docker-multifeeder

NOTE - THIS CONTAINER IS NO LONGER ACTIVELY MAINTAINED

This means:

• no bug fixes
• no new features
• minimal support

Please switch over to Ultrafeeder. That container is mostly backwards compatible with MultiFeeder and can do MANY MANY MORE THINGS.

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Feed multiple ADS-B and MLAT aggregators from a single container

What is it?

This container enables the user to quickly add feeds to the "new" ADS-B and MLAT aggregators that have popped up. It includes @wiedehopf's optimized versions of readsb and mlat_client.

How to configure?

• For ADS-B, put your (ADS-B, UAT, JAERO, HFDL, etc) input sources and the outputs to the target services in the READSB_NET_CONNECTOR parameter
• For MLAT, define the MLAT server targets in the MLAT_CONFIG parameter
• For MLAT, READSB_LAT, READSB_LON, and READSB_ALT must also be defined.

Variable	Description
READSB_NET_CONNECTOR	host1,port1,protocol1;host2,port2,protocol2 etc. See "READSB_NET_CONNECTOR syntax" below.
MLAT_CONFIG	mlatserver_1,mlatserver_port_1[,results_port_1[,extra_params_1]];mlatserver_2,mlatserver_port_2[,results_port_2[,extra_params_2]] etc. See "MLAT_CONFIG syntax" below
READSB_LAT	Reference/receiver surface latitude
READSB_LON	Reference/receiver surface longitude
READSB_ALT	Reference/receiver altitude above ground. Add m for meters or ft for feet
UUID	UUID to be used with beast_reduce_plus_out protocol for READSB_NET_CONNECTOR. This will also be used for MLAT_USER if that variable is not defined. See below on how to generate the value of this parameter
MLAT_USER	Username to be used with MLAT. This variable is mandatory if MLAT_CONFIG is used and UUID is not set. If MLAT_USER is set, its value will be used; if not set, then the value of UUID will be used

READSB_NET_CONNECTOR syntax

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], where:

• host is an IP address. Specify an IP/hostname/containername for incoming or outgoing connections.
• port is a TCP port number
• protocol can be one of the following:
  • 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
• uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX is an optional parameter that sets the UUID for this specific instance. It will override the global UUID parameter

See the docker-compose.yml example below.

How to generate a UUID

If you already have a UUID that was generated for the ADSBExchange service, feel free to reuse that one. If you don't have one, you can generate one by logging onto you Linux machine (Raspberry Pi, etc.) and giving this command:

cat  /proc/sys/kernel/random/uuid

You can use the output string of this command (in format of 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000) as your UUID

MLAT_CONFIG syntax

This variable allows you to configure outgoing MLAT connections and allows you optionally to define a port where MLAT returned results are made available. The variable takes a semicolon (;) separated list of mlatserver,mlatserver_port[,results_port[,extra_params]], where:

• mlat_server is a hostname or IP address of the MLAT server
• mlat_port is the TCP or UDP port number of the MLAT server
• results_port is the TCP port in which beast-format results are made available. Note- this port is internal to the container stack and may need to be mapped if access is required outside the container stack
• extra_params are any extra parameters you want to pass to mlat_client

See the docker-compose.yml example below.

docker-compose.yml snippet

  multifeeder:
    image: ghcr.io/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-multifeeder
    tty: true
    container_name: multifeeder
    hostname: multifeeder
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - TZ=${FEEDER_TZ}
      - READSB_NET_CONNECTOR=
         readsb,30005,beast_in;
         dump978,37981,raw_in;
         feed.adsb.fi,30004,beast_reduce_plus_out,uuid=${UUID_ADSBFI};
         feed.adsb.one,64004,beast_reduce_plus_out,uuid=${UUID_ADSBONE};
         in.adsb.lol,30004,beast_reduce_plus_out,uuid=${UUID_ADSBLOL};
         feed.theairtraffic.com,30004,beast_reduce_plus_out,uuid=${UUID_THEAIRTRAFFIC};
         feed.planespotters.net,30004,beast_reduce_plus_out,uuid=${UUID_PLANESPOTTERS}
      - MLAT_CONFIG=
         feed.adsb.fi,31090,39000;
         feed.adsb.one,64006,39001;
         in.adsb.lol,31090,39002;
         feed.theairtraffic.com,31090,39003;
         mlat.planespotters.net,31090,39004
      - READSB_LAT=${FEEDER_LAT}
      - READSB_LON=${FEEDER_LONG}
      - READSB_ALT=${FEEDER_ALT_M}m
      - UUID=01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-4567890abcde
      - MLAT_USER=my_station_id_name

    tmpfs:
      - /run/readsb
      - /var/log

Note - if you split an environment variable across multiple lines, please make sure that every line except for the last line ends on ;, and that all elements are properly aligned as shown in the example.

Receiving MLAT results

If you run the mlathub container, or if you want to make the MLAT results available to your visualization software (piaware, tar1090, etc), you need to tell these containers to connect to the MLAT results port(s) of the multifeeder container. For example, using the settings in the sample docker-compose.yml (above) as a guideline:

      - READSB_NET_CONNECTOR=...;multifeeder,39000,beast_in;multifeeder,39001,beast_in;multifeeder,39002,beast_in;multifeeder,39003,beast_in

Use of beast-reduce to lower the system load

In order to alleviate the load on your system and on the aggregators you are feeding, you can connect to the readsb "beast-reduce" port. This port needs to be enabled in your readsb or dump1090 instance.

These are the configuration changes that you need to make (or verify that they have been made):

• Containerized setup: make sure that for the the readsb-protobuf or tar1090 container, the READSB_BEAST_REDUCE_PORT is set as follows:

     - READSB_NET_BEAST_REDUCE_OUT_PORT=30006

• Non-containerized setup: make sure the following command line parameter is included with readsb or dump1090[-fa|-mutability] setup:

--net-beast-reduce-out-port=30006

Once you have done this, you can point your multifeeder instance at this port:

      - READSB_NET_CONNECTOR=readsb,30006,beast_in;...

List of Aggregators

Site	readsb_url	readsb_port	mlat_url	mlat_port
adsb.fi	feed.adsb.fi	30004	feed.adsb.fi	31090
adsb.one	feed.adsb.one	64004	feed.adsb.one	64006
adsb.lol	feed.adsb.lol	1337	feed.adsb.lol	1338
Planespotters	feed.planespotters.net	30004	mlat.planespotters.net	31090
The Air Traffic	feed.theairtraffic.com	30004	feed.theairtraffic.com	31090

Getting Help

You can log an issue on the project's GitHub. I also have a Discord channel, feel free to join and converse. The #adsb-containers channel is appropriate for conversations about this package.

Summary of License Terms

Multifeeder is Copyright (C) 2023, Ramon F. Kolb (kx1t)

The multifeeder container incorporates readsb and mlat_client, are copyright by their authors and used under the terms of the GPLv3 license.

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/.