Radarcape:Software Features

Radarcape/Air!Squitter Software Features

The Radarcape provides output of data in several levels:

• true raw data
• decoded data on a per frame basis (e.g., port 30003)
• decoded data on summary basis (e.g., aircraftlist.json, deltadb.txt)
• web browser support (aircraft list, 2D map)
• 3D output (live KML data)

Web Based Aircraft Table

A list of received aircraft can be fetched via a build-in Web server. This list can be sorted ascending and descending in each column by simply clicking on the arrows. The distances are automatically calculated from aircraft positions and your GPS coordinates.

Radarcape Live Aircraft Table

Name	Description	Notes
Time (hh:mm:ss:ns)	Time of last message received from the aircraft
ICAO	24 bit ICAO hex ID unique identification of aircraft
Flight	the Call Sign as it is transmitted from the aircraft itself
Lon	Longitude
Lat	Latitude
Src	Source of Lat/Lon: A=ADSB M=MLAT
GndAir	Aircraft is on ground (identified with GND bit or DF-18 messages) or airborne
Alt	Altitude (feet) at 1013 mb
VRate	Vertical rate in feet/min
Speed	Ground Speed in knots
Track	Direction that the aircraft is travelling in degrees true
Cat	Cat A0..C5 are transmitted by aircraft in Mode-S messages
Orig	Origin of flight	taken from database, perform Maintenance -> Update flight routes database
Destin	Destination of flight	taken from database, perform Maintenance -> Update flight routes database
Oper	Flight operator	taken from database, perform Maintenance -> Update flight routes database
Type	Aircraft Type	taken from database, perform Maintenance -> Update flight routes database
Reg	Registration of aircraft	taken from database, perform Maintenance -> Update base station database
Squawk	Squawk code as it is transmitted by aircraft in Mode-S messages
Country	Country that the aircraft is registered for, indicated through the upper bits in the ICAO hex id
Distance	Distance to the observer if its Lat, Lon is either valid by manual entry in configuration or determined by GPS
Trust	Number of highly trustable DF-11 or DF-17/18 messages per aircraft. Used to desinguish ghosts, as true aircraft quickly raise this number while ghosts stay at 1
Track Size	Length of the track in 2D 3D display in 5sec sequence track points

Live 2D Output

All received aircrafts with a known position are displayed on a 2D map in your Web browser.

Radarcape Live 2D Display

Live 3D Output (KML/KMZ Output)

Google Earth can be attached to the Radarcape via KML/KMZ files.

Google Earth with live ADS-B data
An aircraft over Augsburg Airport

A go around in Munich EDDM

DeltaDB Service

The DeltaDB service can be accessed via http://radarcape/deltadb.txt. It outputs a comma separated list of all changes in the internal aircraft list since the last call or a specified time. This is an efficient replacement of port 30003 functionalities.

Aircraft List JSON Service

All data contained in the aircraft list can also be downloaded in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). The file format can be used by other applications to access aircraft list data using the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) protocol.

The Aircraftlist JSON Service can be accessed via http://radarcape/aircraftlist.json.

The JSON output uses abbreviated identifiers for the data fields like below.

Note: Fields for which no data have been received might either be absent from the JSON, or set to "null". You should not expect all fields to be always available

