Category: Raspberry Pi

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:

Raspberry Pi 3B (x1, required)

The Raspberry Pi will be our microcontroller (This also works with other models, just not the Zero or the Pico; you can see FlightAware’s compatibility list here)

Buy Now for $184

ADS-B Dongle (x1, required)

This will pick up ADS-B signals from nearby aircraft.

Buy Now for $25

MicroSD Card (at least 8GB, x1, required)

The Raspberry Pi will be our microcontroller.

Buy Now for $7

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

PiAware status (FlightAware)

SkyAware Map (FlightAware)

Data sharing Page (FlightAware)

Flight map (tar1090) (ADS-B Exchange)

Status Page (FlightRadar24)

Data sharing page (FlightRadar24)
Sunday, October 2, 2022, 10:01 PM (GMT+0000)
How to turn your Raspberry Pi into a WiFi router using OpenWrt
In this guide, I will be turning a Raspberry Pi into an OpenWrt router. This is good for travel, and it can connect to VPN servers to give you secure VPN internet.

What will you need?

Here is a list of items you will need:
Step 1: Bake the Pi

First, we need to install OpenWrt on the board. To do that, put the MicroSD card into the MicroSD card reader, then plug the MicroSD card reader into the computer.

Now install the Raspberry Pi Imager.

Once that is done, download the proper firmware from this site. Then, once you have the Raspberry Pi Imager open, select, click “Choose OS”. Then scroll down and click “Use Custom”, then select the location of the firmware that you downloaded from the OpenWrt Wiki.

Click “Select Drive”, then click the drive of the SD card reader.

Step 2: Connect to OpenWrt via SSH

Now, plug the ethernet cable into your Raspberry Pi, then plug the other end into your computer. Open Command Prompt, then run:
```
BATCH

ssh root@192.168.1.1
```
On the fingerprint prompt, type “yes”.

Step 3: Setting a password

When we used SSH to log in to the OpenWrt session, notice that it did not prompt us for a password. Super insecure. To set one, run the command. This is also how you change the password on any Linux device:
```
ASH SHELL

passwd root
```
Follow the prompts.

Step 4: Backing up all of the config files

Run all these commands, in order:
```
ASH SHELL

cd /etc/config/
cp firewall firewall.bk
cp wireless wireless.bk
cp dhcp dhcp.bk
cp network network.bk
```
Step 5: Netwok Configuration Settings

Run these commands. I hooked mine up to the LAN interface, if you want to use Wi-Fi, follow the official documentation. These will configure OpenWrt to connect to your network.
```
ASH SHELL

uci set network.lan.ipaddr=192.168.2.2
uci set network.lan.gateway=192.168.2.1
uci set network.lan.dns=192.168.2.1

uci commit
service network restart
```
Step 6: Partitioning

Create a partition to store data. We will install fdisk and use it:
```
opkg update
opkg install fdisk
fdisk /dev/mmcblk0
```
To create two partitions (one for /home and one for /srv), use the following fdisk commands.
- p to print the current partition table.
- n then e to create an extended partition.
- n then l to create the first partition. When asked for the last sector, type +2G to make it 2GB large.
- n then l to create the second partition. When asked for the last sector, leave empty to fill the remaining space.
- w to write the partition table.
And reboot your Raspberry Pi!

Step 7: Creating a filesystem on our partitions

Run these commands:
```
ASH SHELL

mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p5
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p6
```
Now we can mount the first partition at /home and the second at /srv. Both are on a flash SD card, the noatime flag is important.
```
ASH SHELL

opkg update
opkg install block-mount
block detect | uci import fstab
uci set fstab.@mount[2].target=/home
uci set fstab.@mount[2].enabled=1
uci set fstab.@mount[2].options=noatime
uci set fstab.@mount[3].target=/srv
uci set fstab.@mount[3].enabled=1
uci set fstab.@mount[3].options=noatime
uci commit
```
Create the srv mount point, as the other one already exists.
```
ASH SHELL

mkdir -p /srv
```
Mount both partitions.
```
ASH SHELL

block mount
```
Step 8: Set the hostname
```
ASH SHELL

uci set system.@system[0].hostname='thetechmaker-good.hi.testing'
uci commit
```
Step 9: Remove unused packages

OpenWrt was originally a Linux distribution for routers, so it might come with useless networking software you’ve never heard of. You can remove this with the following commands:
```
ASH SHELL

opkg remove --force-remove --force-removal-of-dependent-packages ppp ppp-mod-pppoe odhcpd-ipv6only dnsmasq hostapd-common luci luci-ssl-openssl luci-base lua luci-app-firewall luci-lib-ip luci-lib-jsonc luci-lib-nixio luci-proto-ipv6 luci-proto-ppp luci-theme-bootstrap uhttpd uhttpd-mod-ubus
```
Step 10: Done!
Tuesday, December 28, 2021, 8:46 PM (GMT+0000)
How to set up a Static IP to the Raspberry Pi
If you don’t want the router to keep assigning a new IP to the pi every now and then, then set a static IP. Image Credit

