Using the Raspberry Pi to Feed to FlightRadar24, FlightAware, and ADS-B Exchange

In this post, I will be showing you how to start feeding flight data to three services: Flightradar24, ADS-B Exchange, and FlightAware. This post may be helpful to some of you who want to run your own flight feeder, and can’t tell which is a better service to feed to.

The main benefit of running your own Raspberry Pi flight tracker is that you will get paid accounts for free. For example, you will get a free FlightAware enterprise account, a subscription valued at around $89.95 a month. FlightRadar24 will also give you a free business plan, which costs $49.99 a month. If you also want to support non-proprietary websites, you can also give flight data to ADS-B Exchange.

What you will need (hardware)

Below are the parts you will need:

Flashing our PiAware image

To begin the installation, we will have to first start feeding to FlightAware. To begin, first, create an account at their website, or log in at their website.

Now download the PiAware image (direct download for 7.2), and download Etcher. Then flash Etcher to your device using the PiAware ISO.

Note that you must select the correct drive, as this will erase your drive.

Configuring the ISO

If you want to enable SSH on your PiAware, or you have a wireless network configuration that you want to set (this will be typically everyone, unless you are using an ethernet cable on your Raspberry Pi), you must follow the below steps to configure the new operating system to use your configurations. You can refer to the configurations at FlightAware’s Website, or you could not set a default configuration, and once the PiAware has booted up, configure it using Bluetooth.

Booting it up

Now, you can put it all together! Connect your ADS-B antenna to your Raspberry Pi via USB, and then put the SD card through the back. Then, plug in the HDMI cable (and ethernet if you are going to be using it), and power it on.

Now, once the Raspberry Pi has booted up, you should see a screen showing the PiAware Status. If you did this correctly, it should be connected. You will also need to connect a keyboard if you do not know your PiAware’s IP address. If it asks you for credentials, the default is pi for username, and raspberry for password.

Setting up the FlightAware feeder

Now we get to the fun part! Now, we set up the feeders. Let’s start off with the FlightAware feeder. Since we flashed the custom ISO file, FlightAware is going to be installed, just not set linked to an account. Create a basic plan FlightAware account at their website if you don’t already have one, and claim your PiAware. Once that is set up, make sure you are connected to the same network as your PiAware. It will come in handy for later. Once you do that, make sure you are still on the status page on your PiAware, click Alt+F2 (or whatever key it says to press to open the terminal and run commands). If it asks you for credentials, the default is pi for username, and raspberry for the password (unless it is set otherwise, of course). Now run the following command:

BASH

hostname -I

This should return your Pi’s IP address. Now, on another device, navigate to your IP address on the SkyAware page. For example, if my Pi’s IP address is 192.168.1.1, I will navigate to the following website:

URL

http://192.168.1.1/skyaware

After that, you should see a map with all the aircraft you are tracking. You have successfully set up FlightAware! After some time, your basic account will be upgraded, and you can view your ADS-B statistics.

Setting up FlightRadar24

Now, open the terminal and run the following command:

BASH

sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - http://repo.feed.flightradar24.com/install_fr24_rpi.sh)"

You will then be asked some questions about antenna position, fr24 sharing key, and other things.

Now, we need to configure FlightRadar24. To begin, sign up for an account at their official website. Note that all you need to do is sign up for a free account and do not select any paid plans. This is because your account will automatically be upgraded at the end of this tutorial.

Run the following command to enter configuration:

BASH

sudo fr24feed --signup

You will be asked questions about you and the antenna that you are using. Answer the questions similar to the ones below:

• Email Address: Enter the same email address you used to sign up for FlightRadar24. This is the same email address that your sharing key will be sent to, and the same email address that your account on will be upgraded.
• FR24 Sharing key: If you have never set up a feeder or have never got a sharing key from FlightRadar24, leave this blank. If not, enter your FlightRadar24 sharing key.
• Participating in MLAT Calculations: Answer yes, unless you know you don’t want it or need it.
• Autoconfiguration for dump1090 (if asked): Yes
• Latitude & Longitude: Use a website like latlong.net to find your latitude and longitude. It is best to be as accurate as possible. Enter this question in the form of XX.XXXX and XX.XXXX (leave out any extra numbers).
• Altitude: This is your altitude from sea level. You can use whatismyelevation.com to find your altitude.
• Receiver Selection: If you are using a DVB-T (the type I put in the parts list) stick then I strongly recommend option 1. If you encounter an error regarding dump1090 in this tutorial, restart the tutorial and click option 4. If you do not have a DVB-T stick, check out your other options.

• Dump1090 Arguments (if asked): Leave this blank and hit enter.
• Raw Data Feed: No, unless you know what you are doing.
• Basestation Data feed: No unless you know what you are doing.
• Logfile Mode: 48-hour, 24 rotation.
• Logfile Path: This will be the path that the log file is saved to. If you want to use a custom path for logs, put it here. If not, stick with the default and hit enter.

FlightRadar24’s configuration should return that everything is correctly set up. The program should also give you a sharing key. Save this key as you may need it later in the future.

To begin feeding ADS-B data to FlightRadar24, enter the command below. Note that MLAT or general feeding might take some time to show up. For me, it took 30 minutes before the feeder was actively sending data to FlightRadar24:

BASH

sudo systemctl restart fr24feed

You can go to the data page and view your feeder statistics. If you want to access the web UI for FlightRadar24, then go to your Raspberry Pi’s IP address (remember, you can access it with sudo hostname -I), and access it via a web browser on port 8754, unless set otherwise. For example, my Raspberry Pi’s IP address is 192.168.1.252, so I access it by using http://192.168.1.252:8754.

Also, it is important to note that it may take some time for the receiver to start working and sending data. For me, it took 30 minutes before flight data was sent to the services I was feeding to.

Setting up MLAT for FlightAware

If you want to set up MLAT configurations on FlightAware (we highly recommend doing so, it can increase the amount of positions seen), then follow our steps.

First, go to your FlightAware data sharing page and clcik the gear icon next to the nearest airport, labeled in orange.

Then, enable MLAT and Mode S Alliteration. Put in the same details as you did for FlightRadar24, or new details if you have to.

Setting up ADS-B Exchange

First, we need to download ADS-B Exchange. You can do that with the following command:

BASH

sudo bash -c "$(wget -nv -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adsbxchange/adsb-exchange/master/install.sh)"

You will be asked a couple questions. For the first one, type in a random username, but note that this username will be public. Next, enter the details it asks for, and it will begin configuring. Note that this may take a while.

Next, run the following command:

BASH

sudo bash /usr/local/share/adsbexchange/git/install-or-update-interface.sh

The script should output a sharing key. You can use this to view your feeder statistics at the official website of ADS-B Exchange. You should also be able to access your web interface on the adsbx page. This will be your Raspberry Pi’s IP address, with /adsbx at the end. For me, the URL was http://192.168.1.252/adsbx.

Aftermath