New piaware installation, not sending data to FlightAware?

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

I just made a piaware, following the instructions of FlightAware. I’m currently testing it with an internal antenna (the “Bulgarian” antenna–will mount it outdoors soon).

FlightAware says I’ve claimed my receiver, but no results are showing up on the site. My PiAware status page shows: Radio yellow (no data), PiAware green, FlightAware green, MLAT red (not enabled).

Why am I getting the “not running” messages on the status? :frowning:


sudo piaware-status
dump1090 is not running.
faup1090 is not running.
piaware is not running.
dump1090-fa is listening for connections on port 30005.
faup1090 is connected to port 30005.
piaware is connected to FlightAware.
dump1090-fa is producing data on port 30005.

Log after recent reboot shows


Aug 13 10:47:26 piaware piaware[704]: piaware version 3.0.3 is running, process ID 704
Aug 13 10:47:27 piaware piaware[704]: your system info is: Linux piaware 4.4.0-1-rpi2 #1 SMP Debian 4.4.6-1+rpi14 (2016-05-05) armv7l GNU/Linux
Aug 13 10:47:28 piaware piaware[704]: Connecting to FlightAware adept server at piaware.flightaware.com/1200
Aug 13 10:47:28 piaware piaware[704]: Connection with adept server at piaware.flightaware.com/1200 established
Aug 13 10:47:28 piaware piaware[704]: TLS handshake with adept server at piaware.flightaware.com/1200 completed
Aug 13 10:47:29 piaware piaware[704]: FlightAware server certificate validated
Aug 13 10:47:29 piaware piaware[704]: encrypted session established with FlightAware
Aug 13 10:47:29 piaware piaware[704]: logged in to FlightAware as user RoryJaffe
Aug 13 10:47:30 piaware piaware[704]: ADS-B data program 'dump1090-fa' is listening on port 30005, so far so good
Aug 13 10:47:30 piaware piaware[704]: Starting faup1090: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup1090 --net-bo-ipaddr localhost --net-bo-port 30005 --stdout
Aug 13 10:47:30 piaware piaware[704]: Started faup1090 (pid 736) to connect to dump1090-fa
Aug 13 10:48:01 piaware piaware[704]: 0 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa; 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
Aug 13 10:53:01 piaware piaware[704]: 0 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
Aug 13 10:58:01 piaware piaware[704]: 0 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
Aug 13 11:03:01 piaware piaware[704]: 0 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
2

The “not running” status messages are just a bug.

Looks similar to what was happening to me, except for me, dump1090 has a 50/50 chance of not starting if the SDR unit is connected on startup.

3

This looks normal enough except that you’re not actually receiving anything.
Is anything visible on the local map?
What does “sudo systemctl status dump1090-fa” say?

Check your antenna connections. What dongle are you using?

4

Looks like whatever didn’t work on startup was automatically fixed. I didn’t do anything. Later messages from the log:


Aug 13 11:47:31 piaware piaware[704]: no new messages received in 3601 seconds, it might just be that there haven't been any aircraft nearby but I'm going to try to restart everything, just in case...
Aug 13 11:47:32 piaware piaware[704]: faup1090 exited with SIG SIGHUP
Aug 13 11:47:32 piaware piaware[704]: attempting to restart dump1090..
Aug 13 11:47:33 piaware piaware[704]: attempting to restart dump1090-fa using 'systemctl --no-block try-restart dump1090-fa.service < /dev/null'...
Aug 13 11:47:33 piaware piaware[704]: dump1090 restart appears to have been successful
Aug 13 11:47:43 piaware piaware[704]: ADS-B data program 'dump1090-fa' is listening on port 30005, so far so good
Aug 13 11:47:43 piaware piaware[704]: Starting faup1090: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup1090 --net-bo-ipaddr localhost --net-bo-port 30005 --stdout
Aug 13 11:47:43 piaware piaware[704]: Started faup1090 (pid 857) to connect to dump1090-fa
Aug 13 11:48:03 piaware piaware[704]: 0 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (0 in last 5m); 0 msgs sent to FlightAware
Aug 13 11:49:03 piaware piaware[704]: lost connection to dump1090-fa via faup1090
Aug 13 11:49:03 piaware piaware[704]: faup1090 exited normally
Aug 13 11:49:03 piaware piaware[704]: reconnecting to dump1090-fa
Aug 13 11:49:04 piaware piaware[704]: ADS-B data program 'dump1090-fa' is listening on port 30005, so far so good
Aug 13 11:49:04 piaware piaware[704]: Starting faup1090: /usr/lib/piaware/helpers/faup1090 --net-bo-ipaddr localhost --net-bo-port 30005 --stdout
Aug 13 11:49:04 piaware piaware[704]: Started faup1090 (pid 880) to connect to dump1090-fa
Aug 13 11:49:06 piaware piaware[704]: piaware received a message from dump1090-fa!
Aug 13 11:49:06 piaware piaware[704]: piaware has successfully sent several msgs to FlightAware!
Aug 13 11:53:01 piaware piaware[704]: 254 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (254 in last 5m); 254 msgs sent to FlightAware
Aug 13 11:58:01 piaware piaware[704]: 598 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (344 in last 5m); 598 msgs sent to FlightAware
Aug 13 12:03:01 piaware piaware[704]: 922 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (324 in last 5m); 922 msgs sent to FlightAware
Aug 13 12:08:01 piaware piaware[704]: 1326 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (404 in last 5m); 1326 msgs sent to FlightAware
Aug 13 12:13:01 piaware piaware[704]: 1759 msgs recv'd from dump1090-fa (433 in last 5m); 1759 msgs sent to FlightAware
5

I guess the dongle or dump1090 wedged for some reason. (Usually that means power problems, but that’s not the only cause).
piaware noticed there was no data arriving and figuratively gave dump1090 a kick which fixed it.

6

I guess the dongle or dump1090 wedged for some reason.

It keeps on having troubles–163 times with dump1090 and 9 restarts after no new messages received for about an hour, since I started it up 30 hours ago! I’m running it from a dependable power supply that can supply 10 watts per USB port, only have it 25% loaded. Planning to return the dongle–think that’s the problem.


pi@piaware:~$ grep -c "lost connection to dump1090-fa via faup1090" /var/log/piaware.log
163
pi@piaware:~$ grep -c "but I'm going to try to restart" /var/log/piaware.log
9
7

It does sound like dump1090 is losing the dongle regularly. Look in /var/log/syslog to see why. If it’s a USB disconnect/reconnect then it’s either the dongle resetting itself (often bad power, though it could be a bad dongle) or a problem with the USB connection itself.

Note that a nominally 10W (5V 2A) USB supply can be marginal for a Pi 3; many will have a significant voltage drop if you actually try to draw anything like what they’re allegedly rated for. Is the Pi’s red LED solidly on? What’s the voltage on the +5V rail?

Other possible problems are an intermittent USB connection between the dongle and the Pi (the 1.0 dongles in particular suffer from this due to the plastic near the connector) or a long or cheap USB extension cable to the dongle.

8

Just rechecked: my charger does 2.4A per connector, and I don’t have anything else attached to it when most of these problems are occurring–max added load is an Apple Watch and an iPhone.

Dongle plugged directly into pi. Pi’s red LED is not on. Only things attached to the pi are the dongle and the ethernet cable. Accessing it via SSH, so no keyboard or monitor plugged in.

9

You have power problems. The red LED turns off when the Pi detects the voltage on the +5V line is too low.

Note that USB chargers are not necessarily any good for a Pi, because when charging devices can tolerate a lot of voltage drop so often chargers don’t go to much trouble to maintain a proper 5V level.

10

Oh, man. I’ll get a real PS pronto (and won’t have to replace the dongle).

thanks.

11

In my case it was a cheap USB extension cable between the dongle and the Pi unit. I had wanted to use the cable since it seemed like any movement on the dongle would be bad for the USB ports on the Pi, but I guess I’ll stop moving the unit around for now…

  • mark