My Attempt at a $115 ADS-B Receiver Build for Foreflight

JoseCuervo said:
I think there is a Foreflight employee who monitors this forum, maybe he can chime in??
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There was one monitoring the original Reddit posts, I _think_ he deleted his (her?) replies.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
There was one monitoring the original Reddit posts, I _think_ he deleted his (her?) replies.
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YEah, he deleted those. Claimed he was just a recruiter looking for dedicated and enthusiastic people to hire into SW engineering.


I thought the Foreflight threads here would get a response from an employee.


In any event, with the Reddit community, as long as no patents/IP were broken, that community would likely lead a revolt....
 
JoseCuervo said:
In any event, with the Reddit community, as long as no patents/IP were broken, that community would likely lead a revolt....
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Not enough people in the community on this project to lead a revolt that would cause any damage.

I've printed a case already for the hardware, but don't have the hardware yet. I really want to figure out a solution with a battery integrated into the case. Not sure what that'll do with the size yet.
 
mikeinbama said:
I do think Foreflight has an interest in Stratus, there are ads right on the Foreflight webpage. As far as doing it myself????Pfffft, I have trouble turning my computer on. Maybe Ill give it a try, Im not overly concerned about FF making it "not work", $115 is chump change when it comes to flying.
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Doesn't look like a {partnership", despite calling it a "partnership". Looks like they are a family owned business and they have a technology agreement with Foreflight and a retail marketing agreement with Sporty's.

https://www.appareo.com/company/about/partnerships/
 
mikeinbama said:
I don't know the answer, but in my 50 years I cant recall a time that a $100 homebrew was allowed to compete with an $800 "certified" anything. I hope I'm wrong and this brings the price down. I think most people would pay say, $250 for the stratus and not worry about the homebrew. I could be totally wrong about this though and I may be one of Jesse's first customers, assuming his isn't $800.:D

Edit: just went to Foreflight's website, the sale of Stratus devices are prominent. I would say that is strong motivation to shut down the homebrew.
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Stratus is not a "certified anything", either. If you look at their website, FreeFlight RANGR integration is also prominent. To kill this off, they'd kill off the RANGR support also. In either case, the Stratus protocol has been reverse engineered by Seattle Avionics, it's not as if it is impossible to emulate that.
 
PA28Flyer said:
Stratus is not a "certified anything", either. If you look at their website, FreeFlight RANGR integration is also prominent. To kill this off, they'd kill off the RANGR support also. In either case, the Stratus protocol has been reverse engineered by Seattle Avionics, it's not as if it is impossible to emulate that.
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I now concede.
 
Built mine today. Took longer to load the software onto the Pi than it did to put the parts together. It connected to my iPad and Foreflight but I was unable to get any towers on the ground. There are only 2 within 20 miles of my house. I'm going to try and fly with it and see if that helps. Cool stuff regardless. The Raspberry Pi is amazing.
 
I got it to write, but it's not connecting via wifi... Ya I'm that dumb.. Any ideas?
 
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Pinstriper said:
I got it to write, but it's not connecting via wifi... Ya I'm that dumb.. Any ideas?
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Is everything hooked up?
  • MicroSD inserted correctly into RPi
  • WiFi module plugged into RPi
  • SDR plugged into RPi

Is the RaspberryPi powered up?

On the tablet/phone/whatever device do you see "stratux" in the list of available WiFi connections?
  • If yes, select it as your WiFi network of choice. Voila! :)
  • If no, it will take more digging. :(
 
Yes, dongle is plugged in, antenna lugged into that, battery plugged into Raspberry, lights came on and blinked. Blue light on dongle is lit.

I'm not showing any wifi connection to Stratux :(

One thing I did that maybe I should t have was deleted everything off the ad card before I wrote the OS onto the SD card. Could that be it?
 
Pinstriper said:
Yes, dongle is plugged in, antenna lugged into that, battery plugged into Raspberry, lights came on and blinked. Blue light on dongle is lit.

