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ADSB-Ultrafeeder is an all-in-one ADSB container with readsb, tar1090, graphs1090, autogain, multi-feeder, and mlat-hub built in

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sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsb-ultrafeeder

Introduction

adsb-ultrafeeder™ is an ADS-B data collector container that can be used to:

  • retrieve ADS-B data from your SDR or other device
  • display it on a local map, including options to show tracks, heatmaps, and system performance graphs
  • forward the data to one or more aggregators using BEAST/BEAST-REDUCE/BEAST-REDUCE-PLUS format
  • send MLAT data to these aggregators
  • receive and consolidate MLAT results data (built-in mlathub)
  • Interface with external visualization tools such as Grafana using statistics data available in InfluxDB and Prometheus format

In order to accomplish this, the container makes use of the following underlying technologies:

It builds and runs on linux/amd64, linux/arm/v7 (linux/armhf) and linux/arm64 architectures. ultrafeeder container architecture

Up-and-Running Quickly with docker-compose

  • An example docker-compose.yml file can be found in this repository.
  • The accompanying environment variable values are defined in the .env file in this repository

Once you have installed Docker, you can follow these lines of code to get up and running in very little time:

sudo mkdir -p -m 777 /opt/adsb
cd /opt/adsb
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsb-ultrafeeder/main/docker-compose.yml
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsb-ultrafeeder/main/.env

Then edit the docker-compose.yml and .env files and make any changes as needed. Please configure ALL variables in .env:

nano docker-compose.yml
nano .env

Finally, bring up the stack. This may take a minute as it will automatically download the container and start it up:

docker compose up -d

Ports

Some common ports are as follows (which may or may not be in use depending on your configuration). You can override the port mappings with the parameters shown in the Optional Networking Parameters section.

The general principle behind the port numbering, is:

  • 30xxx ports are connected to the main instance readsb that decodes and processes the SDR data
  • 31xxx ports are connected to the MLAT Hub
  • 92xx ports are for Prometheus statistics output
  • 80 contains the Tar1090 web interface
Port Details
30001/tcp Raw protocol input
30002/tcp Raw protocol output
30003/tcp SBS/Basestation protocol output
32006/tcp SBS/Basestation protocol input
30004/tcp
30104/tcp		 Beast protocol input
30005/tcp Beast protocol output
30006/tcp Beast reduce protocol output
30047/tcp Json position output
31003/tcp MLATHUB SBS/Basestation protocol output
31004/tcp MLATHUB Beast protocol input
31005/tcp MLATHUB Beast protocol output
31006/tcp MLATHUB Beast-reduce protocol output
9273/tcp Prometheus http endpoint with data from telegraf
9274/tcp Prometheus http endpoint with data from readsb
80/tcp Tar1090 (map) web interface

Any of these ports can be made available to the host system by using the ports: directive in your docker-compose.yml. The container's web interface is rendered to port 80 in the container. This can be mapped to a port on the host using the docker-compose ports directive. In the example docker-compose.yml file, the container's Tar1090 interface is mapped to 8080 on the host system, and ports 9273-9274 are exposed as-is:

    ports:
      - 8080:80               # to expose the web interface
      - 9273-9274:9273-9274   # to expose the statistics interface to Prometheus

Json position output:

  • outputs an aircraft object for every new position received for an aircraft. The following parameters (which can be added with READSB_EXTRA_ARGS) control this output:
  • --net-json-port-interval Set minimum interval between outputs per aircraft for TCP json output, default: 0.0 (every position)
  • --net-json-port-include-noposition TCP json position output: include aircraft without position (state is sent for aircraft for every DF11 with CRC if the aircraft hasn't sent a position in the last 10 seconds and interval allowing)
  • each json object will be on a new line
  • https://github.com/wiedehopf/readsb/blob/dev/README-json.md

Aircraft.json:

Runtime Environment Variables

The sections below describe how to configure each part of the container functionality. Each section describes what's needed to come up with a minimally viable configuration, followed by additional / optional parameters that can also be set.

Note:

  • to enable a parameter, you can set it to any of 1, true, on, enabled, enable, yes, or y. In the table below, we'll simply use true for convenience.
  • to disable a parameter, you can set it to anything else or simply leave it undefined.

General Configuration

You need to make sure that the USB device can be accessed by the container. The best way to do so, is by adding the following to your docker-compose.yml file:

    device_cgroup_rules:
      - 'c 189:* rwm'
...
    volumes:
      - /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb:rw

The advantage of doing this (over simply adding a device: directive pointing at the USB port) is that the construction above will automatically recover if you "hot plug" your dongle. ⚠️This feature requires a recent version of docker-compose (version >=2.3). Make sure your system is up to date if dongles are not found. ⚠️

Basic Ultrafeeder Parameters

Mandatory Parameters

The following parameters must be set (mandatory) for the container to function:

Environment Variable Purpose Default
LAT or READSB_LAT The latitude of your antenna. Use either parameter, but not both
LONG or READSB_LON The longitude of your antenna. Use either parameter, but not both
ALT or READSB_ALT The altitude of your antenna above sea level. For example, 15m or 45ft
TZ Your local timezone in TZ-database-name format
Optional Parameters
Environment Variable Description Controls which readsb option Default
ENABLE_TIMELAPSE1090 Optional / Legacy. Set to true to enable timelapse1090. Once enabled, can be accessed via http://dockerhost:port/timelapse/. Unset
READSB_EXTRA_ARGS Optional, allows to specify extra parameters for readsb Unset
READSB_DEBUG Optional, used to set debug mode. n: network, P: CPR, S: speed check Unset
S6_SERVICES_GRACETIME Optional, set to 30000 when saving traces / globe_history 3000
READSB_ENABLE_BIASTEE Set to true to enable bias tee on supporting interfaces Unset
READSB_RX_LOCATION_ACCURACY Accuracy of receiver location in metadata: 0=no location, 1=approximate, 2=exact (HEYWHATSTHAT_PANORAMA_ID also has location) --rx-location-accuracy=<n> 2
READSB_HEATMAP_INTERVAL Per plane interval for heatmap and replay (if you want to lower this, also lower json-trace-interval to this or a lower value) --heatmap=<sec> 15
READSB_MAX_RANGE Absolute maximum range for position decoding (in nm) --max-range=<dist> 450
READSB_STATS_EVERY Number of seconds between showing and resetting stats. --stats-every=<sec> Unset
READSB_STATS_RANGE Set this to true to collect range statistics for polar plot. --stats-range Unset
READSB_RANGE_OUTLINE_HOURS Change which past timeframe the range outline is based on --range-outline-hours 24
READSB_EXTRA_ARGS Optional, allows to specify extra parameters for readsb Unset
S6_SERVICES_GRACETIME Optional, set to 30000 when saving traces / globe_history 3000
LOGLEVEL verbose (all messages), error (errors only), none (minimal) verbose
MLAT_STARTUP_STAGGER mlat-client startup staggering for tidy logs (reduce for quicker startup) 15
MAX_GLOBE_HISTORY Maximum number of days that globe_history data (used to produce heatmaps and ptracks) is retained. Note - this parameter doesn't affect the data used to produce graphs1090 statistics Unset

READSB_EXTRA_ARGS just passes arguments to the commandline, you can check this file for more options for wiedehopf's readsb fork: https://github.com/wiedehopf/readsb/blob/dev/help.h

Getting ADSB data to the Ultrafeeder

There are two ways to provide ADSB data to the Ultrafeeder:

  • provide the container with access to an SDR or other hardware device that collects ADSB data
  • allow the container to connect to a ADSB data source in Beast, Raw, or SBS format

These methods are not mutually exclusive - you can use both at the same time if you want.

