skin of Piaware 3.1.0/dump-fa, another minor modification (title block text). Please see modified title text on top-left of aircraft table.

  1. /usr/share/dump1090-mutability/html/config.js: Modified variable PageName = “Pi #3” and added new variable PageName1 = “dump1090-mutability”.

  2. /usr/share/dump1090-mutability/html/style.css: In infoblock_heading added color: orange,

  3. /usr/share/dump1090-mutability/html/script.js: in function initialize(), added line $(“#infoblock_name1”).text(PageName1);

  4. /usr/share/dump1090-mutability/html/gmap.html: In

    , added one table row dump1090-mutability.

I just installed the new 3.1.0 image rather than continuing to periodically reconfigure and add features to the system I have been using on my RPi B running Minibian Jessie. Couldn’t get the new html files to work on my system, and I especially wanted the NEXRAD map layer.

The install was a breeze especially with the piaware.conf file. The only modifications were to planeObject.js and script.js to add a 50 nm circle and to leave planes on the webmap for 300 seconds instead of 58.

It also appears that I’m seeing a few more planes than before - no hard data, just comparing with my FR24 feed on the same antenna.

I like the new look. Good work !!

Richard

US sectional maps. They are somewhat out of date / not maintained AFAIK, but might be useful.

I guess I should have asked the question differently. How does one add on those layers? I guess if they’re out of date, I may not be interested.

There is a setting in config.js you can turn on.

Found it. Thanks. Not sure why I didn’t see that before.

Looks like upgrading resulted in my ssh key being lost. I wouldn’t have thought an upgrade should affect this.

Scratch that. Looks like my script stopped working for some other reason that I have not been able to figure out yet. It works from the command line but suddenly stopped working from launchctl.

I figured it out. My script was sending output to ~/Documents/adsb/…

Apparently, this stopped working perhaps after a reboot, when launchctl used the root user instead of myself, so output was directed to /var/root/Documents/adsb/… instead of /Users/myUser/Documents/adsb/…

I fixed the problem by hard coding the full path instead of making it relative to ~. Stupid error, in retrospect.

Will v3.x build on an ARM v5 CPU (Marvell Kirkwood) - a Sheevaplug ?

I tried the package route but it fails as there is no armel support.

If it will build on a Sheevaplug, what would the basic build instructions be?

Nigel.

You can probably just tweak debian/control to target armel, I guess. I have not tested it (don’t have any armel systems here)

Hi Oliver,

I’m on it (I think).
Cloned piaware_builder onto the shevaplug and ran it as user ‘Pi’ but it failed with permissions errors (ran as sudo).
Running it now as root user and it’s chewing away right now.

Reason for putting it on the sheeva is that I was gifted it a little while ago (it’s less than 2 yr old) and I added a SATA port and msata 20Gb SSD I had kicking about.
It runs at 1.2Ghz has a true phy gigabit ethernet and only needs 5v to run - it’s like a Pi on steroids.

If it pans out, it’ll go on a hilltop site, run from a solar panel+large battery bank and with a 5v/5amp uBEC from a model radio control kit, it will run 24/7 connected to a 5GHz microwave linked internet connection.

I’ll update as I go along…

I’m more a hardware type than software, so this compiling doesn’t come easily.

SInce upgrading from 3.0.5 (or whatever that final version was) to 3.1.0, I’ve noticed an increase in message count and a decrease in aircraft count (by about 5%). Is this expected? This is based not only on straight numbers, but also on a comparison between my receiver and a nearby receiver that is still on version 2.x.

Stats (especially report counts) are not comparable between different software versions.

That seems to differ from what I’ve read here before. If what you’re saying is that I shouldn’t expect the stats to be consistent when I upgrade, that conforms to my assumption. Certainly from 2.x to 3.x there was an expectation that the software would be better at decoding messages so the message count would likely go up. That seems like a measure of comparison to me.

Anyway, the point of my post was to find out of the changes are likely to increase, decrease, or perhaps not change the expected aircraft count. Perhaps there was a change that ignores messages with certain characteristics that tend to correspond to mostly the most distant aircraft. Something like that would set an expectation for a lower count. Anyway, that is the sort of thing I was after.

Just curious what sort of changes are going on behind the scenes. That’s all.