Abbreviation	Description	Additional Information
uti	Time of last message: Seconds since UNIX epoch
ns	Time of last message: Nanoseconds since Second epoch
hex	ICAO Mode-S or Flarm ID, in Hex format	Upper case for Mode-S and Flarm, lowercase for TIS-B
fli	Flight Identification	from ADS-B or BDS2,0; "?" when A/C reports loss of interface
ava	Flight data: available sources
lat	Flight data: Latitude (-90 to 90º)
lon	Flight data: Longitude (-180 to 180º)
spd	Flight data: Ground Speed (kt)
trk	Flight data: True track (0-360º)
vrt	Flight data: Vertical Rate (ft/min)
alt	Flight data: Barometric uncalibrated altitude (ft)
gda	G for on ground, A for airborne (if TIS-B then lowercase g or a)
cat	Aircraft category
org	Origin
des	Destination
opr	Operator
typ	Type
reg	Registration
squ	Squawk
cou	Country
dis	Distance (km or NM depending on configuration)
tru	Trustlevel
dbm	Approximate signal level in dBm
src	Source flight data
lla	Age of last Position (s)
tmp	Temperature (ºC)
wsp	Wind Speed (kt)
wdi	Wind from Direction (0-360º)
mop	ADS-B MOPS version	null = no ADS-B frames received, 0 = default for unconfirmed version
spi	SPI (Squawk ident)
alr	0=no alert, 1=temporary (Squawk changed previous 18s) 2=mode-s alert 3=permanent (Squawk 7500,7600,7700)	Since Mode-S DF4,5,20,21 do not distinguish between temporary and permanent alert, the value 2 is used to mean one or the other and happens for non ADS-B A/C targets
ias	IAS	ADS-B only. Usually not reported in fully operational A/C as Ground Speed is prefered
tas	TAS	ADS-B only. Usually not reported in fully operational A/C as Ground Speed is prefered
hdgm	Magnetic Heading	ADS-B only. Usually not reported in fully operational A/C as Ground Speed is prefered
hdgt	True Heading	Calculated with declination when Magnetic Heading and Location are available
qnhs	Selected QNH
alts	Selected Altitude
hdgs	Selected Heading
altg	GNSS elipsoidal altitude (ft)	from ADS-B values only, either directly reported or from baro+difference
pic	Asterix PIC	EUROCONTROL-SPEC-0149-12 (ASTERIX Cat 021 Ed 2.4) Page 28
tcm	TCAS 0=not operational, 1: operational, 2: alert
ape	Autopilot engaged
sil	ADS-B SIL
sda	ADS-B SDA
nacp	ADS-B NACp

Raw Data Streaming to Network (TCP and UDP)

The binary and AVR raw data formats are identical to those of the Mode-S Beast and documented in Mode-S_Beast:Data_Output_Formats. For the Radarcape, there is one additional message that contains timestamp and FPGA configuration information, which is triggered by each 1PPS from the GPS module.

TCP or UDP port 10002

This is a CRC-checked mirror of the data as it comes from the FPGA, DF-11, DF-17 and DF-18. Includes Mode-A/C data with respect to the configuration setting.

TCP or UDP port 10003

Binary formatted raw data with all Modes-S data formats CRC-prechecked (eliminates transmission of the erroneous frames, reduces load on the network). All data from the FPGA is disassembled into messages and verified if correct.

TCP or UDP port 10004

Binary formatted raw data, pre-checked DF-11, DF-17 and DF-18 only: minimum load for the transmission path but contains most information. No Mode-A/C data.

TCP or UDP port 10005

Binary formatted raw data, only raw data frames of those aircraft where the location (latitude and longitude) is unknown. Used for special MLAT purposes. No Mode-A/C data.

Port 30003 Service (TCP, UDP, and USB-serial)

Port 30003 style output (e.g., for use with SBS Plotter) can be provided without the need of an additional application on your PC.

The Radarcape provides this data stream on TCP port 30003, UDP port 30003, and the serial USB interface.

The format of the data output can be found in this document
The date in Port 30003 messages is always the Linux system date.
The timestamp instead is a GPS timestamp when the configuration is set to GPS timestamps and system time when the Radarcape operates in legacy 12 MHz time stamp mode.

Due to the low efficiency and high processor load caused by this protocol, please do not use Port 30003 unless really necessary.

A better way of getting the same data is the deltaDB service.

On Linux, a very simple method how to access the TCP stream of Port 30003 is socat:

socat - TCP:radarcape:80

USB Serial Port Data Access

While some features existed before, this feature is more reliable on Debian 10 . See Linux Distribution Versions History.

The device supports one selectable data stream out of following sources on a virtual serial port via the back side USB port:

• Raw FGPA data - including Mode-A/C data
• CRC pre-checked Mode-S with Mode-A/C data
• Mode-S Frame types DF-11, DF-17 and DF-18 only
• Mode-S Frames of all aircraft without a known location
• Port 30003 format

The output can be selected in the configuration menu. Due to processor load, it is recommended to keep this feature disabled when not required.

The setting can be changed on the fly and will apply without the need to reboot the device.

Note: On the Radarcape of 1st Generation two serial ports appear on the USB interface. One of them is a hardware serial port for debug

Note: When powering on, the external +5 V power supply MUST be connected prior to connecting the USB cable

The serial port uses a standard USB class driver and should install automatically in any Operating System that is currently supported.