Radarcape:Software Features

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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 Minimum required ADS-B version (MOPS) 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 Uppercase for Mode-S and Flarm, lowercase for TIS-B
fli Flight Identification From ADS-B or BDS2,0 as specified on ICAO Annex 10, Volume IV, Table 3-9; "?" when A/C reports loss of interface
ava Flight data: available sources One letter per available source. A=ADSB, M=Jetvision MLAT, F=FlightAware MLAT, O=OGN, L=FLARM
src Flight data: Source The current preferred/selected source
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 Airborne/Ground G for on ground, A for airborne (if TIS-B then lowercase g or a)
cat Aircraft category As reported in ADS-B or FLARM. See table below.
org Origin Origin airport from Flighroutes database
dst Destination Destination airport from Flighroutes database
opr Operator Operator from Basestation database
typ Type Type from Basestation database
reg Registration Registration from Basestation database or if not available automatically deduced for some countries with known mapping (FR, BE, PT, CH, US and CA)
squ Mode-A (Squawk) While this is a Mode-A code, it can only be correlated in Mode-S targets. Mode-A or Mode-AC targets are not displayed in decoded formats
cou Country According to Mode-S allocation block
dis Distance (km or NM depending on configuration) To the Receiver GNSS location
tru Trust count Number of Mode-S frames successfully decoded from this A/C. Statistically it's possible that for a very low count the A/C does not actually exist
dbm Approximate signal level in dBm
lla Age of last Position (s)
tmp Temperature (ºC) 0 Synthetic value calculated from several fields. Might not be always reliable
wsp Wind Speed (kt) 0 Synthetic value calculated from several fields. Might not be always reliable
wdi Wind from Direction (0-360º) 0 Synthetic value calculated from several fields. Might not be always reliable
mop ADS-B MOPS version null=no ADS-B frames received, 0=default for unconfirmed version, 1 or 2 for corresponding confirmed version
spi SPI (Squawk ident)
alr Alert status 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 either 1 or 3 and happens for non ADS-B A/C targets
ias IAS 0 Usually not reported in fully operational A/C as Ground Speed is preferred
tas TAS 0 Usually not reported in fully operational A/C as Ground Speed is preferred
hdgm Magnetic Heading 0 Usually not reported in fully operational A/C as Ground Speed is preferred
hdgt True Heading 0 Calculated with declination when Magnetic Heading and Location are available
qnhs Selected QNH 2 Actual value entered by the A/C crew
alts Selected Altitude 2 Actual value entered by the A/C crew
hdgs Selected Heading 2 Actual value entered by the A/C crew
altg GNSS elipsoidal altitude (ft) 0 Either directly reported or from baro+difference
pic Asterix PIC 0 EUROCONTROL-SPEC-0149-12 (ASTERIX Cat 021 Ed 2.4) Page 28
tcm ACAS/TCAS status 0, alert only 2 0=not operational, 1=operational, 2=alert
ape Autopilot engaged 2
sil ADS-B SIL 1
sda ADS-B SDA 2
nacp ADS-B NACp 1

Aircraft categories

Code Type Description
A1 ADS-B Light (< 15500 lbs)
A2 ADS-B Small (15500 >= lbs < 75000)
A3 ADS-B Large (75000 >= lbs < 300000)
A4 ADS-B Large (high vortex)
A5 ADS-B Heavy (>= 300000 lbs)
A6 ADS-B High performance
A7 ADS-B Rotorcraft
B1 ADS-B Glider/Sailplane
B2 ADS-B Lighter than air
B3 ADS-B Parachutist/Skydiver
B4 ADS-B Ultralight/Hang glider/Paraglider
B6 ADS-B UAV
B7 ADS-B Space/Trans-atmospheric vehicle
C1 ADS-B Surface vehicle - emergency
C2 ADS-B Surface vehicle - service
C3 ADS-B Obstacle - point
C4 ADS-B Obstacle - clustter
C5 ADS-B Obstacle - line
A0 ADS-B No category information
B0 ADS-B No category information
C0 ADS-B No category information
F0 FLARM None
F1 FLARM Glider/Motor glider
F2 FLARM Tow/Tug plane
F3 FLARM Helicopter/Rotorcraft
F4 FLARM Skydiver
F5 FLARM Skydiver/Drop plane
F6 FLARM Hang glider
F7 FLARM Paraglider
F8 FLARM Aircraft reciprocating
F9 FLARM Aircraft jet turboprop
F11 FLARM Balloon
F12 FLARM Airship
F13 FLARM UAV
F15 FLARM Static

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 do have CRC checked if enabled in FPGA. 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.

SBS Plotter Screenshot

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.