How to do it

1: First, Check if a service is enabled:
```
BASH

sudo service dhcpcd status
```
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1.1: If it is, you are good to go. If not, run the commands:
```
BASH

sudo service dhcpcd start
sudo systemctl enable dhcpcd
```
2: Run command:
```
BASH

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf
```
3: Uncomment (remove the # that is at the beginning) the following lines:
```
CONFIG

interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.0.4/24
static routers=192.168.0.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1
```
3: Change the line static ip-address=192.168.0.4/24 to what you want your new static IP to be. static ip_address= proceeds, /24 follows. It should look like this. NOTE: Your IP has to start with 192.168 for this to work:
```
CONFIG

static ip-address=[Your IP]/24
```
4: Press CTRL+ALT+X

5: Hit Y

6: Reboot:
```
BASH

sudo reboot
```
7: Now, on a Windows machine on the same network, open up Command Prompt and type the batch code. NOTE: THE -t FLAG IS NOT REQUIRED:
```
WINDOWS BATCH

ping [YOUR PI'S NEW STATIC IP] -t
```
8: Now wait for a response to test if it’s working

DONE
Monday, June 28, 2021, 12:38 AM (GMT+0000)
Block Ads using AdGuard Home on the Pi
If you want to block ads, then AdGuard Home is for you. AdGuard Home is an ad-blocker. But this ad-blocker would work network-wide.

We recommend a static IP for this tutorial

Items you will need
- A Raspberry Pi
- It’s peripherals
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Installing AdGuard

This will show you how to install it.

This is simple because we are downloading a compiled version of it.

1: Upgrade all our apps and some of the system:
```
BASH

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade
```
2: Download a compressed version of it:
```
BASH

wget https://static.adguard.com/adguardhome/release/AdGuardHome_linux_arm.tar.gz
```
3: Create an extracted version of this that we can actually work with:
```
BASH

tar xvf AdGuardHome_linux_arm.tar.gz
```
4: We don’t need the compressed version of this because we already have an extracted version that we are going to work with. Since we are can’t (and not going to) work with this one, lets delete it:
```
BASH

rm AdGuardHome_linux_arm.tar.gz
```
5: Lets move in to our newly downloaded and extracted software:
```
BASH

cd AdGuardHome
```
6: Finally, we can install AdGuard on our system as a Startup Service:
```
BASH

sudo ./AdGuardHome -s install
```
7: Once installation completes, you should see a message in your command line.

Accessing AdGuard via the web portal / Setting it up

For this stage, you will need you and your Pi to be on the same network.

1: Navigate to the portal. Go to your Pi’s IP address (to find out what it is, run hostname -I OR sudo hostname -I), followed by :3000. It should look like this:
```
URL

http://[IP ADDRESS]:3000/
```
2: You should get a screen like the one below. Click Get Started to proceed with the setup steps:

Click “GET STARTED”

3: Just race through the steps. But make sure you actually read them. If it complains that a port is in use, try a different one. I strongly recommend you have a Static IP Address set up on the Pi. NOTE: IN ORDER TO MAKE THIS NETWORK-WIDE, YOU HAVE TO SET UP “ROUTER” AS A DEVICE. IF YOU ALREADY ARE AT THE DASHBOARD, CLICK “SETUP GUIDE” IN THE MENU.

Done

1: You now have a full-functional AdGuard Home installation on a Pi. If you already configured devices on AdGuard Home, or you made it network-wide, you should already see stats.
Saturday, June 19, 2021, 3:31 PM (GMT+0000)
Getting started with the Raspberry Pi
This guide will show you how to get started with the Pi. Image credit

Step 1: Etcher

First, download and install Etcher.

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Step 2: Download and flash

Now, download this and extract it. You should get an ISO file in return.

Now, open Etcher and select your drive in the “STEP 2: SELECT DRIVE” area.

Select the ISO in the “STEP 1: SELECT IMAGE” area.

Click “FLASH”

Step 3: Final Step

Now, insert the essentials (Display, keyboard, etc. (NOT THE POWER CORD)), as well as the sd card. Now you can go ahead and plug in the power cord. Wait for a few seconds. If you see the green LED labeled “ACT” flash for a second, power on your monitor. The setup will guide you. Follow the setup wizard.

Step 4: Done!

You are done! Here are some commands you should run in the terminal. You don’t have to, but I recommend you do.
```
_BASH

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
```
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, June 16, 2021, 1:12 AM (GMT+0000)