PilotAware

British Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Admin on July 29, 2015, 09:21:56 pm

Title: Documentation
Post by: Admin on July 29, 2015, 09:21:56 pm
Build Your Own PilotAware Using The Known Good Hardware List

Purchasing and Building Your Own PilotAware Hardware From individual components.

If you don’t want to purchase a warrantied PilotAware unit that has been fully built and tested, then you can build your own PilotAware Hardware by sourcing the individual components from the internet. If you do this, it is very important that you only use the correct parts for the PilotAware unit to work successfully.

Here is a list of components that have been used successfully. PilotAware Limited gives no recommendation or guarantee as to the fidelity of these components nor the viability or vendors quoted, but supplies the list as a guide. Help will be available from the forum as to how to build this. Caveat emptor.
1.   Raspberry Pi 2B Do not use Raspberry pi 3 it will not work.
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Desktop (Quad Core CPU 900 MHz, 1 GB RAM, Linux).
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Raspberry-Pi-Model-Desktop-Linux/dp/B00T2U7R7I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468587778&sr=8-1&keywords=raspberry+pi+2b (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Raspberry-Pi-Model-Desktop-Linux/dp/B00T2U7R7I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468587778&sr=8-1&keywords=raspberry+pi+2b)
2.   Case
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151715839607?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151715839607?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649)
3.   ADSB Receiver Dongle
Mini USB DVB-T RTL-SDR Realtek RTL2832U & R820T Tuner Receiver Dongle MCX Input.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201349905111?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201349905111?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)
4.   Wifi dongle:
MINI WIFI USB WIRELESS ADAPTER DONGLE 150MBPS LAN NETWORK RASPBERRY PI 2 RT5370

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231483794170?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231483794170?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)
5.   GPS dongle:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251145983389?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251145983389?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)
6.   USB -> Micro USB power cable:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/JuicEBitz®-Charger-Android-Tablets-Premium/dp/B00S2WQDO0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1468588337&sr=8-5&keywords=juicebitz (https://www.amazon.co.uk/JuicEBitz®-Charger-Android-Tablets-Premium/dp/B00S2WQDO0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1468588337&sr=8-5&keywords=juicebitz)
7.   4Gb Micro SD card:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141468690233?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141468690233?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)
8.   869.5 MHz PilotAware Radio Bridge and licence
http://pilotawarehardware.com/product/pilotawarebridge/ (http://pilotawarehardware.com/product/pilotawarebridge/)
9.   869.5 MHz Antenna
http://pilotawarehardware.com/product/endfeed-dipole/ (http://pilotawarehardware.com/product/endfeed-dipole/)


When you have all of the parts.

•   Connect the PilotAware Bridge item 8 onto the Raspberry Pi (Item 1) ensuring that you do not bend any of the pins on the PIO Pin matrix
•   Line up the combined Pi and Bridge with the case (Item 2) and drill a hole so that the antenna male connector protrudes through the end plate of the bridge.
•   Screw together the case. (Item2)
•   Insert the Wi-Fi dongle (Item 4) into the bottom right hand USB socket
•   Insert the GPS dongle and thin antenna (Item 5) into the upper right hand USB socket
•   Insert the ADSB Receiver Dongle (Item 3) into the lower left hand USB socket
•   Insert the USB Cable (Item6) into the micro USB socket in the raspberry Pi
•   Screw the 869.6MHz Antenna onto the Bridge stub.
•   Format the SD Card (Item 7)
•   Manually Download the Software onto your PC from http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,540.0.htmland  (http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,540.0.htmland)
•   Transfer this to the formatted Micro SD Card
•   Manual software download described in the PilotAware Operating instructions
•   http://pilotawarehardware.com/dl/PAWOperationManual.pdf
•   Download the licence key as described in the documentation provided with the PilotAware Bridge item 8.


Or buy a ready built ready tested built with 12 months warranty for virtually the same price from www.pilotawarehardware.com and save yourself the time and effort of procuring and assembling the box of bits.


Title: Re: Documentation
Post by: scsirob on October 05, 2015, 04:31:48 pm
Hi,

The presentation on your site lists each of the 24 protocol bytes. For the aircraft type byte you ask for a list of types you could use to encode.

I am not sure if this is a proprietary list or part of ADS-B, but the Funkwerk TRT800 transponder manual lists Hex codes for various categories. The user programs it at the same time as he programs the 24-bit ICAO code. You can download the user manual from their site.

3.3.2  Aircraft Category (AC)
Code  Description
  11  Emergency Vehicle 
  12  Service Vehicle
  19  Glider
  1A  Balloon & Airship
  1B  Paratrooper
  1C  Ultra-Light / Paraglider
  1E  Drone
  21  Aircraft (D-Exxx) < 15.500 lbs, Motor Glider (D-Kxxx)
  22  Aircraft ≥15.500 lbs,< 75.000 lbs
  27  Rotorcraft

Another note, height does not require a sign "as aircraft do not fly under water". But some airfields are below MSL, for example EHLE (Lelystad)
Rob
Title: Re: Documentation
Post by: scsirob on October 05, 2015, 09:08:59 pm
So I dug a bit deeper. There's a document that I cannot get the link to show properly, but if you Google for "ads-b protocol header" you will find a draft technical manual "UAT-SWG02-WP04 -Draft Tech Manual V0-1 .pdf" on www.icao.int that shows all fields in ADS-B messages. From page 43 onward there's an explanation of the "Mode Status element" that contains the "Emitter Category"field. They use "Base-40 Decimal" numbers that do not translate directly to the hex table from Funkwerk, but the list of possible categories resembles what Funkwerk uses:

0  No aircraft type information
1  Light (ICAO) < 15 500 lbs
2  Small -15 500 to 75 000 lbs
3  Large -75 000 to 300 000 lbs
4  High Vortex Large (e.g., aircraft such as B757)
5  Heavy (ICAO) -> 300 000 lbs
6  Highly Maneuverable > 5G acceleration and high speed
7  Rotocraft
8  (Unassigned)
9  Glider/sailplane
10 Lighter than air
11 Parachutist/sky diver
12 Ultra light/hang glider/paraglider
13 (Unassigned)
14 Unmanned aerial vehicle
15 Space/transatmospheric vehicle
16 (Unassigned)
17 Surface vehicle —emergency vehicle
18 Surface vehicle —service vehicle
19 Point Obstacle (includes tethered balloons)
20  Cluster Obstacle
21  Line Obstacle
22  (reserved)
 ...
39  (reserved)
Title: Re: Documentation
Post by: Admin on October 05, 2015, 10:26:20 pm
Great start, I will look at using this as the startimg point
Thx
Lee