This is a snap to establish a ADS-B receiver box.
To build the snap, you have to use snapcraft. Read the official document for the details. This command will produce a file named adsb-box_<ver>_<arch>.snap. <ver> means the version number and <arch> stands for the architecture of target machines.
$ snapcraft snapPlease read the official document and install Ubuntu Core onto your hardware.
The drivers have to be blacklisted, or the librtlsdr won't access the dongle.
$ cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-rtl-sdr.conf
blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu
blacklist e4000
blacklist rtl2832
EOF
$ sudo rebootIt's necessary to enable the layouts feature of the core snap.
$ sudo snap set core experimental.layouts=trueEach snap has a revision (<rev>). A snap installed from the store always has a revision in number. But the revision of a local snap has a lead 'x'.
$ sudo snap install adsb-boxIf you want to try the latest/development version, you can add --edge to the above command.
Upload the snap file to your target machine then install it.
$ sudo snap install --dangerous adsb-box_<ver>_<arch>.snapThese interfaces MUST be correctly configured, otherwise the services will not start successfully.
$ sudo snap connect adsb-box:raw-usb
$ sudo snap connect adsb-box:process-control
$ sudo snap connect adsb-box:system-observe
$ sudo snap connect adsb-box:network-observe
$ sudo snap connect adsb-box:hardware-observe
$ sudo snap connect adsb-box:mount-observe
$ sudo snap restart adsb-boxThere are some global settings which shared by several feeders. For now, it's the location of the receiver. Replace [LATITUDE], [LONGITUDE] and [ALTITUDE] with the real values.
Note: unit of altitude is meter.
$ sudo snap set adsb-box receiver.latitude=[LATITUDE] receiver.longitude=[LONGITUDE] receiver.altitude=[ALTITUDE]On Ubuntu Core 16, the rsyslog service is default enabled. If you are using SD card or USB disk as the primary storage, to avoid the wearing, it would be better to disable rsyslog. For Ubuntu Core 18, this operation is not necessary, since the rsyslog service is disabled by default.
$ snap set system service.rsyslog.disable=true
# to enable it again
$ snap set system service.rsyslog.disable=falseFor the same reason, by default, the log files of the feeders are disabled or placed in tmpfs to reduce the writing of storage. Use the following commands to turn them on.
# lighttpd access log: local traffic
$ snap set adsb-box lighttpd.enable-localhost-log=1
# plane-finder
$ snap set adsb-box plane-finder.enable-log=1
# piaware
$ snap set adsb-box piaware.enable-log=1
# fr24feed
$ snap set adsb-box fr24feed.enable-log=1Use 0 instead of 1 to disable logging again.
It's not allow to change the configuration of lighttpd currently.
To reduce the number/overhead of rrd file updating, the cache mechanism of rrdtool plugin is enabled. The trade off is that the graphs kind of "drag behind" and that more memory is used. The manual of collectd provides more explanations. To disable or adjust the settings, please refer to the following commands:
## Read the manual before tuning the settings!
# CacheTimeout, defulat - 300, 0 to disable cache
$ snap set adsb-box collectd.rrd-cache-timeout=0
# CacheFlush, default - 10*CacheTimeout
$ snap set adsb-box collectd.rrd-cache-flush=0
# RandomTimeout, default - 0
$ snap set adsb-box collectd.rrd-random-timeout=0
# WritesPerSecond, default - 50
$ snap set adsb-box collectd.rrd-writes-per-second=80Another method to reduce the number of Disk I/O is moving the rrd files to tmpfs. This implementation will:
$SNAP_COMMON/collectd/rrd to /tmp/rrd which is located on tmpfs.$SNAP_COMMON/collectd/rrd according to the config value.# unit of period is second
$ snap set adsb-box collectd.rrd-backup-period=1800
# restart related services
$ snap restart adsb-box.collectd
$ snap restart adsb-box.graphs-gendThe configuration of dump1090 is at /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/dump1090-fa.conf.
By default, the port of BEAST-format output is 30005 and the port of BEAST-format input is 30104.
Change the items upon the requirements.
If you want to have range circles on the dump1090 webpage and graphs of the maximum range, change the accuracy of location to approximate or exact.
# enable locationing in dump1090
$ snap set adsb-box dump1090.location-accuracy=<approximate|exact>
# disable it
$ snap set adsb-box dump1090.location-accuracy=
# restart dump1090 to apply
$ snap restart adsb-box.dump1090Since dump1090-fa v5.0, it supports wisdom files. It has several built-in versions for various hardware to utilize their FPU/DSP unit. If you consider to have a local version. Run these commands:
$ sudo snap stop adsb-box
$ sudo adsb-box.generate-wisdom
$ sudo snap start adsb-boxPlease note:
Ideally, to get stable results, you want to do this on an idle system with CPU frequency scaling disabled. Running the benchmarks will takesome time (10s of minutes).
