Portable Planespotter´s PiAware

cbdagency · December 12, 2021, 2:48pm

Hi all,

I would love a portable piaware feeding multiple sites over wifi from a mobile hotspot on my phone, or even with its own SIM using mobile data. It would be very cool to have for planespotting expeditions. Its far beyond me how to do it at this point but where there is a will there is a way lol. Here is the proposed shopping list so far:

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 (small but powerful and has usb)
FlightAware Prostick Plus USB stick (potentially with case removed as it will be inside a bigger case with the other components)
Battery/Uniniteruptabe Power Supply HAT
USB to USB C connector (ideally L shaped to conserve space)
GPS HAT to provide updated location/altitude

6a. Internal or telescopic 1090mhz ADSB antenna, and
6b. Internal or telescopic GPS antenna, or
6c. Ideally combine 6a and 6b into one internal or telescopic 1090mhz ADSB and GPS antenna

Touchscreen on front
Camera to use with eg, Flightradar24´s feature where you point the camera at an aircraft and it identifies it.
(Optional) SIM card with housing and connector cable (ie, so wifi hotspot from phone is not required)
A 3D printed case to hold all the components together on one handheld device with an on/off switch.

Can you visualise the end-product from the components list? Is there something I missed? How would you go about connecting the pieces to make a whole?

I would be super grateful for any suggestions on how to make it work, and if anyone already makes something similar I would happily buy one from you ready to use;)

send2gl · December 12, 2021, 8:08pm

Hi cbdagency,

Welcome to the forum.

I have done similar with a Pi Zero. I set up wifi to connect to a mobile hotspot on my mobile. It can be quite fascinating but viewing the data whilst outside can be awkward due to screen glare.

You can view the data using Skyaware anywhere or, if your viewing device is connected to same mobile hotspot as portable device then can view it as local data.

Reason I used a Zero is low power consumption so portable power supply easier but not really a great issue as units available with 10,000 mA or more.

It can be interesting.

Geoff

SFRobert · December 12, 2021, 10:47pm

Also interested! I’ve got the NM Spaceport south of me and can see the flights once they get to 1500’ AGL or so. That airport doesn’t have good ADSB coverage down low, though. Would be fun to set up a station in my car to get a better view of the airport.

abcd567 · December 13, 2021, 3:09am

Having a look here may help:

PiAware with a touchscreen

ngtrthanh · December 15, 2021, 11:07am

Hi, I also plan to make a portable one and here is some of my parts:

ngtrthanh · January 24, 2022, 10:18am

Hi everyone,

I updated my portable radar here:
Antenna > Tripod > N male to SMA adapter > USB dongle > USB EXTENSION cable > Laptop run Ubuntu base (Zorin OS) with docker installation + GitHub - sdr-enthusiasts/docker-readsb-protobuf: Multi-architecture readsb-protobuf container with support for RTLSDR, bladeRF and plutoSDR (x86_64, arm32v7, arm64v8) and cellphones with hotspot as AP for laptop.
My laptop with docker can completely replace a pi with battery, cellular module and external LCD and even keyboard, that may take some extra cost and inconvenience.
Thank @mikenye for his excellent docker containers and gitbook

My first plane hunter trip at a top of 32m bridge double my best aircraft count at home, reaching to some airports I had never reached before. Very excited!

Here is my DIY antenna that easily beats A3 JetVision at a fraction of the cost.
Contact me if you need a high performance - low cost ADS-B antenna.

mikenye · January 24, 2022, 11:55am

Thanks so much for your kind words. This is a really cool deployment. Well done.