Connecting to an SDR or other hardware device

If you want to connect your SDR to the container, here's how to do that:

Mandatory parameters
Variable Description Controls which readsb option Default
READSB_DEVICE_TYPE If using an SDR, set this to rtlsdr, modesbeast, gnshulc depending on the model of your SDR. If not using an SDR, leave un-set. --device-type=<type> Unset
READSB_RTLSDR_DEVICE Select device by serial number. --device=<serial> Unset
READSB_BEAST_SERIAL only when type modesbeast or gnshulc is used: Path to Beast serial device. --beast-serial=<path> /dev/ttyUSB0
Optional/Additional Parameters
Variable Description Controls which readsb option Default
READSB_GAIN Set gain (in dB). Use autogain to have the container determine an appropriate gain, more on this below. --gain=<db> Max gain
READSB_RTLSDR_PPM Set oscillator frequency correction in PPM. See Estimating PPM --ppm=<correction> Unset
AutoGain for RTLSDR Devices

If you have set READSB_GAIN=autogain, then the system will take signal strength measurements to determine the optimal gain. The AutoGain functionality is based on a (slightly) modified version of Wiedehopf's AutoGain. AutoGain will only work with rtlsdr style receivers.

Note that AutoGain is not related to the SDR's AGC setting (controlled with the READSB_RTLSDR_ENABLE_AGC variable). We do not recommend enabling AGC for Ultrafeeder or any other ADS-B decoder.

There are 2 distinct periods in which the container will attempt to figure out the gain:

  • The initial period of 2 hours, in which an adjustment is done every 5 minutes
  • The subsequent period, in which an adjustment is done once every day

Please note that in order for the initial period to complete, the container must run for 90 minutes without restarting.

When taking measurements, if the percentage of "strong signals" (i.e., ADSB messages with RSSI > 3 dB) is larger than 6%, AutoGain will reduce the receiver's gain by 1 setting. Similarly, if the percentage of strong signals is smaller than 2.5%, AutoGain will increment the receiver's gain by 1 setting. When AutoGain changes the gain value, the readsb component of the container will restart. This may show as a disconnect / reconnected in container logs.

We recommend running the initial period during times when there are a lot of planes overhead, so the system will get a good initial view of what signals look like when traffic is at its peak for your location. If you forgot to do this for any reason, feel free to give the AutoGain reset command (see below) during flights busy hour.

Although not recommended, you can change the measurement intervals and low/high cutoffs with these parameters:

Environment Variable Purpose Default
READSB_AUTOGAIN_INITIAL_TIMEPERIOD How long the Initial Time Period should last (in seconds) 7200
READSB_AUTOGAIN_INITIAL_INTERVAL The measurement interval to optimize gain during the initial period of 90 minutes (in seconds) 300
READSB_AUTOGAIN_SUBSEQUENT_INTERVAL The measurement interval to optimize gain during the subsequent period (in seconds) 86400
READSB_AUTOGAIN_LOW_PCT If the percentage of "strong signals" (stronger than 3dBFS RSSI) is below this number, gain will be increased 2.5
READSB_AUTOGAIN_HIGH_PCT If the percentage of "strong signals" (stronger than 3dBFS RSSI) is above this number, gain will be decreased 6.0

If you need to reset AutoGain and start over determining the gain, you can do so with this command:

docker exec -it ultrafeeder /usr/local/bin/autogain1090 reset

Connecting to external ADSB data sources

In addition to (or instead of) connecting to an SDR or hardware device to get ADSB data, the container also supports ingesting or sending data from a TCP port. Here are some parameters that you need to configure if you want to make this happen:

All-in-One Configuration using ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG

ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG is a new parameter that can be used instead of separately defining READSB_NET_CONNECTOR, MLAT_NET_CONNECTOR, MLATHUB_NET_CONNECTOR/MLATHUB_CONFIG. These legacy parameters will still work; however, we wanted to provide a single parameter that enables configuration of incoming and outgoing ADSB data, MLAT-client data, and MLATHUB data.

Note that ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG and ULTRAFEEDER_NET_CONNECTOR can be used interchangeably; in this documentation, we'll use ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG as an example.

ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG syntax:

The ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG parameter can have multiple config strings, separated by a ;. Please note that the config strings cannot contain ; or , -- undefined things may happen if these characters are present.

- ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=adsb,host,port,protocol[,uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX][,extra-arguments]
...or...
- ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=mlat,host,port[,return_port][,uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX][,extra-arguments]
...or to retrieve MLAT data from a remote receiver...
- ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=mlat,host,port[,return_port][,uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX][,input_connect=remote-host:port,lat=xx.xxxx,lon=yy.yyyy,alt=zzz][,extra-arguments]
...or...
- ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=mlathub,host,port,protocol[,uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX][,extra-arguments]
  • To connect to an external ADSB (for input or output), UAT, or MLAT results source, use - ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=adsb,host,port,protocol[,uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX][,extra-arguments]
  • To connect and send data to an MLAT Server, use - ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=mlat,host,port[,return_port][,uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX][,name=Friendly_Name-123][,input_connect=remote-host:port,lat=xx.xxxx,lon=yy.yyyy,alt=zzz][,extra-arguments]. For the optional parts in this structure, see MLAT configuration. Note - any MLAT results data received from the MLAT Server will automatically be aggregated in an MLAT Hub and shared with tar1090
  • To add MLAT results from additional MLAT Servers not configured with Ultrafeeder (for example, MLAT results from FlightRadar24 or FlightAware/piaware), use - ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=mlathub,host,port,protocol[,uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX][,extra-arguments]. You can further configure this MLAT Hub as described in the section Configuring the built-in MLAT Hub

In the above configuration strings:

