Radarcape:Radarcape Major 2 Feeder Installation

Radarcape Major 2 Feeder Installation

The Radarcape software of Major 2 gives you many new features, like a new web interface, new feeders and new interfaces. See Radarcape:Software_Features_Major2 for more information. You will recognize that there is a ".02", ".02D" or ".02A" at the end of the version string while Major 1 is ".01", ".01D" or ".01A".

As long as not beeing given by default, simply overwrite the given version string in the Configuration - Mainteneance menu with the Radarcape release string you have got from Radarcape support and perform an update. Version 161030 and later will work, earlier ones may need updating to at least this version before. Remember that at the time of writing these lines, the version changes nearly daily, so a version installed before may not be available even the next day.

Enabling Radarcape MLAT

Our Major 2 Release supports our Radarcape MLAT server. Due to the high resolution timestamps it provides high accuracy and smooth tracks of any aircraft within the reception range of at least 3 Radarcape.

Prerequisite:

• You need a Radarcape MLAT key file (mostly zip) from your MLAT server provider. Your MLAT key filename is equal to your MLAT ID

(without the .zip)

• Your GPS antenna must be connected and GPS must be in working state.

Setup procedure:

1. Open Settings - Radarcape MLAT and enter the key exaclty as given. Mind the upper/lower case!
   1. Keep MLAT disabled
   2. MLAT server address is mlat.jetvision.de:10011
   3. Save configuration
2. Open Settings - Radarcape MLAT - Upload Radarcape MLAT Sharing Key
   1. Select the ZIP file
   2. Press Upload and check for the success confirmation
3. Back to Settings - Radarcape MLAT
4. Choose 'enable'
   1. Save configuration

Then go to Status - MLAT and check if you have got a server connection and probably you will already see some incoming MLAT calculations.

Flightradar24 Feeder

Flightradar24 feeder is still in the fully supported version like in Major 1 release. There are no changes, however we don't get back MLAT results from FR24.

FlightAware Feeder

One major difference is that the FlightAware feeder now is realized by installing the official piAware package in the background. The internal HTTP based feeder is obsolete in Major 2 and was removed. This has influence in the installation procedure. Luckily the effort doing has the benefit that Radarcape can now read back MLAT results from this feeder.

The update and even backward step to Major 1 has been done many times but we never know the status of all Radarcapes out in the field and there might be surprises, that is why we recommend the procedure below for updating.
Especially, once you have installed the FlightAware package, Major 1 is not recommended as base. If by any means you need a Major 1 running but you have already piAware in the background, please disable it with the Linux shell command systemctl stop piaware before downgrading.

Note: This installs the feeder part only, and the reverse data path for multilateration data. Parts of the piAware user interface, e.g. the port 8080 HTTP server, will not work when running piAware in the Radarcape environment.

FlightAware Basic installation

1. Download the current piAware 3.3.0 package from FlightAware or from Radarcape server or any later version from FlightAware Server.

   Important! Your Radarcape must have an internet connection while performing the steps described below!

2. Go to Settings - Software Maintenance - Manual File Upload and select the piAware package with the right side Upload and Install, press the [Submit] button below. This will take a while and install some more packages that are fetched from internet.
3. After this, choose Settings - Feeders and enable FlightAware Feeder.
4. You then can go to Status - FlightAware and then see the feeder status. First three of the four fields will be green quickly, while the MLAT often needs some time until it is green. After that has happened you can also see incoming MLAT messages from the piAware feeder. Aircraft localized by FlightAware MLAT will be shown with a green color border and flight path in the 2D maps and with "FlaWa" source in the aircraft list. (BTW, Radarcape MLAT aircraft will show up with a red border and path)

Flightaware Feeder on Angstrom Radarcape

The FlightAware Feeder is not available for Angstrom. Please consider updating to the Debian based firmware if you want to enjoy this feature.
See more information on Radarcape:DebianSupport.

Opensky Network Feeder

Opensky Network feeder is new for the Radarcape, but completly self explaining in the menu.

Planefinder Feeder

It seems that the included HTTP based feeder to Planefinder does no longer work. I did not get any notice and am waiting for some user repsonse.

The feeder package given out by Planefinder was not tested by us and there is no guarantee that it works on Major 2. One successful test was done by one early user, but at the moment I do not support the package officially. The HTTP based feeder of Major 1 release is however still present in the Major 2.