Read the following code block or /snap/adsb-box/<rev>/usr/share/dump1090-fa/html/script.js. Get your upintheair.json and place it at /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/.
// Add terrain-limit rings. To enable this:
//
// create a panorama for your receiver location on heywhatsthat.com
//
// note the "view" value from the URL at the top of the panorama
// i.e. the XXXX in http://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=XXXX
//
// fetch a json file from the API for the altitudes you want to see:
//
// wget -O /usr/share/dump1090-mutability/html/upintheair.json \
// 'http://www.heywhatsthat.com/api/upintheair.json?id=XXXX&refraction=0.25&alts=3048,9144'
//
// NB: altitudes are in _meters_, you can specify a list of altitudesIf you are using Ubuntu Core, there is no wget command available. Please do this on another machine. For instnace:
# create a panorama on heywhatsthat.com and get the view value on the webpage.
# on your Linux PC:
$ wget -O upintheair.json 'http://www.heywhatsthat.com/api/upintheair.json?id=XXXX&refraction=0.25&alts=3048,9144'
$ scp upintheair.json YOUR-UBUNTU-CORE-IP-ADDRESS:
# on your ubuntu core system:
$ sudo cp upintheair.json /var/snap/adsb-box/current/If piaware is working, you can associate the feeder with your account by opening the URL to claim your new feeder on the FlightAware.
Use adsb-box.piaware-config to modify the configuration. Please refer PiAware README for the command usages.
# display all configuration items
$ sudo adsb-box.piaware-config -showall
## update the configurations accordingly
# restart the piaware to apply the new configuration
$ sudo snap restart adsb-box.piawareThe log of PiAware is disabled by default. Please use snap set adsb-box piaware.enable-log=1 to enable it and use 0 instead of 1 to disable.
Use adsb-box.fr24feedcli to sign-up or reconfigure the system.
People who don't setup the feeder before, please use
$ sudo adsb-box.fr24feedcli --signupfr24feed will ask serval questions and here are the recommended answers for the questions.
| Question | Answer | Note |
|---|---|---|
| email address | email_address | your email address on FR24 |
| sharing key | sharying_key | If you ever share your day, find it on FR24 web |
| participate MLAT | yes_or_no (up to you) | On amd64/i386, MLAT is not supported, please answer no. If yes, need to specify your coordinates |
| automatically configure dump1090 | no | |
| receiver type | 4 | ModeS Beast |
| connection type | 1 | network connection |
| receiver address | 127.0.0.1 | On amd64/i386, please don't use localhost |
| receiver port | 30005 | |
| enable RAW data feed | yes | |
| enable Basestation data feed | yes | |
| logfile mode | 0 | disable |
There are some known issues on amd64/i386 platform, see the post for detail.
If you want to modify the configurations later, please use:
$ sudo adsb-box.fr24feedcli --reconfigureAfter finished the setup, restart the service
$ sudo snap restart adsb-box.fr24feedUsername and serial of openskyd-feeder are optional. If you don't set them, you can change them later.
$ sudo snap set adsb-box opensky-network.username=[USERNAME] opensky-network.serial=[SERIAL]Restart openskyd-feeder to apply the configurations
$ sudo snap restart adsb-box.openskydDue to the limitation of the configuration mechanism, users have to configure the Plane Finder client through its web interface.
http://your-device-ip:30053/ and follow the instructions to fill in fields.Beast, receiver type to Network, IP address to localhost and Port number to 30005.sudo snap set adsb-box plane-finder.enable-log=1 to enable and change 1 to 0 to disable it.For BEAST/AVR/AVRMLAT, you have a costomized port, use the commands to set.
$ snap set adsb-box adsbexchange.receiverport=[PORTNUM]
$ snap restart adsb-box.adsbexchange-netcatFor MLAT, you need to set the location (see the snap settings section) and feeder name.
$ snap set adsb-box adsbexchange.username=[FEEDER]
$ snap restart adsb-box.adsbexchange-mlatRadarBox only provides the feeder for Raspberry Pi platform (armhf) officially. So, it's not available on x86/amd64 platforms. Before setup, make sure the service is running correctly, then claim your station at the webpage
$ snap services adsb-box.rbfeeder
Service Startup Current Notes
adsb-box.rbfeeder enabled active -
$ adsb-box.rbfeedercli --showkeyCopy your sharing key to the field and claim it.
