Integration with RTL‐SDR based ADS‐B receivers

WebUI settings

Generic Dump1090 connection

1. Connect your SoftRF unit with an USB cable to your Raspberry Pi based ADS-B receiver ;

2. Make sure that USB connection is established and cp210x driver has been attached:

    pi@raspberrypi:~ $ dmesg | grep ttyUSB
    [86899.192314] usb 1-1.5.3: cp210x converter now attached to ttyUSB0
    pi@raspberrypi:~ $

3. Set up connection baud rate onto 38400:

    pi@raspberrypi:~ $ stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 38400
    pi@raspberrypi:~ $

4. Test that the SoftRF unit is feeding data of aerial traffic nearby :

    pi@raspberrypi:~ $ head -4 /dev/ttyUSB0
    *8ED99C19580D1157E108842F7152;
    *8ED99C19580D14B88CD1F4AF478B;
    *8ED99C19093C7139E43C797557AD;
    *8ED99C19990001067004008ACCE1;
    pi@raspberrypi:~ $

5. Check if dump1090 is already up and running:

    pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ps -a | grep dump1090
    13892 pts/2    00:00:08 dump1090
    pi@raspberrypi:~ $

If not - bring up your own one:

    pi@raspberrypi:~ $ dump1090 --net-only --interactive
    Fri Dec 22 10:05:51 2017 UTC  dump1090-mutability  starting up.
    Net-only mode, no RTL device or file open.

6. Start feeding data to the dump1090 :

    pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /dev/ttyUSB0 | nc 127.0.0.1 30001

7. When everything is fine your dump1090 text UI should have a look like this:

8. Open up a web browser and go to your Raspberry Pi's IP and port number 8080:

Stratux

1. Connect your SoftRF unit with an USB cable to your Stratux ADS-B receiver ;

2. Alter your SoftRF built-in USB-to-Serial converter's "Product ID" string from default value onto the custom one: ¹

    root@raspberrypi:~# cp210x-program --write-cp210x -m 10C4:EA60 --set-product-string="DIY SoftRF"

¹ - It is not recommended to alter product ID string of TTGO T-Beam board because they use OTP (“One-Time Programmable”) CP2104 chip.

3. Create new SoftRF udev rule and restart udev service:

    root@raspberrypi:~# cat /etc/udev/rules.d/99-softrf.rules
    # SoftRF Standalone (NodeMCU or DoIt ESP32 devkit with CP2102 chip)
    SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", ATTRS{product}=="DIY SoftRF", SYMLINK+="softrf"
    # TTGO T-Beam (ESP32 with OTP CP2104 chip)
    SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", ATTRS{product}=="CP2104 USB to UART Bridge Controller", SYMLINK+="softrf"

    root@raspberrypi:~# /etc/init.d/udev restart

4. Patch or manually edit your Stratux source code to match this diff output:

    diff --git a/main/ping.go b/main/ping.go
    index 2039cfa..384898a 100644
    --- a/main/ping.go
    +++ b/main/ping.go
    @@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ func initPingSerial() bool {

            if _, err := os.Stat("/dev/ping"); err == nil {
                    device = "/dev/ping"
    +       } else if _, err := os.Stat("/dev/softrf"); err == nil {
    +               device = "/dev/softrf"
    +               baudrate = int(38400)
            } else {
                    log.Printf("No suitable Ping device found.\n")
                    return false

5. Re-build and re-install /usr/bin/gen_gdl90 binary. Restart stratux service.

6. Open up the Stratux Settings web page in a browser and enable Ping ADS-B option:

7. Proceed into Traffic menu section and "Voila!":