Are you joined to our Discord? If not, jump in and say hi.

ngtrthanh · January 24, 2022, 12:26pm

Yes, already there.
Again, thanks .
I share my .evn and docker-compose.yml


#GENERAL LOCATION

#HOME 
FEEDER_ALT_FT=32.8084
FEEDER_ALT_M=10
FEEDER_LAT=20.0 
FEEDER_LONG=106.0
FEEDER_TZ=Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh



#INTERNAL

#INFLUXDB HOME

# FD_INFLUXDBURL=yourIP
# #INFLUXDB_V2=true
# FD_INFLUXDB_V2_BUCKET=yourbucket
# FD_INFLUXDB_V2_ORG=yourORG
# FD_INFLUXDB_V2_TOKEN=yourtoken


#INFLUXDB LOCAL

FD_INFLUXDBURL=http://192.168.xxx.xxx
#INFLUXDB_V2=true
FD_INFLUXDB_V2_BUCKET=ADSBucketxxx
FD_INFLUXDB_V2_ORG=xxx
FD_INFLUXDB_V2_TOKEN=fLO_xxx



#STATION 

#EXTERNAL
#piaware:
FD_PIAWARE_FEEDER_ID=yourID

#fr24feed:
FD_FR24KEY=yourID

#adsbexchange
FD_ADSBEX_SITENAME=yourName
FD_ADSBEX_UUID=yourID

#rbfeeder
FD_RBFEEDER_SHARING_KEY=yourID

#pfclient
FD_PFC_SHARECODE=yourID

#opensky
FD_OPENSKY_USERNAME=yourID
FD_OPENSKY_SERIAL=yourID

#adsbhub RPI-198
FD_AHUB_CLIENTKEY=yourkey

docker-compose.yml


version: '2.0'

volumes:
  readsbpb_rrd:
  readsbpb_autogain:

services:

  readsb:
    image: mikenye/readsb-protobuf
    tty: true
    container_name: readsb
    hostname: readsb
    restart: always
    devices:
      - /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb
    ports:
      - 8088:8080
      - 30005:30005
      - 9273:9273
    environment:
      - TZ=${FEEDER_TZ}
      - READSB_DCFILTER=true
      - READSB_DEVICE_TYPE=rtlsdr
      - READSB_FIX=true
      - READSB_GAIN=autogain
      - READSB_LAT=${FEEDER_LAT} 
      - READSB_LON=${FEEDER_LONG}
      - READSB_MODEAC=true
      - READSB_RX_LOCATION_ACCURACY=2
      - READSB_STATS_RANGE=true
      - READSB_NET_ENABLE=true
      - INFLUXDBURL=${FD_INFLUXDBURL}
      - INFLUXDB_V2=true
      - INFLUXDB_V2_BUCKET=${FD_INFLUXDB_V2_BUCKET}
      - INFLUXDB_V2_ORG=${FD_INFLUXDB_V2_ORG}
      - INFLUXDB_V2_TOKEN=${FD_INFLUXDB_V2_TOKEN}
      - ENABLE_PROMETHEUS=true
      - PROMETHEUSPORT=9273
      - PROMETHEUSPATH=/metrics

    volumes:
      - readsbpb_rrd:/run/collectd
      - readsbpb_autogain:/run/autogain
  piaware:
    image: mikenye/piaware:latest
    tty: true
    container_name: piaware
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 8080:80 
    environment:
      - TZ=${FEEDER_TZ}
      - LAT=${FEEDER_LAT}
      - LONG=${FEEDER_LONG}
      - RECEIVER_TYPE=relay
      - BEASTHOST=readsb
      - BEASTPORT=30005
      - FEEDER_ID=${FD_PIAWARE_FEEDER_ID}
    tmpfs:
      - /run:exec,size=64M
      - /var/log
  fr24feed:
    image: mikenye/fr24feed:latest
    tty: true
    container_name: fr24feed
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 8754:8754
    environment:
      - BEASTHOST=readsb
      - TZ=${FEEDER_TZ}
      - FR24KEY=${FD_FR24KEY}
      - MLAT=yes
  
  adsbexchange:
    image: mikenye/adsbexchange
    tty: true
    container_name: adsbx
    restart: always
    environment:
      - BEASTHOST=readsb
      - TZ=${FEEDER_TZ}
      - LAT=${FEEDER_LAT}
      - LONG=${FEEDER_LONG}
      - ALT=${FEEDER_ALT_M}
      - SITENAME=${FD_ADSBEX_SITENAME}
      - UUID=${FD_ADSBEX_UUID}
    tmpfs:
      - /run:rw,nosuid,nodev,exec,relatime,size=64M,uid=1000,gid=1000   