To enable MLAT client, you need to set the location (see the snap settings section). The program will get the feeder name from the configuration file of rbfeeder.
Read the document for more information.
This step is used to program the serial numbers in the EEPROM of dongles. The serial numbers will be provided to dump1090 and dump978 later.
It would be easier to provision dongles one by one. If you find that the serial (SN) is not 00000001, you can skip this step.
# run rtl-sdr tools within the snap
$ sudo snap run --shell adsb-box.dump1090
(in-snap)$ cd $SNAP
# list dongles
(in-snap)$ rtl_test -t
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001
...
# set serial number to a 8 digit number, eg 10900001 or 09780001
# -d for index, -s for serial
(in-snap)$ rtl_eeprom -d 0 -s 10900001
# unplug the dongle and plug another one
# re-do rtl_test and rtl_eeprom commands
# remember to use a different serial for the second dongle
(in-snap)$ exitReplace serials with yours set in the previous step. In this example, dongle 10900001 is for dump1090 and dongle 09780001 is for dump978.
$ sudo snap set adsb-box receiver.dump1090.serial=10900001
$ sudo snap set adsb-box receiver.dump978.serial=09780001
$ sudo adsb-box.piaware-config uat-receiver-type sdrConnect both dongles and their cables and antennas.
$ sudo snap restart adsb-box$ snap services adsb-boxUAT in the legend list.adsb-box.fr24uat-feed-status to check fr24uat-feed status.Use a web browser to open the built-in web pages. The url would be http://your-device-ip:8080/
There are two main pages: one is provided by dump1090 and another is for statistics graphs.
Use adsb-box.piaware-status to check the stuats of dump1090, piaware, faup1090, and fa-mlat-client. Due to the security limitations, the output result is not totally correct.
Use snap services adsb-box to check the overview of adsb-box services.
If fr24feed is configured correctly, you can find the web here http://your-device-ip:8754/. Another CLI tool fr24feed-status can show a summary. Here is an example output.
$ adsb-box.fr24feedcli
FR24 Feeder/Decoder Process is running
FR24 Stats Timestamp: 2019-05-31 00:00:00
FR24 Link: connected [UDP]
FR24 Radar: T-RXYZ99
FR24 Tracked AC: 1
Receiver: connected (813 MSGS/0 SYNC)Check the pfclient built-in web at http://your-device-ip:30053/.
Use $ sudo adsb-box.rtltest to run the rtl_test utility.
You can use it to do PPM error measurement (-p) or other tests. Use -h to show the help messages.
Snapd will refresh snaps automatically by default. If you want to do it manually, use this command:
$ sudo snap refresh adsb-boxWhen upgrading, snapd will clone the files, including configuration files and logs, for the new revision. It's not necessary to perform backup or restore operations for upgrading.
Configuration files and log files are store at /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/, To backup your configurations, you can archive the whole directory, or just pick some of files.
# snap settings
$ snap get -d adsb-box $HOME/snap-set.json
# dump1090
$ sudo cp /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/dump1090-fa.conf $HOME
# piaware
$ sudo cp -a /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/piaware $HOME
# fr24feed
$ sudo cp /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/fr24feed.ini $HOME
# opensky feeder
$ sudo cp -a /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/openskyd $HOME
# plane finder
$ sudo cp -a /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/pfclient/pfclient-config.json $HOME
# collectd
$ sudo cp -a /var/snap/adsb-box/common/collectd $HOMEAlternatively, create a snapshot of the snap data and configuration with:
$ sudo snap save adsb-boxThis creates a new snapshot (zip archive) under /var/lib/snapd/snapshots/ directory. It can be restored at any time with snap restore <id> command. Existing snapshots can be listed with snap saved.
To restore the settings, copy the file to the /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/
# snap settings. sorry, there's no easy way to restore them.
$ cat $HOME/snap-set.json
### use "$ snap set adsb-box KEY=value" to restore your settings then
# restore configuration files
$ sudo cp $HOME/dump1090-fa.conf /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/
$ sudo cp -a $HOME/piaware /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/
$ sudo cp $HOME/fr24feed.ini /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/
$ sudo cp -a $HOME/openskyd /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/
$ sudo mkdir /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/pfclient
$ sudo cp $HOME/pfclient-config.json /var/snap/adsb-box/<rev>/pfclient/
$ sudo cp -a $HOME/collectd /var/snap/adsb-box/common/
# restart services
$ sudo snap restart adsb-boxTo remove this snap
$ sudo snap remove adsb-boxPlease use the github issues page to report any problems and suggestions.