  • host is an IP address. Specify an IP/hostname/containername for incoming or outgoing connections.
  • port and return_port are TCP port numbers
  • protocol can be one of the following:
    • beast_reduce_out: Beast-format output with lower data throughput (saves bandwidth and CPU)
    • beast_reduce_plus_out: Beast-format output with extra data (UUID). This is the preferred format when feeding the "new" aggregator services
    • beast_out: Beast-format output
    • beast_in: Beast-format input
    • raw_out: Raw output
    • raw_in: Raw input
    • sbs_out: SBS-format output
    • vrs_out: SBS-format output
    • uat_in: "special" RAW format input as generated by the dump978 container on port 30978. It is advisable to use this protocol and port to get UAT data from dump978, for example: - ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=adsb,dump978,30978,uat_in
  • uuid is a Universally Unique Identifier. You can reuse the one you generated for AdsbExchange, or you can generate a new one with this Linux command: cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/uuid. If omitted, it will use the UUID environment parameter, or if that one doesn't exist, it will leave the field empty.
  • name is a friendly name (containing any character of the set [A-Za-z0-9_-] - do not use any spaces, quotes, or other non-alphanumeric characters!) that will be sent to the MLAT Server, used to identify the station by name. If omitted, it will use the MLAT_USER parameter, or if that one doesn't exist, it will leave the field empty.
Networking parameters
Environment Variable Purpose Default
BEASTHOST IP/Hostname of a Mode-S/Beast provider (dump1090/readsb)
BEASTPORT TCP port number of Mode-S/Beast provider (dump1090/readsb) 30005
MLATHOST Legacy parameter. IP/Hostname of an MLAT provider (mlat-client). Note - using this parameter will not make the MLAT data part of the consolidated mlathub. The preferred way of ingesting MLAT results is using the mlathub functionality of the container, see below for details
MLATPORT Legacy parameter used with MLATHOST. TCP port number of an MLAT provider (mlat-client) 30105
Feeding directly from Ultrafeeder

There are several aggregators, both non-profit and commercial, that can directly be sent data from ultrafeeder without the need for an additional feeder container. We have added them in the example docker-compose.yml snippet above. Here is a partial list of these aggregators. All of them use the beast_reduce_plus format for feeding ADSB data, and mlat-client for feeding MLAT:

Name (C)ommercial/
(N)on-profit		 Description Feed details
Airplanes.live N Run by volunteers that used to be related to adsbexchange adsb:feed.airplanes.live port 30004
mlat: feed.airplanes.live port 31090
ADSB.fi N Run by a Finnish IT and aviation enthusiast adsb:feed.adsb.fi port 30004
mlat: feed.adsb.fi port 31090
ADSB.lol N Run by an aviation enthusiast located in the Netherlands adsb:in.adsb.lol port 30004
mlat: in.adsb.lol port 31090
Planespotters N planespotters.net adsb:feed.planespotters.net port 30004
mlat: mlat.planespotters.net port 31090
The Air Traffic N Run by an aviation enthusiast adsb:feed.theairtraffic.com port 30004
mlat: mlat.theairtraffic.com port 31090
AVDelphi N Aviation data-science company (non-profit) adsb:data.avdelphi.com port 24999
mlat: no MLAT
ADSB Exchange C Large aggregator owned by JetNet adsb:feed1.adsbexchange.com port 30004
mlat: feed.adsbexchange.com port 31090
RadarPlane N Run by a few aviation enthusiasts in Canada and Portugal adsb: feed.radarplane.com port 30001
mlat: feed.radarplane.com port 31090
Fly Italy ADSB N Run by a few aviation enthusiasts in Italy adsb: dati.flyitalyadsb.com port 4905
mlat: dati.flyitalyadsb.com port 30100
AussieADSB C Small semi-commercial aggregator focused uniquely on Australia/Oceania. See https://aussieadsb.com. See below on how to configure a feed to them adsb: aussieadsb.com port (varies)
mlat: aussieadsb.com port 30000

When feeding AdsbExchange, Ultrafeeder will send statistics to adsbexchange.com by default. See the description of the ADSBX_STATS parameter on how to disable this.

To feed AussieADSB (Australia/Oceania only!), execute this command on your host and follow the instructions. You can also use this command to de-register your feeder, or to see its status:

bash <(wget -qO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsb-ultrafeeder/dev/aussieadsb.sh)
Alternate Configuration Method with READSB_NET_CONNECTOR

Instead of (or in addition to) using BEASTHOST, you can also define ADSB data ingests using the READSB_NET_CONNECTOR parameter. This is the preferred way if you have multiple sources or destinations for your ADSB data. This variable allows you to configure incoming and outgoing connections. The variable takes a semicolon (;) separated list of host,port,protocol[,uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX], see the section All-in-One Configuration using ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG for explanation of these parameters.

NOTE: If you have a UAT dongle and use dump978 to decode this, you should use READSB_NET_CONNECTOR to ingest UAT data from dump978. See example below

    environment:
    ...
      - READSB_NET_CONNECTOR=dump978,30978,uat_in;...
    ...

Optional Networking Parameters

There are many optional parameters relating to the ingestion of data and the general networking functioning of the readsb program that implements this functionality.

Variable Description Controls which readsb option Default
READSB_NET_API_PORT https://github.com/wiedehopf/readsb/blob/dev/README-json.md#--net-api-port-query-formats --net-api-port=<ports> 30152
READSB_ENABLE_API Adds nginx proxies api at /re-api. Use with extraargs --write-json-globe-index --tar1090-use-api to get fast map with many planes various disabled
READSB_NET_BEAST_REDUCE_INTERVAL BeastReduce position update interval, longer means less data (valid range: 0.000 - 14.999) --net-beast-reduce-interval=<seconds> 0.5
READSB_NET_BEAST_REDUCE_FILTER_DIST Restrict beast-reduce output to aircraft in a radius of X nmi --net-beast-reduce-filter-dist=<nmi> Unset
READSB_NET_BEAST_REDUCE_FILTER_ALT Restrict beast-reduce output to aircraft below X ft --net-beast-reduce-filter-alt=<ft> Unset
READSB_NET_BR_OPTIMIZE_FOR_MLAT BeastReduce: Keep messages relevant to mlat-client --net-beast-reduce-optimize-for-mlat Unset
READSB_NET_BEAST_REDUCE_OUT_PORT TCP BeastReduce output listen ports (comma separated) --net-beast-reduce-out-port=<ports> Unset
READSB_NET_BEAST_INPUT_PORT TCP Beast input listen ports --net-bi-port=<ports> 30004,30104
READSB_NET_BEAST_OUTPUT_PORT TCP Beast output listen ports --net-bo-port=<ports> 30005
READSB_NET_BUFFER TCP buffer size 64Kb * (2^n) --net-buffer=<n> 2 (256Kb)
READSB_NET_RAW_OUTPUT_INTERVAL TCP output flush interval in seconds (maximum output buffer delay). --net-ro-interval=<seconds> 0.05
READSB_NET_RO_INTERVAL_BEAST_REDUCE TCP output flush interval in seconds for beast reduce outputs (maximum output buffer delay). `--net-ro-interval-beast-reduce= 0.12
READSB_NET_RAW_OUTPUT_SIZE TCP output flush size (maximum amount of internally buffered data before writing to network). --net-ro-size=<size> 1280
READSB_NET_CONNECTOR_DELAY Outbound re-connection delay. --net-connector-delay=<seconds> 30
READSB_NET_HEARTBEAT TCP heartbeat rate in seconds (0 to disable). --net-heartbeat=<rate> 35
READSB_NET_RAW_INPUT_PORT TCP raw input listen ports. --net-ri-port=<ports> 30001
READSB_NET_RAW_OUTPUT_PORT TCP raw output listen ports. --net-ro-port=<ports> 30002
READSB_NET_SBS_INPUT_PORT TCP BaseStation input listen ports. --net-sbs-in-port=<ports> Unset
READSB_NET_SBS_OUTPUT_PORT TCP BaseStation output listen ports. --net-sbs-port=<ports> 30003
READSB_NET_SBS_DISABLE_REDUCE Disable application of "reduce" logic to SBS/BaseStation output. (By default, this is enabled) --net-sbs-reduce Unset
REASSB_NET_VERBATIM Set this to true to forward messages unchanged. --net-verbatim Unset
READSB_NET_VRS_PORT TCP VRS JSON output listen ports. --net-vrs-port=<ports> Unset
READSB_WRITE_STATE_ONLY_ON_EXIT if set to anything, it will only write the status range outlines, etc. upon termination of readsb --write-state-only-on-exit Unset
READSB_JSON_INTERVAL Update interval for the webinterface in seconds / interval between aircraft.json writes --write-json-every=<sec> 1.0
READSB_JSON_TRACE_INTERVAL Per plane interval for json position output and trace interval for globe history --json-trace-interval=<sec> 15
READSB_FORWARD_MLAT_SBS If set to anything, it will include MLAT results in the SBS/BaseStation output. This may be desirable if you feed SBS data to applications like VRS or PlaneFence --forward_mlat_sms Unset
UUID Sets the UUID that is sent on the beast_reduce_plus port if no individual UUIDs have been defined with the READSB_NET_CONNECTOR parameter. Similarly, it's also used with mlat-client (see below) if no individual UUIDs have been set with the MLAT_CONFIG parameter. Unset
ADSBX_STATS If set to disabled/off/0/no, and feeding to AdsbExchange has been configured, no special statistics will be shared with AdsbExchange. If unset or set to enabled/on/1/yes, statistics will be shared with AdsbExchange if they are configured as an aggregator Unset

