PiAware not working

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

Hi there!

I struggle with steting up my RPI to send data to FlightAware:
I am owning a ADS-B USB Dongle and it is connected to my Pi.
Then I followed the instructions on the tutorial site of FlightAware and i think everything went fine. I entered my username and password an restartet the service but unfortunalety no data is recieved by FlightAware, though i waited no for two days.
Since i have not the best knowledge about linux and the software used, does anyone has an idea what i could do?
I am running Rasbian Jessy, the piaware service is running (checked with services --status-all). Though there are no logs (or i didn’t find them, lol)

My statistics pagealso says no data found for my reciever.

When the transmission to FlightAware is working, i also want to transmit my data to FlightRadar24, so i installed the software for that (but it isn’t currently running). When i installed the FR24 software, i was asked about long/lat/height of the reciever, which wasn’t the case when i installed the FlightAware software, so i wonder if i have to do this as well=

Thanks in advance!

2

piaware is connected OK, but it has no data to feed because dump1090 is not running (or, at least, not listening on port 30005)

Can you try the piaware sdcard image (maybe on a spare sd card) and see if that works for you?

3

Well, that was also my thought, isn’t there a command to start dump1090 like i can start piaware? Unfortunalety i can’t set up an another sd-card the next days, so it would be great if i could manage to get it run as it is?

4

If you have installed the FA dump1090 package then it is set up to start automatically, IIRC.

Maybe there is some problem talking to your dongle. You could try running dump1090 from the command line and seeing what it says.

5

So, i checked everything again and found out, that i added the dump1090 package, but didn’t installed it (yes, newbie fault lol).

Now dump1090 is installed and running and when i enter dump1090 it says the device is busy…is it because piaware uses it?


pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo dump1090
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001 (currently selected)

Kernel driver is active, or device is claimed by second instance of librtlsdr.
In the first case, please either detach or blacklist the kernel module
(dvb_usb_rtl28xxu), or enable automatic detaching at compile time.

usb_claim_interface error -6
Error opening the RTLSDR device: Device or resource busy
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo dump1090
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001 (currently selected)

Kernel driver is active, or device is claimed by second instance of librtlsdr.
In the first case, please either detach or blacklist the kernel module
(dvb_usb_rtl28xxu), or enable automatic detaching at compile time.

usb_claim_interface error -6
Error opening the RTLSDR device: Device or resource busy

I restartet piaware service and waiting now if everything is fine now and appears on the statistic page, or do you have further suggestions?

6

Kernel driver is active, or device is claimed by second instance of librtlsdr.

Have you blacklisted the dongle? The kernel wants to use it as a tv dongle if you don’t.
Follow the blacklist commands in this link
ads-b-flight-tracking-f21/raspberry-pi-docker-from-blank-sd-to-feeding-in-15-mins-t36459.html?hilit=Blacklist
Then restart.

7

Likely a DVB kernel driver is running and claiming the dongle before dump1090 can. Do a lsmod and look for dvb_usb_rtl28xxu. If it is there, you need to blacklist it. Google for the instructions to blacklist, they are readily found.

8

Are you sure that dump1090 really is running? piaware is still reporting it cannot connect to dump1090 (see /tmp/piaware.out)

9

just unplug and plug again your dongle.

cheers

10

I blacklisted the dongle and now i can run dump1090 from command line, giving the following result:


pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo dump1090
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001 (currently selected)
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Max available gain is: 49.60
Setting gain to: 49.60
Exact sample rate is: 2000000.052982 Hz
Gain reported by device: 49.60
*8d400afb9940a5b36804897c07bc;
CRC: 000000 (ok)
DF 17: ADS-B message.
  Capability     : 5 (Level 2+3+4 (DF0,4,5,11,20,21,24,code7 - is airborne))
  ICAO Address   : 400afb
  Extended Squitter  Type: 19
  Extended Squitter  Sub : 1
gh  Extended Squitter  Name: Airborne Velocity
    EW status         : Valid
    EW velocity       : 164
    NS status         : Valid
    NS velocity       : -410
    Vertical status   : Valid
    Vertical rate src : 0
    Vertical rate     : 0

*5d400afb7854f1;
CRC: 000007 (ok)
DF 11: All Call Reply.
  Capability  : 5 (Level 2+3+4 (DF0,4,5,11,20,21,24,code7 - is airborne))
  ICAO Address: 400afb
  IID         : II-07

*5d400afb7854f1;
CRC: 000007 (ok)
DF 11: All Call Reply.
  Capability  : 5 (Level 2+3+4 (DF0,4,5,11,20,21,24,code7 - is airborne))
  ICAO Address: 400afb
  IID         : II-07

cb transfer status: 1, canceling...