I'm not showing any wifi connection to Stratux :(

One thing I did that maybe I should t have was deleted everything off the ad card before I wrote the OS onto the SD card. Could that be it?
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Did you also plug in the small USB wi-fi module?
 
You only need to install one of the images from github - and it sounds as if you've done this.

The "blue thing" is the ADS-B bit.

The WiFi module plugs into another USB port; it is quite small and looks like this (only smaller!):
iu
 
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ForeFlight is never going to comment on this thread. It's not their style.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Pinstriper said:
That is what isn't installed!! Thanks a!!
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Just to forestall any further troubles after you get the WiFi dongle installed, make sure you are using win32diskimager to image your SD card, not just copy-pasting the file onto it. I don't mean to assume, but some of the other posts made me want to mention it.
 
Yes I installed the latest OS for it. And to anyone out there you can't just copy and paste the file into the writer.. You must use the little file icon to locate the file. I spent some time trying to copy and past with no luck. But once I used the file lobster it was a snap. Also on my desktop pic I was having issues writing it to the sd card.. So I tried my laptop and everything worked flawlessly
 
Pinstriper said:
Yes I installed the latest OS for it. And to anyone out there you can't just copy and paste the file into the writer.. You must use the little file icon to locate the file. I spent some time trying to copy and past with no luck. But once I used the file lobster it was a snap. Also on my desktop pic I was having issues writing it to the sd card.. So I tried my laptop and everything worked flawlessly
Click to expand...


So it's working now?
 
Just completed the purchase and should have it next week. Total cost $95.06 for the R PI 2 from Tikirobot, the battery and anenna from Amizon per the Reddit email, and the Sain starter kit which includes the case with fan, the wifi usb, SD card and the power cable.
Now comes the challenging part. I may have to get my granddaughter to help.
 
cgrab said:
Just completed the purchase and should have it next week. Total cost $95.06 for the R PI 2 from Tikirobot, the battery and anenna from Amizon per the Reddit email, and the Sain starter kit which includes the case with fan, the wifi usb, SD card and the power cable.
Now comes the challenging part. I may have to get my granddaughter to help.
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Does it have the supported/recommended wifi adapter?
 
Is this only capable of replicating the Stratus? I don't have Foreflight, I'm android

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
Iceman21 said:
Is this only capable of replicating the Stratus? I don't have Foreflight, I'm android

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
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Does it matter if it's only capable of replicating the Stratus?
IOW, what are you running on your Android?

Reported to work in Avare, FltPlan Go, and now Naviator (with v 0.1r3). (Probably others that I've missed.)

Here it is running on the ground in Naviator:
 

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PA28Flyer said:
Does it have the supported/recommended wifi adapter?
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Short answer yes,

From the recommended kit: Edimax EW-7811Un 150Mbps 11n Wi-Fi USB Adapter
From Sain:
150Mbps Wi-Fi USB Adapter for Raspberry Pi
This 802.11b/g/n USB WiFi adapter works right out of the box with popular Raspberry Pi operating systems like Raspbian and RaspBMC.
Tested and verified to work with your Raspberry Pi as well as the Beagle Bone.
Plug and Play
Compatible with Raspberry Pi Model A B B+ Raspberry Pi 2 Model B
 
JoeSelch said:
Does it matter if it's only capable of replicating the Stratus?
IOW, what are you running on your Android?

Reported to work in Avare, FltPlan Go, and now Naviator (with v 0.1r3). (Probably others that I've missed.)

Here it is running on the ground in Naviator:
Click to expand...
Ok cool. I have Avare and Garmin pilot.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
I wrote all three files to the sd card. Was that wrong? At first I only had one of the three files from that page on it and nothing worked. I went back and added all three. I got it to connect to my iPad but I haven't gotten any traffic on it, but I assumed that was. Because I was on the ground. Is that correct? Or do I need to go back and delete the other 2 files and only write the one to the disk.
 
tree96 said:
I wrote all three files to the sd card. Was that wrong? At first I only had one of the three files from that page on it and nothing worked. I went back and added all three. I got it to connect to my iPad but I haven't gotten any traffic on it, but I assumed that was. Because I was on the ground. Is that correct? Or do I need to go back and delete the other 2 files and only write the one to the disk.
Click to expand...