MLAT configuration

The Ultrafeeder contains a capability to send MLAT data to MLAT servers to be processed, and to receive the MLAT results and integrate those with an MLAT Hub and the tar1090 map. It will create a separate instance of mlat-client for each defined MLAT server. The parameters for these mlat-client instances is as follows:

    environment:
    ...
      - ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=
           ...
           mlat,mlat-server1.com,port1,return_port1,uuid=1234-5678-90123,inputconnect=remote_receiver1:30005,lat=12.3456,lon=45.6789,alt=18m,--arg1 hello --arg2 world;
           mlat,mlat-server2.com,port2,return_port2,uuid=5678-9012-34567,inputconnect=remote_receiver2:30005,-lat=12.3456,lon=45.6789,alt=18m,--arg1 hello-again --arg2 universe
    ...
      - MLAT_USER=some_friendly_user_name_using_only_alphanumeric_characters_without_spaces_or_quotes

where:

Parameter Mandatory/Optional Description
mlat Mandatory indicates that the line container MLAT-client configuration parameters
mlat-server.com Mandatory the domain name or ip address of the target MLAT server
port Mandatory the port (TCP or UDP) of the target MLAT server
return_port Optional the port at which the MLAT results are made available in BEAST format. We recommend to sequentially number them starting at 39000
uuid Optional a unique user ID for this MLAT server instance. If included, the string must start with uuid=. If not included, it will use the value of the UUID parameter if it exists
input_connect Optional a unique input connection in the form input_connect=remotehost:port, where remotehost: is the hostname or IP address and TCP port of your remote BEAST source. This can be used to connect to a remote Beast source and forward MLAT data to an MLAT server
lat Optional the latitude to be sent to the MLAT server in the form lat=xx.xxxxx. If omitted, the LAT / READSB_LAT parameter will be used. This is meant to be used in combination with input_connect for connecting to a remote Beast source and forward MLAT data to an MLAT server
lon Optional the longitude to be sent to the MLAT server in the form lon=xx.xxxxx. If omitted, the LONG / READSB_LON parameter will be used. This is meant to be used in combination with input_connect for connecting to a remote Beast source and forward MLAT data to an MLAT server
alt Optional the altitude to be sent to the MLAT server in the form alt=xx.xxxxx. If omitted, the ALT / READSB_ALT parameter will be used. This is meant to be used in combination with input_connect for connecting to a remote Beast source and forward MLAT data to an MLAT server
extra-arguments Optional Any extra parameter you want to pass to the mlat-client program. Will be added verbatim to the command line

Note - the optional parameters can be given in any order.

The MLAT_USER parameter is passed to the MLAT Client and server, and will show up as a "friendly" name on MLAT related stats at your MLAT aggregator. This parameter can only contain alphanumeric (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) characters, dashes (-), or underscores (_).

MLAT troubleshooting

Sometimes, MLAT appears not to be working correctly and you will see messages with high bad_sync_timeout values, like this:

[2024-06-29 11:31:20.385][mlat-client][in.adsb.lol] peer_count:  15 outlier_percent: 4.6 bad_sync_timeout: 870

Here are a few things you may want to try to fix this:

  • Ensure your longitude, latitude, and altitude are ACCURATE

  • Make sure your device's clock is synced continuously with a reliable NTP service. We recommend chronyd over systemd.timesyncd

  • Do not try to send MLAT data from a centralized instance when you are using a remote receiver. Instead, feed MLAT directly from the remote station

  • On Raspberry Pi 3/3B+, disable HealthCheck by adding the following to the ultrafeeder service section in your docker-compose.yml file. (This has to do with docker resource spikes that mess with MLAT timing on slower machines like the Pi3/3B+) :

      ultrafeeder:
  ...
    healthcheck:
      disable: true

  • MLAT often fails when you run your receiver on a Virtual Machine rather than directly on the hardware. Avoid virtual machines (including ProxMox and container-in-container setups) or disable MLAT on them

  • For FlightAware MLAT, make sure that your location and altitude are PRECISELY defined in your dashboard on the FlightAware website

  • Never, ever, ever resend MLAT results back to ADSB or MLAT aggregators. Please DO NOT. This will ensure your data is discarded and may get you banned from the aggregator

  • If you feed your data to multiple aggregators, please do not enable MLAT for FlightRadar24 (per their request). Note that MLAT for FR24 using our containerized setup is disabled by default

Configuring the built-in MLAT Hub

An "MLAT Hub" is an aggregator of MLAT results from several sources. Since the container is capable of sending MLAT data to multiple ADSB aggregators (like adsb.lol/fi/one, etc), we built in a capability to:

  • collect the MLAT results from all of these services
  • ingest MLAT results from other containers (FlightAware, Radarbox, etc.)
  • make the consolidated MLAT results available on a port in Beast or SBS (BaseStation) format
  • create outbound connections using any supported format to send your Beast data wherever you want

Note - due to design limitations of readsb, the tar1090 graphical interface will by default ONLY show MLAT results from the aggregators/MLAT sources that were defined with the MLAT_NET_CONNECTOR or ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=mlat,... parameters. If you want to show any MLAT results from sources that have their own feeder containers (for example, those from piaware), you should add these sources like this:

   - ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=mlathub,host,port,protocol;

Where:

