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2 hours ago
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Aircraft radar display built with Python and Pygame. Visualises real-time aircraft positions and metadata from a local tar1090 server, with a retro interface.
- Real-time radar visualisation of aircraft within a configurable radius
- Military aircraft detection with configurable hex code prefixes and blinking effect
- Configurable font sizes and display settings
- Tabular display of aircraft data (callsign, altitude, speed, distance, track)
- Retro colour palette
- Terminus TTF fonts for an authentic look
- Default configuration is compatible with the Hagibis Mini PC USB-C Hub
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Hardware setup:
- Connect your ADS-B USB dongle (e.g. RTL-SDR) to a Raspberry Pi or similar single-board computer.
- Attach a suitable 1090 MHz antenna to the dongle.
- Ensure the dongle is running software that provides ADS-B data in JSON format, such as tar1090.
- Connect your Raspberry Pi to your display, such as the Hagibis Mini PC USB-C Hub, with an HDMI cable.
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Software setup:
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/nicespoon/retro-adsb-radar.git cd retro-adsb-radar
- Install dependencies:
pip install -r requirements.txt
- Configure the application:
- Copy config.ini.example to config.ini.
- Edit config.ini to set the TAR1090URL to your tar1090 data source URL (default: http://localhost/data/aircraft.json).
- Adjust location and display settings as needed.
- Clone the repository:
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Run the radar UI:
Note: On some systems, you may need to use python instead of python3.
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Quit: Press Q or ESC in the radar window.
The application is configured via config.ini. Copy config.ini.example to config.ini and adjust as needed:
[General]
FETCH_INTERVAL = 10 # Data fetch interval (seconds)
MIL_PREFIX_LIST = 7CF # Comma-separated list of military aircraft hex prefixes (e.g. 7CF,AE,43C)
TAR1090_URL = http://localhost/tar1090/data/aircraft.json # tar1090 data source URL
BLINK_MILITARY = true # Toggle blinking effect for military aircraft (true/false)
[Location]
LAT = -31.9522 # Radar centre latitude
LON = 115.8614 # Radar centre longitude
AREA_NAME = PERTH # Displayed area name
RADIUS_NM = 60 # Radar range (nautical miles)
[Display]
SCREEN_WIDTH = 960 # Window width (pixels)
SCREEN_HEIGHT = 640 # Window height (pixels)
FPS = 6 # Frames per second
MAX_TABLE_ROWS = 10 # Maximum number of aircraft to show in the table
FONT_PATH = fonts/TerminusTTF-4.49.3.ttf # Path to TTF font
BACKGROUND_PATH = # Optional path to background image
HEADER_FONT_SIZE = 32 # Font size for the header text
RADAR_FONT_SIZE = 22 # Font size for radar labels and callsigns
TABLE_FONT_SIZE = 22 # Font size for the data table
INSTRUCTION_FONT_SIZE = 12 # Font size for instruction text
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Military Aircraft Detection
- MIL_PREFIX_LIST: Comma-separated list of hex code prefixes. Example: 7CF,AE,43C will highlight aircraft whose hex codes start with any of these prefixes.
- BLINK_MILITARY: Set to false to show military aircraft in solid red without blinking.
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Display Customization
- SCREEN_WIDTH and SCREEN_HEIGHT: Default 960x640 recommended for best display.
- Font sizes can be adjusted individually with HEADER_FONT_SIZE, RADAR_FONT_SIZE, TABLE_FONT_SIZE, and INSTRUCTION_FONT_SIZE.
- MAX_TABLE_ROWS: Controls how many aircraft are shown in the data table.
- BACKGROUND_PATH: Optional path to a background image. The image will be scaled to match the display resolution.
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Data Source
- TAR1090_URL: URL of your tar1090 instance. Default is http://localhost/tar1090/data/aircraft.json.
- FETCH_INTERVAL: How often to update aircraft data (in seconds).
- The project code is licensed under the MIT License (see LICENSE).
- Fonts used in this project are licensed under the SIL Open Font License Version 1.1.
See font license files in the fonts/ directory for details.
