How to Install and Configure Piaware 5.0 SD card image - Quickstart Guide

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
41

Yes:

  1. SD card image is the source of the code
  2. I did go through Step 5 several passes.
  3. I did reboot after Step 5.

Result from status inquiries:

  • piaware is normal
  • dump1090 reports as failed (seems correct)
  • dump978 reports
    1392 ExecStart=/usr/share/dump978-fa/start-dump978-fa (code=exited, s
    Main PID: 1392 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Either way, the local IP page shows the radio tab in red, not connected.

42

Can you show the output from step 8? :slight_smile:

43

revised in a further post.

44

I’ve seen that error before an i believe it’s insufficient CPU resources.
Which hardware are you running this on?

45

pi Zero W in use at the moment.

sudo top shows dump978 is using 52% of the CPU of the Zero W

I can move it to a 3B+ to try more CPU horsepower

46

My guess is that this will help.

Not sure what exactly dump978 uses all of the CPU for, maybe someone will optimize it in the future.

But it is running and restarting, maybe it will calm down.
You could also try another power supply.

47

Orange Pi PC

dump978-fa using 29% CPU with zero UAT traffic in Toronto at the moment.
How much it will be in busy airspaces of USA?

image
image806×475 21.2 KB 

pi@orangepipc:~$ lscpu
Architecture:          armv7l
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                4
On-line CPU(s) list:   0-3
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    4
Socket(s):             1
Model:                 5
Model name:            ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)
CPU max MHz:           1368.0000
CPU min MHz:           120.0000
BogoMIPS:              61.71
Flags:                 half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm
48

I did try a bench power supply running at 5.2 volts, but that was no better than the wall transformer supply.

1 Like
49

Can you make it -eu instead of -u, the start of the log isn’t that interesting.

50

OK, will do.
Do you want me to change all 3 commands of Step 8, or just the piaware one?
For piaware it is advisable to cut-off the start portion of log which contains unnecessary, as well as private (feeder-id) info.

51

Yeah i should make a command that filters that info automatically.
the -eu is good for all three, the end of the log is usually most relevant.

This should cut out private info:

journalctl -eu piaware | grep -v 'reported location\|--lat\|feeder ID'

@Jerryh47 feel free to delete your post with the logs, precise coordinates are contained in the log.

52

Ok changed all commands in Step 8 from option -u to -eu

Now with -eu only last 20~30 lines are being displayed.

53

You should still be able to scroll up with pageup/pagedown.

Also note the my edit of the previous post in regards to filtering location and feeder-id.

54

In the output of above command, all lines are displayed like with -u
However grep -v 'reported location\|--lat\|feeder ID' is implemented. :+1:

55

Getting 3 planes on UAT within last 24 hours so must be working, all within a few miles of KPMB airport within about 50nm away.
Gain is set for default, what is the command for changing gain on 978 MHz dongle? Might be able to crank it up a bit. Also expect interference from cell towers nearby in the 900MHz range too maybe a filter will help. Needed one for 1090.

56 
pi@piaware:~ $ piaware-config uat-sdr-gain 48

Set uat-sdr-gain to 48 in /boot/piaware-config.txt:88

pi@piaware:~ $ sudo systemctl restart piaware   

pi@piaware:~ $ piaware-config -show uat-sdr-gain
48

.

Default gain is “max”.

57

Much appreciated as always!

If gain already set to “max” I might just leave it until I can actually observe a signal so I can adjust for max S/N.
Amazon has UAT/ADSB dual purpose Flightaware filters:
https://www.amazon.ca/ADS-B-1090MHz-Band-pass-SMA-Filter/dp/B010GBQXK8/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_4?crid=36E3Q9M2EHKWK&keywords=flightaware+978&qid=1554820527&s=gateway&sprefix=flightaware+%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-4-fkmrnull

If there were to be a 978 filter built into the dongle like the blue 1090 ProStick+ might be a worthwhile investment…

58

Thanks to everyone who posted replies to this topic, I now have an Amazon 978 antenna, Raspberry Pi and 3.7.0.1 running. As expected, not too much traffic seen, just the occasional smaller aircraft. But one question for the group. At about 10:00 AM PDT, TIS-B traffic starts to show up in Skyview978, and then shuts down sometime in the evening. Does FlightAware only enable the viewing of TIS-B traffic at certain hours?

59

TIS-B doesn’t come from flightaware.

Everything displayed in your Skyview except MLAT positions is received by your antenna.

Maybe a local airport has TIS-B service, don’t know if there are TIS-B transmitters which are switched off at night.

60

Towers only send TIS-B/ADS-R messages for non-ADS-B targets when they are within a certain range (horizontally and vertically) of an ADS-B target with the CDTI flag on, i.e. when they’d actually be useful.
I get TIS-B/ADS-R targets all day around here (KDFW area), but there’s always an ADS-B target nearby when I see them, as expected; I haven’t bothered confirming the CDTI flag because it doesn’t seem worth the effort.