  • host is the hostname where the MLAT results are coming from. This can be another container name (e.g., piaware) or the IP address of your machine on which mlat-client is running. Note -- this is NOT the hostname or IP of the MLAT Server or aggregator that processes the MLAT data
  • port is the port on which the mlat-client on the host makes its results available
  • protocol is the output protocol which is almost always beast_in

For example:

   - ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=mlathub,piaware,30105,beast_in;

Generally, there is little else to configure, but there are a few parameters that you can set or change:

Variable Description Default if omitted
MLATHUB_SBS_OUT_PORT TCP port where the consolidated MLAT results will be available in SBS (BaseStation) format 31003
MLATHUB_BEAST_IN_PORT TCP port you where you can send additional MLAT results to, in Beast format 31004
MLATHUB_BEAST_OUT_PORT TCP port where consolidated MLAT results will be available in Beast format 31005
MLATHUB_BEAST_REDUCE_OUT_PORT TCP port where consolidated MLAT results will be available in Beast format with reduced data rates 31006
MLATHUB_NET_CONNECTOR (Obsolete, please use ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG=mlathub,... instead.) List of semi-colon (;) separated IP or host, port, and protocols where MLATHUB will connect to ingest or send MLAT data. It follows the same syntax as described in the READSB_NET_CONNECTOR syntax section above Unset
MLATHUB_DISABLE If set to true, the MLATHUB will be disabled even if there are mlat-clients running in the container Unset
MLATHUB_ENABLE If set to true, the MLATHUB will be enabled even if there are no mlat-clients running in the container Unset

Web Gui (tar1090) Configuration

The Container creates an interactive web interface displaying the aircraft, based on Wiedehopf's widely used tar1090 software.

The web interface is rendered to port 80 in the container. This can be mapped to a port on the host using the docker-compose ports directive.

All of the variables below are optional.

Note - due to design limitations of readsb, the tar1090 graphical interface will by default ONLY show MLAT results from the aggregators/MLAT sources that were defined with the MLAT_NET_CONNECTOR parameter. If you want to show any additional MLAT results (for example, those from piaware), you should add a separate READSB_NET_CONNECTOR entry for them.

tar1090 Core Configuration

Environment Variable Purpose Default
READSB_JSON_INTERVAL Update data update interval for the webinterface in seconds 1.0
UPDATE_TAR1090 At startup update tar1090 and tar1090db to the latest versions true
INTERVAL Interval at which the track history is saved 8
HISTORY_SIZE How many points in time are stored in the track history 450
ENABLE_978 Change to yes to enable UAT/978 display in tar1090. This will also enable UAT-specific graphs in graphs1090 no
URL_978 The URL needs to point at where you would normally find the skyview978 webinterface, for example http://192.168.0.29/skyaware978. Note -- do not use localhost or `127.0.0.1
GZIP_LVL 1-9 are valid, lower lvl: less CPU usage, higher level: less network bandwidth used when loading the page 3
PTRACKS Shows the last $PTRACKS hours of traces you have seen at the ?pTracks URL 8
TAR1090_FLIGHTAWARELINKS Set to true to enable FlightAware links in the web interface null
TAR1090_ENABLE_AC_DB Set to true to enable extra information, such as aircraft type and registration, to be included in in aircraft.json output. Will use more 50 MB extra memory false
TAR1090_DB_LONGTYPE Set to false to remove the "desc", "ownOp" and "year" fields from aircraft.json when AC_DB is enabled. true
HEYWHATSTHAT_PANORAMA_ID Your heywhatsthat.com panorama ID. See https://github.com/wiedehopf/tar1090#heywhatsthatcom-range-outline (will reveal exact location in the webinterface)
HEYWHATSTHAT_ALTS Comma separated altitudes for multiple outlines. Use no units or ft for feet, m for meters, or km for kilometers. Only integer numbers are accepted, no decimals please 12192m (=40000 ft)
HTTP_ACCESS_LOG Optional. Set to true to display HTTP server access logs. false
HTTP_ERROR_LOG Optional. Set to false to hide HTTP server error logs. true
TAR1090_IMAGE_CONFIG_LINK An optional URL shown at the top of page, designed to be used for a link back to a configuration page. The token HOSTNAME in the link is replaced with the current host that tar1090 is accessed on. null
TAR1090_IMAGE_CONFIG_TEXT Text to display for the config link null
TAR1090_DISABLE Set to true to disable the web server and all websites (including the map, graphs1090, heatmap, pTracks, etc.) Unset
READSB_ENABLE_HEATMAP Set to true or leave unset to enable the HeatMap function available at http://myip/?Heatmap; set to false to disable the HeapMap function true (enabled)
READSB_ENABLE_TRACES Save detailed globe history traces (1 gzip compressed json file per day and airframe, use MAX_GLOBE_HISTORY so you don't run out of inodes / diskspace) false
TAR1090_AISCATCHER_SERVER If you want to show vessels from your AIS-Catcher instance on the map, put the (externally reachable) URL of your AIS-Catcher or ShipFeeder website in this parameter (incl. https://). Note - if you are using "barebones" AIS-Catcher you should add GEOJSON on after the -N parameter on the AIS-Catcher command line. If you use docker-shipfeeder, no change is needed for that container Empty
TAR1090_AISCATCHER_REFRESH Refresh rate (in seconds) of reading vessels from your AIS-Catcher instance. Defaults to 15 (secs) if omitted 15

tar1090 config.js Configuration - Title

Environment Variable Purpose Default
TAR1090_PAGETITLE Set the tar1090 web page title tar1090
TAR1090_PLANECOUNTINTITLE Show number of aircraft in the page title false
TAR1090_MESSAGERATEINTITLE Show number of messages per second in the page title false

tar1090 config.js Configuration - Output

Environment Variable Purpose Default
TAR1090_DISPLAYUNITS The DisplayUnits setting controls whether nautical (ft, NM, knots), metric (m, km, km/h) or imperial (ft, mi, mph) units are used in the plane table and in the detailed plane info. Valid values are "nautical", "metric", or "imperial". nautical

