Manual for receiving ADSB data on Raspberry Pi

This guide will help you to receive ADSB data with your Raspberry Pi. Make sure you fulfill all prerequisites. If you encounter problems, see the 'Helpful links' section at the end of this guide.

Prerequisites

• Buy an ADSB receiver usb stick and antenna
• Install an image on your Raspberry pi like 'Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit)'
• Find out the ip address of your pi and open a SSH connection to your pi

Set up Raspberry Pi for ADSB data

1. Install readsb by wiedehopf to decode ADSB data

   sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - https://github.com/wiedehopf/adsb-scripts/raw/master/readsb-install.sh)"

2. Set latitude/longitude of antenna (use online lat/long finder websites to locate the position of your antenna like this website)

   sudo readsb-set-location <your-latitude> <your-longitude>

3. Set initial gain for your decoder (you can adjust the value later to get the best reception)

   sudo readsb-gain 43.9

4. If you use an rtl-sdr v4 stick, you need to install additional drivers (otherwise skip this step), go to this site and run the commands at 'Alternative Debian Package Installation Method'

5. Install tar1090 as a simple web interface for viewing your adsb data in a browser

   sudo bash -c "$(wget -nv -O - https://github.com/wiedehopf/tar1090/raw/master/install.sh)"

6. Restart your Raspberry Pi

   sudo reboot

7. Open a web browser and go to: http://<ip-address-of-your-pi>/tar1090. You should see planes on a map. If not jump to the links in the help section.

8. Optional: Install tool graphs1090 to view statistics for your ADSB data

   sudo bash -c "$(curl -L -o - https://github.com/wiedehopf/graphs1090/raw/master/install.sh)"

Contribute to ADSB sites

There are many sites to choose from, follow the instructions on those sites like on airplanes.live

Install enhanced web interface

If you have a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5, you can install an enhanced web interface like The Beluga Project. Go to the install section and execute this command on your Pi.

Adjust gain value

To get the best reception, you probably need to adjust the gain value. Visit wiedehopf's guide here or read through this excellent article from tuxrunner here (german only).

Helpful links

• Wiki with helpful information for setting up and using an ADSB feeder: https://github.com/wiedehopf/adsb-scripts/wiki/Automatic-installation-for-readsb
• Readsb on Github: https://github.com/wiedehopf/readsb
• Tar1090 on Github: https://github.com/wiedehopf/tar1090
• Graphs1090 on Github: https://github.com/wiedehopf/graphs1090
• Optimizing gain: https://github.com/wiedehopf/adsb-wiki/wiki/Optimizing-gain
• Tuxrunner ADSB: https://www.tuxrunner.de/2022/06/29/ads-b-luftraumueberwachung-mit-raspberry-pi/