You write only one file. Download the .zip from here: https://github.com/cyoung/stratux/releases/tag/v0.1r3


Then extract it. You write the ".img" file.
 
cgrab said:
Short answer yes,

From the recommended kit: Edimax EW-7811Un 150Mbps 11n Wi-Fi USB Adapter
From Sain:
150Mbps Wi-Fi USB Adapter for Raspberry Pi
This 802.11b/g/n USB WiFi adapter works right out of the box with popular Raspberry Pi operating systems like Raspbian and RaspBMC.
Tested and verified to work with your Raspberry Pi as well as the Beagle Bone.
Plug and Play
Compatible with Raspberry Pi Model A B B+ Raspberry Pi 2 Model B
Click to expand...


If it doesn't have the Edimax EW-7811Un and it doesn't work out of the box, that's why. Not all USB WiFi adapters are the same.
 
I received my unit today and got in running without issue. I already had a battery pack so a total of $85....

Links up with wing x on the ground. I'll fly in the next couple days and report back.
 

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jesse said:
I've printed a case already for the hardware, but don't have the hardware yet. I really want to figure out a solution with a battery integrated into the case.
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Jesse - having flown with the device on a couple of flights the warmest component is not the Pi circuit board but that USB antenna. Very (very) warm does not begin to describe it. If you read the Q&A and reviews on Amazon, this is normal according to the manufacturer. But I sure would not want to put that into an additional enclosure. One user said they took out the components and placed it in a case with a small fan.
 
I need 5 users who are interested in testing a solution I will package up nicely based on this hardware with the intention being I will be selling the final solution. Basically you'd be beta testers.

My hope is to get all of the components packaged into a solution, battery included, with an internal antenna into something the size of the Stratus 2 (or maybe a little bit bigger).

The cost -- $150 which covers a little of the investment I'm having to make but in reality mostly covers the hardware of the same parts you'd otherwise order.

Please bear in mind, this is an experiment, and I can't offer any warranty.
 
I'm in J, tell me where to send the check.
<edit: I'm running Avare on Android with external GPS source.>
 
jesse said:
I need 5 users who are interested in testing a solution I will package up nicely based on this hardware with the intention being I will be selling the final solution. Basically you'd be beta testers.

My hope is to get all of the components packaged into a solution, battery included, with an internal antenna into something the size of the Stratus 2 (or maybe a little bit bigger).

The cost -- $150 which covers a little of the investment I'm having to make but in reality mostly covers the hardware of the same parts you'd otherwise order.

Please bear in mind, this is an experiment, and I can't offer any warranty.
Click to expand...

I'm in!
 
I'll ride along with Spike and validate his while he tootles around N TX.
 
jesse said:
I need 5 users who are interested in testing a solution I will package up nicely based on this hardware with the intention being I will be selling the final solution. Basically you'd be beta testers.



My hope is to get all of the components packaged into a solution, battery included, with an internal antenna into something the size of the Stratus 2 (or maybe a little bit bigger).



The cost -- $150 which covers a little of the investment I'm having to make but in reality mostly covers the hardware of the same parts you'd otherwise order.



Please bear in mind, this is an experiment, and I can't offer any warranty.
Click to expand...


Count me in
 
jesse said:
I need 5 users who are interested in testing a solution I will package up nicely based on this hardware with the intention being I will be selling the final solution. Basically you'd be beta testers.



My hope is to get all of the components packaged into a solution, battery included, with an internal antenna into something the size of the Stratus 2 (or maybe a little bit bigger).



The cost -- $150 which covers a little of the investment I'm having to make but in reality mostly covers the hardware of the same parts you'd otherwise order.



Please bear in mind, this is an experiment, and I can't offer any warranty.
Click to expand...


I already have a Stratus (and all of the pieces/parts needed to make the device in the OP), but I'd happily beta test a homegrown version.
 
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