tar1090 config.js Configuration - Map Settings

Environment Variable Purpose Default
TAR1090_BINGMAPSAPIKEY Provide a Bing Maps API key to enable the Bing imagery layer. You can obtain a free key (with usage limits) at https://www.bingmapsportal.com/ (you need a "basic key"). null
TAR1090_DEFAULTCENTERLAT Default center (latitude) of the map. This setting is overridden by any position information provided by dump1090/readsb. All positions are in decimal degrees. 45.0
TAR1090_DEFAULTCENTERLON Default center (longitude) of the map. This setting is overridden by any position information provided by dump1090/readsb. All positions are in decimal degrees. 9.0
TAR1090_DEFAULTZOOMLVL The google maps zoom level, 0 - 16, lower is further out. 7
TAR1090_SITESHOW Display center marker. Setting this to false will NOT remove your location, see READSB_RX_LOCATION_ACCURACY for that. true
TAR1090_SITELAT Center marker. If readsb provides a receiver location, that location is used and these settings are ignored. Position of the marker (latitude). 45.0
TAR1090_SITELON Center marker. If readsb provides a receiver location, that location is used and these settings are ignored. Position of the marker (longitude). 9.0
TAR1090_SITENAME The tooltip of the center marker. My Radar Site
TAR1090_RANGE_OUTLINE_COLOR Colour for the range outline. #0000DD
TAR1090_RANGE_OUTLINE_WIDTH Width for the range outline. 1.7
TAR1090_RANGE_OUTLINE_COLORED_BY_ALTITUDE Range outline is coloured by altitude. false
TAR1090_RANGE_OUTLINE_DASH Range outline dashing. Syntax [L, S] where L is the pixel length of the line, and S is the pixel length of the space. Unset
TAR1090_ACTUAL_RANGE_OUTLINE_COLOR Colour for the actual range outline #00596b
TAR1090_ACTUAL_RANGE_OUTLINE_WIDTH Width of the actual range outline 1.7
TAR1090_ACTUAL_RANGE_OUTLINE_DASH Dashed style for the actual range outline. Unset for solid line. [5,5] for a dashed line with 5 pixel lines and spaces in between Unset
TAR1090_MAPTYPE_TAR1090 Which map is displayed to new visitors. Valid values for this setting are osm, esri, carto_light_all, carto_light_nolabels, carto_dark_all, carto_dark_nolabels, gibs, osm_adsbx, chartbundle_sec, chartbundle_tac, chartbundle_hel, chartbundle_enrl, chartbundle_enra, chartbundle_enrh, and only with bing key bing_aerial, bing_roads. carto_light_all
TAR1090_MAPDIM Default map dim state, true or false. true
TAR1090_MAPDIMPERCENTAGE The percentage amount of dimming used if the map is dimmed, 0-1 0.45
TAR1090_MAPCONTRASTPERCENTAGE The percentage amount of contrast used if the map is dimmed, 0-1 0
TAR1090_DWDLAYERS Various map layers provided by the DWD geoserver can be added here. Preview and available layers. Multiple layers are also possible. Syntax: dwd:layer1,dwd:layer2,dwd:layer3 dwd:RX-Produkt
TAR1090_LABELZOOM Displays aircraft labels only until this zoom level, 1-15 (values >15 don't really make sense)
TAR1090_LABELZOOMGROUND Displays ground traffic labels only until this zoom level, 1-15 (values >15 don't really make sense)

tar1090 config.js Configuration - Range Rings

Environment Variable Purpose Default
TAR1090_RANGERINGS false to hide range rings true
TAR1090_RANGERINGSDISTANCES Distances to display range rings, in miles, nautical miles, or km (depending settings value 'TAR1090_DISPLAYUNITS'). Accepts a comma separated list of numbers (no spaces, no quotes). 100,150,200,250
TAR1090_RANGERINGSCOLORS Colours for each of the range rings specified in TAR1090_RANGERINGSDISTANCES. Accepts a comma separated list of hex colour values, each enclosed in single quotes (e.g., TAR1090_RANGERINGSCOLORS='#FFFFF','#00000'). No spaces. Unset
TAR1090_ENABLE_ACTUALRANGE Set to true or leave unset to enable the outline of the actual range of your station on the map; set to false to disable the this outline true (enabled)

tar1090 config.js Configuration - Expert

Environment Variable Purpose Default
TAR1090_CONFIGJS_APPEND Append arbitrary javascript code to config.js Unset
  • In case a setting is available in tar1090 but not exposed via environment variable for this container
  • For a list of possible settings, see https://github.com/wiedehopf/tar1090/blob/master/html/config.js
  • Incorrect syntax or any capitalization errors will cause the map to not load, you have been warned!
  • Example: TAR1090_CONFIGJS_APPEND= MapDim=false; nexradOpacity=0.2;
  • In the environment section of a compose file you can generally use multiple lines like this:
    environment:
    ...
      - TAR1090_CONFIGJS_APPEND=
        MapDim=false;
        nexradOpacity=0.2;
    ...

tar1090 config.js Configuration - Route Display

Environment Variable Purpose Default
TAR1090_USEROUTEAPI Set to true to enable route lookup for callsigns Unset
TAR1090_ROUTEAPIURL API URL used https://api.adsb.lol/api/0/routeset

graphs1090 Configuration

graphs1090 Environment Parameters

Variable Description Default
GRAPHS1090_DARKMODE If set to true, graphs1090 will be rendered in "dark mode". Unset
GRAPHS1090_RRD_STEP Interval in seconds to feed data into RRD files. 60
GRAPHS1090_SIZE Set graph size, possible values: small, default, large, huge, custom. custom
GRAPHS1090_ALL_LARGE Make the small graphs as large as the big ones by setting to yes. no
GRAPHS1090_FONT_SIZE Font size (relative to graph size). 10.0
GRAPHS1090_MAX_MESSAGES_LINE Set to true to draw a reference line at the maximum message rate. Unset
GRAPHS1090_LARGE_WIDTH Defines the width of the larger graphs. (if size is set to custom) 1096
GRAPHS1090_LARGE_HEIGHT Defines the height of the larger graphs. (if size is set to custom) 235
GRAPHS1090_SMALL_WIDTH Defines the width of the smaller graphs. (if size is set to custom) 619
GRAPHS1090_SMALL_HEIGHT Defines the height of the smaller graphs. (if size is set to custom) 324
GRAPHS1090_DISK_DEVICE Defines which disk device (mmc0, sda, sdc, etc) is shown. Leave empty for default device Unset
GRAPHS1090_ETHERNET_DEVICE Defines which (wired) ethernet device (eth0, enp0s, etc) is shown. Leave empty for default device Unset
GRAPHS1090_WIFI_DEVICE Defines which (wireless) WiFi device (wlan0, wlp3s0, etc) is shown. Leave empty for default device Unset
GRAPHS1090_DISABLE Set to true to disable the entire GRAPHS1090 web page and associated data collection Unset
GRAPHS1090_DISABLE_CHART_CPU Set to true to disable the GRAPHS1090 CPU chart Unset
GRAPHS1090_DISABLE_CHART_TEMP Set to true to disable the GRAPHS1090 Temperature chart Unset
GRAPHS1090_DISABLE_CHART_MEMORY Set to true to disable the GRAPHS1090 Memory Utilization chart Unset
GRAPHS1090_DISABLE_CHART_NETWORK_BANDWIDTH Set to true to disable the GRAPHS1090 Network Bandwidth chart Unset
GRAPHS1090_DISABLE_CHART_DISK_USAGE Set to true to disable the GRAPHS1090 Disk Usage chart Unset
GRAPHS1090_DISABLE_CHART_DISK_IOPS Set to true to disable the GRAPHS1090 Disk IOPS chart Unset
GRAPHS1090_DISABLE_CHART_DISK_BANDWIDTH Set to true to disable the GRAPHS1090 Disk Bandwidth chart Unset
GRAPHS1090_WWW_TITLE Set title for the web page (displayed in the browser title or tab bar) graphs1090
GRAPHS1090_WWW_HEADER Set header text for the web page Perf. Graphs
GRAPHS1090_HIDE_SYSTEM Hide the system graphs and don't render them, don't collect system data no
GRAPHS1090_DEFAULT_APPEND Append to /etc/default/graphs1090, see https://github.com/wiedehopf/graphs1090/blob/master/default Unset
ENABLE_AIRSPY Optional, set to any non-empty value if you want to enable the special AirSpy graphs. See below for additional configuration requirements Unset
URL_AIRSPY Optional, set to the URL where the airspy stats are available, for example http://airspy_adsb Unset

Enabling UAT data

ADS-B over UAT data is transmitted in the 978 MHz band, and this is used in the USA only. To display the corresponding graphs, you should:

  1. Set the following environment parameters:
      - ENABLE_978=yes
      - URL_978=http://dump978/skyaware978
  1. Install the docker-dump978 container. Note - only containers downloaded/deployed on/after Feb 8, 2023 will work.