The reporting code changes from version to version, so stats are likely to be different. I have not done analysis on how, exactly, they’ll differ. If you want to take a look at the changes, see here: github.com/flightaware/dump1090 … are:v3.1.0 (be warned, it is a large set of changes; you can ignore the map stuff and focus on the core changes)

I don’t know where you read that stats were comparable between different software versions, but wherever you read it, it’s wrong.

OK. I think we’re getting into semantics here. Where I read it was actually in one of your posts:

The positions-reported number is not comparable between PiAware versions, exactly because the reporting parameters change from version to version.

for example: 3.1.0 overhauled the decoder fairly substantially to prefer ADS-B to Mode S data, and to prefer fully-CRC-checked Mode S data to partially-CRC-checked Mode S data.
That is likely to reduce the number of reports somewhat, as “flapping” values where it’s actually just bad data won’t trigger more frequent reports (usually a changing value e.g. altitude triggers a more frequent report).

also: if you’ve got a view of an airport your reports have probably gone up because 3.1.0 increases the reporting frequency for surface positions.

overall: not comparable with 3.0.

Interestingly, you first say the stats are not comparable, and then you go on to compare them.

Anyway, bottom line, a decrease in reports of 5% (or an increase) shouldn’t be a surprise when changing versions.

Ok, sorry if I wasn’t clear. You cannot directly compare the numbers between versions because they are running different code that reports at different rates. You could guess at what the expected difference would be based on your knowledge of the changes in the code and the behaviour of aircraft in your local area (which is exactly what I do in the post you quoted), but unless you do a side-by-side comparison of the old and new code off the same antenna, it’s going to be just that - a guess. If you say there’s a 5% difference when changing versions, ok there you go, you’ve got a rough empirical estimate. Is it “correct”? I have no idea.

@ obj

I’ve managed to get piaware installed on my Sheevaplug (armel) following the instructions on github.com/flightaware/piaware_builder
It seemed to build OK without any errors (after installing some missing dependencies for armel).

I haven’t edited any config files etc.

My /var/log/piaware.log gives this…

Oct 17 20:31:34 sheeva piaware[296]: creating pidfile /run/piaware/piaware.pid
Oct 17 20:31:34 sheeva piaware[296]: ****************************************************
Oct 17 20:31:34 sheeva piaware[296]: piaware version 3.1.0 is running, process ID 296
Oct 17 20:31:34 sheeva piaware[296]: your system info is: Linux sheeva 3.16.0-4-kirkwood #1 Debian 3.16.36-1+deb8u1 (2016-09-03) armv5tel GNU/Linux
Oct 17 20:31:36 sheeva piaware[296]: Connecting to FlightAware adept server at piaware.flightaware.com/1200
Oct 17 20:31:36 sheeva piaware[296]: Connection with adept server at piaware.flightaware.com/1200 established
Oct 17 20:31:36 sheeva piaware[296]: TLS handshake with adept server at piaware.flightaware.com/1200 completed
Oct 17 20:31:37 sheeva piaware[296]: FlightAware server certificate validated
Oct 17 20:31:37 sheeva piaware[296]: encrypted session established with FlightAware
Oct 17 20:31:37 sheeva piaware[296]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30005 for 3 seconds, next check in 60s
Oct 17 20:31:37 sheeva piaware[296]: logged in to FlightAware as user Devonian
Oct 17 20:32:09 sheeva piaware[296]: 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090; 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
Oct 17 20:32:37 sheeva piaware[296]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30005 for 63 seconds, next check in 60s
Oct 17 20:33:37 sheeva piaware[296]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30005 for 123 seconds, next check in 60s
Oct 17 20:34:38 sheeva piaware[296]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30005 for 184 seconds, next check in 60s
Oct 17 20:35:38 sheeva piaware[296]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30005 for 244 seconds, next check in 60s
Oct 17 20:36:38 sheeva piaware[296]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30005 for 304 seconds, next check in 60s
Oct 17 20:37:09 sheeva piaware[296]: 0 msgs recv’d from dump1090 (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
Oct 17 20:37:38 sheeva piaware[296]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30005 for 364 seconds, trying to start it…
Oct 17 20:37:38 sheeva piaware[296]: attempting to start dump1090…
Oct 17 20:37:38 sheeva piaware[296]: can’t start dump1090, no services that look like dump1090 found
Oct 17 20:37:48 sheeva piaware[296]: no ADS-B data program seen listening on port 30005 for 10 seconds, next check in 60s

I have no web page showing locally either.

Any ideas gratefully received.

Nigel.