I found a mostly completed ACARS j-pole in a spare bedroom...

[jprochazka]

Digging through one of my "overflow room" while searching for hardware I rediscovered some copper pipe making up an over the air j-pole antenna I had begun work on some time ago for ACARS reception. I started creating this after dabbling in receiving ACARS data via satellite using an Othernet SDR and L band antenna I bought when it was still in its infancy which was capable of receiving satellite-based ACARS data as well. Digging up the antenna reminded me of my ventures into receiving ACARS data over the air and sparked this interest once more.

At the time I was decoding satellite ACARS data on Windows using JAERO but since then had found ACARSDEC which would be more suited to this project. Needless to say, at the time integration fell to the wayside. Since getting back to work on the project I discovered ACARSDEC was able to relay data via a project called acarsserv as well as natively via MQTT the latter of which really piques my interest as far as the new portal is concerned if you understand how messaging protocols work.

While taking time to reset my thinking during API/Portal development I began putting together an installation script capable of building ACARSDEC and acarsserv. Current work on ACARS support can be found in the acars branch. Continued development will be based on how I prioritize viewing ACARS data and more importantly the community's thoughts on whether or not time should be spent on this or other pressing matters.

I am not sure if this data will be of much use to aggregate sites but for those like me interested in not only supplying data but also viewing data collected locally, such data might be of interest. Let me know if you think ACARS support should be added sooner rather than later and if you are interested receiving ACARS satellite data as well.