Note that you must configure URL_978 to point at a working skyaware978 website with aircraft.json data feed. This means that the URL http://dump978/skyaware978/data/aircraft.json must return valid JSON data to this tar1090 container.

Enabling AirSpy graphs

Users of AirSpy devices can enable extra graphs1090 graphs by configuring the following:

  1. Set the following environment parameters:
      - ENABLE_AIRSPY=yes
      - URL_AIRSPY=http://airspy_adsb
  1. Install the airspy_adsb container. Note - only containers downloaded/deployed on/after May 9th, 2024 will work with this method.

Enabling Disk IO and IOPS data

To allow the container access to the Disk IO data, you should map the following volume:

    volumes:
      - /proc/diskstats:/proc/diskstats:ro
      ...

Configuring the Core Temperature graphs

By default, the system will use the temperature available at Thermal Zone 0. This generally works well on Raspberry Pi devices, and no additional changes are needed.

On different devices, the Core Temperature is mapped to a different Thermal Zone. To ensure the Core Temperature graph works, follow these steps

First check out which Thermal Zone contains the temperature you want to monitor. On your host system, do this:

for i in /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone* ; do echo "$i - $(cat ${i}/type) - $(cat ${i}/temp 2>/dev/null)"; done

Something similar to this will be show:

/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0 - acpitz - 25000
/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone1 - INT3400 Thermal - 20000
/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone2 - TSKN - 43050
/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone3 - NGFF - 32050
/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone4 - TMEM - 39050
/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone5 - pch_skylake - 40500
/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone6 - B0D4 - 54050
/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone7 - iwlwifi_1 -
/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone8 - x86_pkg_temp - 57000

Repeat this a few times to ensure that the temperature varies and isn't hardcoded to a value. In our case, either Thermal Zone 5 (pch_skylake is the Intel Core name) or Thermal Zone 8 (the temp of the entire SOC package) can be used. Once you have determined which Thermal Zone number you want to use, map it to a volume like this. Make sure that the part to the left of the first : reflects your Thermal Zone directory; the part to the right of the first : should always be /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0:ro.

Note that you will have to add - privileged: true capabilities to the container. This is less than ideal as it will give the container access to all of your system devices and processes. Make sure you feel comfortable with this before you do this.

    privileged: true
    volumes:
      - /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone8:/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0:ro
      ...

Note - on some systems (DietPi comes to mind), /sys/class/thermal/ may not be available.

Reducing Disk IO for Graphs1090

Note - this feature is still somewhat experimental. If you are really attached to your statistics/graphs1090 data, please make sure to back up your mapped drives regularly

If you are using a Raspberry Pi or another type of computer with an SD card, you may already be aware that these SD cards have a limited number of write-cycles that will determine their lifespan. In other words - a common reason for SD card failure is excessive writes to it.

By the nature of having to log lots of data the graphs1090 functionality writes a lot to the SD card. To reduce the number of write cycles, there are a few parameters you can set.

Enabling this functionality will cause graphs1090 to temporarily write all data to volatile memory (/run) instead of persistent disk space (/var/lib/collectd). This data is backed up to persistent disk space in regular intervals and upon (graceful) shutdown of the container.

Note -- there is a chance that the data isn't written back in time (due to power failures, non-graceful container shutdowns, etc), in which case you may lose statistics data that has been generated since the last write-back.

The feature assumes that you have mapped /var/lib/collectd to a volume (to ensure data is persistent across container recreations), and /run as a tmpfs RAM disk, as shown below and also as per the docker-compose.yml example:

    volumes:
      - /opt/adsb/ultrafeeder/globe_history:/var/globe_history
...
    tmpfs:
      - /run:exec,size=256M
...
Environment Variable Purpose Default
GRAPHS1090_REDUCE_IO= Optional Set to true to reduce the write cycles for graphs1090 Unset
GRAPHS1090_REDUCE_IO_FLUSH_IVAL Interval (i.e. 1h, 6h, 24h, 1d, 2d) writing graphs1090 data back to non-volatile storage 1d

timelapse1090 Configuration

Legacy: We recommend AGAINST enabling this feature as it has been replaced with http://dockerhost:port/?replay. timelapse1090 writes a lot of data to disk, which could shorten the lifespan of your Raspiberry Pi SD card. The replacement functionality is better and doesn't cause any additional disk writes.

Environment Variable Purpose Default
ENABLE_TIMELAPSE1090 Optional / Legacy. Set to true to enable timelapse1090. Once enabled, can be accessed via http://dockerhost:port/timelapse/ Unset
TIMELAPSE1090_INTERVAL Snapshot interval in seconds 10
TIMELAPSE1090_HISTORY Time saved in hours 24

Updating your location with GPSD

This feature enables you to deploy Ultrafeeder while you are moving around. It will read your current longitude/latitude/altitude from a GPS unit that is connected to gpsd on your host system, and ensure that the map will show your current location. It will also restart any mlat-client instances once it detects that you moved from your previous location.

Basic Installation and Configuration of your GPS hardware and gpsd drivers

The simplest way of getting this to work is to acquire a "VK163" USB GPS "Mouse", similar to the one in the link. You can connect this mouse to any USB port on your machine.

For this to work, you should install and configure GPSD to work on your host machine. The DEVICES parameter is probably correct as shown below, but you may want to double-check that data is received on that device (cat /dev/ttyACM0) and adjust it if needed:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y gpsd
cat << EOM | sudo tee /etc/default/gpsd
# Devices gpsd should collect to at boot time.
# They need to be read/writeable, either by user gpsd or the group dialout.
DEVICES="/dev/ttyACM0"
# Other options you want to pass to gpsd
GPSD_OPTIONS="-G"
# Automatically hot add/remove USB GPS devices via gpsdctl
USBAUTO="true"
EOM
cat << EOM | sudo tee /lib/systemd/system/gpsd.socket
[Unit]
Description=GPS (Global Positioning System) Daemon Sockets

[Socket]
ListenStream=/run/gpsd.sock
ListenStream=[::]:2947
ListenStream=0.0.0.0:2947
SocketMode=0600
BindIPv6Only=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=sockets.target
EOM
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart gpsd gpsd.socket

Then, you can add the following values to ultrafeeder service settings in docker-compose.yml:

services:
...
  ultrafeeder:
    ...
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"
    ...
    environment:
      ULTRAFEEDER-CONFIG=
        gpsd,host.docker.internal,2947;
    ...

