Multilateration (MLAT) now available on PiAware!

Yes, you can do this. If you’re running dump1090-mutability (github version) or the FA dump1090 then be aware that by default it does not forward mlat results back out to the output ports by default, you need to specify --forward-mlat for that to happen.

There are various other ways of getting the results too; you can do a “piaware-config -mlatResultsFormat” to configure where the mlat results are sent to override the default which sends them in beast format to localhost:30004. (this is poorly documented at the moment).

The traffic is not as busy now, then what it was a little bit ago. But hopefully I can help share the love with other Piawares. To help with the MLAT. I put up the new FlightAware antenna tonight. I was tracking around another 40 or so planes earlier with it.

A few things…

(1). Awesome update, MLAT aircraft are showing as intended!

(2). ADS-B aircraft are still grey for me despite the green highlight in list view… problem, or aesthetics?

(3). Waiting to see what cool MLAT stats we will see in our control panels, but I wondered if it might include a way to see what other receivers are used to pinpoint particular aircraft? That would be awesome.

-G

I have upgraded my four raspbian raspberry’s from piaware 2.1-1 to 2.1-2.
No issues :wink:

What are the improvements? Is there a changelog available?

Ted
http://flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/tedsluis

The image above shows my custom colors. To get those colors, you will have to edit the config.js file.

Using ssh or putty, go to the command line of your PiAware box and edit the config.js file.


pi@piaware ~ $ sudo nano /usr/share/dump1090/public_html/config.js

Change the numbers for the marker colors. Here are mine.


// -- Marker settings -------------------------------------
// The default marker color
MarkerColor       = "rgb(150, 254, 150)";
MlatMarkerColor   = "rgb(150, 150, 254)";
SelectedColor = "rgb(254, 150, 150)";


The original colors are:


// -- Marker settings -------------------------------------
// The default marker color
MarkerColor       = "rgb(127, 127, 127)";
MlatMarkerColor   = "rgb(75, 75, 180)";
SelectedColor = "rgb(225, 225, 225)";


Save the file and refresh your browser to see your new colors.

How can I find how many users in my area are using MLAT and what is their coverage? I have working MLAT but I can’t see any blue aircraft - only white and green records.

07/17/2015 08:12:07 mlat(14992): Receiver connection: ready
07/17/2015 08:12:07 mlat(14992): Server connection: ready
07/17/2015 08:12:07 mlat(14992): Receiver: 97.7 msg/s received 1.8kB/s from receiver
07/17/2015 08:12:07 mlat(14992): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server 0.5kB/s UDP to server
07/17/2015 08:12:07 mlat(14992): Aircraft: 20 known, 10 requested by server

2.1-2 added easier configuration if you want to change how the mlat results are provided (piaware-config -mlatResultsFormat)

There’s a changelog installed in /usr/share/doc/piaware/ or it’s online here: github.com/flightaware/piaware_ … /changelog

You can look at “nearby ADS-B sites” on your stats page: flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/misiugal

hello!

i have piaware 2.1-2 with this config: -mlat 1 -mlatResults 1 -mlatResultsFormat default
though there are many receivers with 2.1-2 around here, i can’t see any blue aircraft in dump1090.

do you have any idea for solving the problem?
de.flightaware.com/adsb/stats/u … tats-10036

netstat tells me, that the config is correct:


tcp        0      0 *:30004                 *:*                     LISTEN      2752/dump1090
tcp        0      0 localhost:49687         localhost:30004         CONNECTED   4228/fa-mlat-client

Does piaware report some mlat results (positions/minute) in /tmp/piaware.out?
What dump1090 are you using?

I have probably the same problem as fusionimage.
In piaware.out:
07/17/2015 12:39:13 mlat(15808): Receiver connection: ready
07/17/2015 12:39:13 mlat(15808): Server connection: ready
07/17/2015 12:39:13 mlat(15808): Receiver: 122.3 msg/s received 2.4kB/s from receiver
07/17/2015 12:39:13 mlat(15808): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server 0.3kB/s UDP to server
07/17/2015 12:39:13 mlat(15808): Aircraft: 33 known, 13 requested by server

dump1090 ModeS Receiver Ver : 1.10.3010.14

i am using dump1090 from the piaware tutorial: dump1090_1.2-2_armhf.deb


07/17/2015 13:10:04 mlat(4985): Receiver connection: ready
07/17/2015 13:10:04 mlat(4985): Server connection:   ready
07/17/2015 13:10:04 mlat(4985): Receiver:  143.6 msg/s received      2.1kB/s from receiver
07/17/2015 13:10:04 mlat(4985): Server:      0.0 kB/s from server    0.0kB/s TCP to server   0.3kB/s UDP to server
07/17/2015 13:10:04 mlat(4985): Aircraft: 44 known, 11 requested by server


so i guess, there is no connection to the server? but normal ads-b msgs are being sent, as i can see on my site’s page

If there’s no positions/minute line reported, then unfortunately the servers aren’t being able to use your data for mlat for one reason or other and can’t give you results. This might be just that there aren’t enough nearby receivers, or that there are not enough ADS-B aircraft around to get clock sync, or your location is incorrectly entered, or your Pi is overloaded and dropping data which breaks mlat. There’s no easy way to tell these cases apart at the moment unfortunately.

fusionimage - looks like your pi is overloaded, it’s reporting 100% CPU load.
misiugal - you only have synchronization with 2 nearby receivers, which may not be enough. Lack of ADS-B flights or not enough overlap in coverage.

obj, yes, you were right, its cpu load is 100%: ~50% dump1090 & ~40% fa-mlat-client
i have a raspberry pi model 5 (512mb ram version)

any idea, how i can solve this?

You can try overclocking it in small steps. I have overclocked my rpi 2 just a bit stays in the 45-48 c temperature range

i overclocked it now to 950MHz and took it out of the case for better cooling and the cpu load seems to stay lower for now.
but i get a new problem:


07/17/2015 17:26:06 got 'couldn't open socket: connection refused' to adept server at piaware.flightaware.com/1200, will try again soon...

edit: reconnected my modem to get a new ip; connection working again

I think you have the rpi 1 vB is so that may be a bit to high for the rpi 1. I will let some more people in the know on this stuff chime in

This is “normal” - it will reconnect to the other server (one of the two is currently down)

ok, thank you!

so, do you have any experience with different raspberry pi models? did it work with model 1 during development?
i guess, you have tried your software on those devices before releasing it.