  rbfeeder:
    image: mikenye/radarbox:latest
    tty: true
    container_name: rbfeeder
    restart: always
    environment:
      - BEASTHOST=readsb
      - TZ=${FEEDER_TZ}
      - LAT=${FEEDER_LAT}
      - LONG=${FEEDER_LONG}
      - ALT=${FEEDER_ALT_M}
      - SHARING_KEY=${FD_RBFEEDER_SHARING_KEY}
  pfclient:
    image: mikenye/planefinder:latest
    tty: true
    container_name: pfclient
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 30053:30053
    environment:
      - BEASTHOST=readsb
      - TZ=${FEEDER_TZ}
      - LAT=${FEEDER_LAT}
      - LONG=${FEEDER_LONG}
      - ALT=${FEEDER_ALT_M}
      - SHARECODE=${FD_PFC_SHARECODE}

  opensky:
    image: mikenye/opensky-network:latest
    tty: true
    container_name: opensky
    restart: always
    environment:
      - BEASTHOST=readsb
      - TZ=${FEEDER_TZ}
      - LAT=${FEEDER_LAT}
      - LONG=${FEEDER_LONG}
      - ALT=${FEEDER_ALT_M}
      - OPENSKY_USERNAME=${FD_OPENSKY_USERNAME}
      - OPENSKY_SERIAL=${FD_OPENSKY_SERIAL}
   
   version: '2.0'

  adsbhub:
    image: mikenye/adsbhub:latest
    tty: true
    container_name: adsbhub
    restart: always
    environment:
      - TZ=${FEEDER_TZ}
      - SBSHOST=readsb
      - CLIENTKEY=${FD_AHUB_CLIENTKEY}

foxhunter · January 24, 2022, 7:23pm

strong words…

I would like to see some solid test results.
I do have a Jetvision A3 GPS and a Vinnant 7.5dB in use and have doubts if a DIY antenna can “easily” beat them in performance.

If you compare performance in relation to the price, you might be correct.

abcd567 · January 24, 2022, 10:56pm

CONGRATULATIONS This is a great achievement by a DIY enthusiast.

ngtrthanh · January 25, 2022, 2:29am

Hello, I am pleased to provide you stats upon FlightAware:
Here is FlightFeeder (#155380) with A3 Jetvision ADS-B+GPS> CO 100AF Cable > FF box (Mode-S Beast + Pi3), last day 401.

Here is my Station (#166267) with ‘02 coils DIY Antenna’ > RG6 cable > AirNav FlightStick>OrangePi+2E>Mikenye Docker Containers, last day 435

Here is my Station (#163617) with ‘03 coils DIY Antenna ~7.5dB’ > RF400 cable > AirNav FlightStick>OrangePi+2E>Mikenye Docker Containers, last day 543

ngtrthanh · January 25, 2022, 2:36am

And here are quick snapshot of 03 stations:
FA 155380: 9/7

OPI230- 166267 12/9

OPI245 - 163617 19/15

Or this is oddly for my location?

ngtrthanh · January 25, 2022, 2:38am

I am very happy to lend you one for your testing and compare if it’s convenient for you.

abcd567 · January 25, 2022, 3:06am

I would love to do so, but my “building management” does not allow me to install any antenna on outer wall or roof of our building, and my “home management” does not allow me to install anything bulky and odd looking inside our apartment, as in her opinion this is “a stupid & useless hobby on which I am wasting my time and money”

foxhunter · January 25, 2022, 9:44am

Thanks for the details.
Not necessary. My setup is already at the max and the only way to improve is moving the mountains around me away.
That can’t be done that easy, at least i would receive complaints from the government

Coooogz · January 25, 2022, 10:34am

One spadefull at a time… they will not notice!

foxhunter · January 25, 2022, 11:52am

Oh, you know my wife?

system · January 25, 2023, 11:52am

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Portable Planespotter´s PiAware

Having a look here may help:

PiAware with a touchscreen

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