Finally, restart the container with docker compose up -d

This will:

  • install and configure gpsd (/etc/default/gpsd) so it makes GPS data available on the default TCP port 2947 of your host system
  • configure the ultrafeeder docker container to read GPSD data
  • configure the ultrafeeder container so the hostname host.docker.internal always resolves to the IP address of the underlying machine (where gpsd is running)

If you have any issues, readsb will use verbose output if you add the GPSD_DEBUG=true as an environment variable.

Optional parameters regulating the restart of mlat-client when the location changes

The following parameters are all optional and are subject to change. These variables should be added to the environment section of your docker-compose.yml. They will not work if entered into the .env file. You don't need to set them unless you want to change the default behavior.

Environment Variable Purpose Default
GPSD_MIN_DISTANCE Distance (in meters) that your station must move before it's considered moving (maximum 40 meters) 20 (meters)
GPSD_MLAT_WAIT The wait period (in seconds) your station must be stationary before mlat is started (minimum 90 seconds) 90 (seconds)
GPSD_CHECK_INTERVAL How often the container checks for updated location information. (minimum 5 seconds) 30 (seconds)

See example below:

    environment:
    ...
      - GPSD_MIN_DISTANCE=20
      - GPSD_MLAT_WAIT=90
      - GPSD_CHECK_INTERVAL=30
    ...

Web Pages

If you have configured the container as described above, you should be able to browse to the following web pages: You should now be able to browse to:

Paths

No paths need to be mapped through to persistent storage. However, if you don't want to lose your range outline and aircraft tracks/history and heatmap / replay data on container restart, you can optionally map these paths:

Path Purpose
/opt/adsb/ultrafeeder/globe_history:/var/globe_history Holds range outline data, heatmap / replay data and traces if enabled. Note: this data won't be automatically deleted, you will need to delete it eventually if you map this path.
/opt/adsb/ultrafeeder/timelapse1090:/var/timelapse1090 Holds timelapse1090 data if enabled. (We recommend against enabling this feature, see above)
/opt/adsb/ultrafeeder/collectd:/var/lib/collectd Holds graphs1090 & performance data
/proc/diskstats:/proc/diskstats:ro Makes disk statistics available to graphs1090
/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone8:/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0:ro Only needed on some systems to display the CPU temperature in graphs1090, see here

Display of Metrix with Grafana and Prometheus/InfluxDB

When using the :telegraf tag, the image contains Telegraf, which can be used to capture metrics from ultrafeeder if an output is enabled.

See README-grafana.md for detailed instruction on how to configure this.

NOTE - READ CAREFULLY: As of 27 April 2023, the latest image no longer contains Telegraf. If you want to send metrics to InfluxDB or Prometheus, please use this image:

services:
  ultrafeeder:
    image: ghcr.io/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsb-ultrafeeder:telegraf
  ...

Configuring Grafana

Please see the separate instruction document for step by step instructions on how to set up and configure a Grafana Dashboard with Prometheus. The sections below are provided as a reference.

Output from Ultrafeeder to Prometheus

In order for Telegraf to serve a Prometheus endpoint, the following environment variables can be used:

Variable Description
PROMETHEUS_ENABLE Set to true for a Prometheus endpoint on http://0.0.0.0:9273/metrics

Output from Ultrafeeder to InfluxDBv2

In order for Telegraf to output metrics to an InfluxDBv2 time-series database, the following environment variables can be used:

Variable Description
INFLUXDBV2_URL The URL of the InfluxDB instance
INFLUXDBV2_TOKEN The token for authentication
INFLUXDBV2_BUCKET Destination bucket to write into
INFLUXDBV2_ORG InfluxDB Organization to write into

Message decoding introspection

You can look at individual messages and what information they contain, either for all or for an individual aircraft by hex:

# only for hex 3D3ED0
docker exec -it ultrafeeder /usr/local/bin/viewadsb --show-only 3D3ED0

# for all aircraft
docker exec -it ultrafeeder /usr/local/bin/viewadsb --no-interactive

# show position / CPR debugging for hex 3D3ED0
docker exec -it ultrafeeder /usr/local/bin/viewadsb --cpr-focus 3D3ED0

Minimalist setup

If you want to use ultrafeeder only as a SDR decoder but without any mapping or stats/graph websites, without MLAT connections or MLAT-hub, etc., for example to minimize CPU and RAM needs on a low CPU/memory single board computer, then do the following:

  • in the ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG parameter, remove any entry that starts with mlat or mlathub. This will prevent any mlat-clients or mlathub instances to be launched. If you still want to connect the mlat-client(s) to external MLAT servers but you don't want to run the overhead of a MLATHUB, you can leave any entries starting with mlat in the ULTRAFEEDER_CONFIG parameter, and set MLATHUB_DISABLE=true
  • Set the parameter TAR1090_DISABLE=true. This will prevent the nginx webserver and any websites to be launched and no collectd (graphs1090) or rrd (ADSB message history) data to be collected or retained.
  • Make sure to use ghcr.io/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsb-ultrafeeder:latest and specifically NOT the ghcr.io/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsb-ultrafeeder:telegraf label as Telegraf adds a LOT of resource use to the container

Offline maps

There is the option to use some basic offline maps limited in zoom:

    volumes:
        - /usr/local/share/osm_tiles_offline:/usr/local/share/osm_tiles_offline

Logging

All logs are to the container's stdout and can be viewed with docker logs -t [-f] container.

Getting help

Please feel free to open an issue on the project's GitHub.

We also have a Discord channel, feel free to join and converse.

License and Trademarks

GPLv3 License

Copyright (C) 2023-2024, Ramon F. Kolb kx1t, and other contributors

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

Trademarks

  • ultrafeeder, Ultrafeeder, docker-adsb-ultrafeeder are Trademarks owned by Ramon F. Kolb and the SDR-Enthusiasts organization
  • SDR-Enthusiasts and SDR-E are a Trademark owned by the SDR-Enthusiasts organization
  • Other terms are trademarks of their respective owners

Acknowledgements

  • The SDR-Enthusiasts team (Mike Nye, Fred Clausen) for all the foot and leg work done to create the base images on which the container is built
  • Wiedehopf for modifying, creating, maintaining, and adding features to many of the components of this container including readsb, tar1090, graphs1090, autogain, and many more components, and for helping debug the container whenever the need arose
  • John Norrbin for his ideas, testing, feature requests, more testing, nagging, pushing, prodding, and overall efforts to make this a high quality container and for the USB "hotplug" configuration
  • The community at the SDR-Enthusiasts Discord Server for helping out, testing, asking questions, and generally driving to make this a better product
  • Of course the Open Source community at large, including Salvatore Sanfilippo and Oliver Jowett who wrote the excellent base code for dump1090 from which much of this package is derived

About

ADSB-Ultrafeeder is an all-in-one ADSB container with readsb, tar1090, graphs1090, autogain, multi-feeder, and mlat-hub built in

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