It stays in the canceling mode now since 15min or so…

Though FlightAware says no data found an FlightRadar24 says my device is offline…any further suggestions?

EDIT:The log says no ads-b data program listening on port 30005

11

This is probably a combination of USB/power problems + bugs in librtlsdr.
The “cb transfer status” message means that librtlsdr got a USB error trying to receive data from the dongle (this is the USB/power problem). Then it hangs while trying to shut down and exit (this is the librtlsdr bug).

The dongle did work for a little while though, you got a few messages before it broke.

Check your USB cabling and power. The “dmesg” command may give some hints too (look for USB related messages)

12

I plugged the dongle out and in and trying tge dump command again. The result:


pi@raspberrypi:/tmp $ sudo dump1090
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001 (currently selected)
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner

Ot is stuck in this staze again, is it a good or bad sign?

I have a 5V 2A power supply, do you think it isn’t sufficient and i should try an usb hub with its own power supply?

Currently i have a wifi dongle, a webcam with usb extension cable and the dvb-t donglr connected.

13

Some RPIs have power issues.
Both of mine(RPI2s) run fine with two SDR dongles and a GPS daughter board.

Try it without the Camera.

14

Definitely shed some hardware; try it without the cam and the extension cable. Look in dmesg for "USB disconnect"s, which usually means that something on the USB ran out of power.

It isn’t the problem here yet but I will mention that when you start dump1090 from the command line without the --net option (and maybe some others), it can receive aircraft, but won’t be able to link to piaware and thus you won’t upload anything. Once you have dump1090 running steady on the command line mode, reboot and let everyhing start automatically.

15

So, i disconnected the webcam and the dongle is besides the wifi stick the only usb devices.
I ran dump1090 again and got the following result:


pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo dump1090
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001 (currently selected)
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Max available gain is: 49.60
Setting gain to: 49.60
Exact sample rate is: 2000000.052982 Hz
Gain reported by device: 49.60
*5d4690f9210e4f;
CRC: 000000 (ok)
DF 11: All Call Reply.
  Capability  : 5 (Level 2+3+4 (DF0,4,5,11,20,21,24,code7 - is airborne))
  ICAO Address: 4690f9
  IID         : II-00

*5d15c2fbe099c7;
CRC: 000000 (ok)
DF 11: All Call Reply.
  Capability  : 5 (Level 2+3+4 (DF0,4,5,11,20,21,24,code7 - is airborne))
  ICAO Address: 15c2fb
  IID         : II-00

*2000162a50fc63;
CRC: 15c2fb (ok)
DF 4: Surveillance, Altitude Reply.
  Flight Status  : Normal, Airborne
  DR             : 0
  UM             : 0
  Altitude       : 12100 feet
  ICAO Address   : 15c2fb

*2000162a50fc63;
CRC: 15c2fb (ok)
DF 4: Surveillance, Altitude Reply.
  Flight Status  : Normal, Airborne
  DR             : 0
  UM             : 0
  Altitude       : 12100 feet
  ICAO Address   : 15c2fb

*2000162a50fc63;
CRC: 15c2fb (ok)
DF 4: Surveillance, Altitude Reply.
  Flight Status  : Normal, Airborne
  DR             : 0
  UM             : 0
  Altitude       : 12100 feet
  ICAO Address   : 15c2fb

It seemsit is working, isn’t it?
Though on my stats page here and on FR24 it says no data :frowning:

16

If it’s producing continuous data, yes, it’s working. Now reboot so dump1090 gets started with the right arg (as sno34 said).

17

After rebooting, run piaware-status and you should see something like this:



...
piaware is connected to FlightAware.
dump1090-mutabi is producing data on port 30005.

Note that I’m running a different dump1090, yours will probably say dump1090-fa instead. But these last two lines prove a lot; that you have both piaware and dump1090 running, the Pi is connected to the Internet, and it is receiving signals from aircraft. The “is producing data” test actually waits for a signal (or the 1 minute “heartbeat” default packet), so if you check it late at night when air traffic is rare, it may take a while to appear.

Also you can use ps aux to confirm that dump1090 and piaware both auto-started and continue to run.

18

A simple restart did tge trick! :slight_smile:


pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo piaware-status
dump1090 is running.
faup1090 is running.
piaware is running.
dump1090 is listening for connections on port 30005.
faup1090 is connected to port 30005.
piaware is connected to FlightAware.
dump1090 is NOT producing data on port 30005.

Also on the stats page it is shown now! Thank you verymuch! :slight_smile: