[Hackrf-dev] Adding HackRF support to dump1090

Thu Jul 2 07:37:07 EDT 2015

Working well so far, only problem is the hackrf needs the rf amp enabled to have the same if not slightly better performance than a Realtek dongle, at the risk of blowing the thing I am using a cheap external LNA that I got for ~$30 based on the PSA4-5043+ MMIC amplifier, with this thing attached im seeing at least 3-4 more planes then with the Realtek.

From: Donald Pupecki [mailto:pupeckd at sunyit.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, 2 July 2015 8:35 AM
To: Ilker Temir
Cc: hackrf-dev at greatscottgadgets.com; Tom N; Chris Kuethe
Subject: Re: [Hackrf-dev] Adding HackRF support to dump1090

I was gonna look at UHD too... but won't have the time for a while....so if anyone else is eager...

On Jul 1, 2015 1:19 PM, "Ilker Temir" <ilker at ilkertemir.com <mailto:ilker at ilkertemir.com> > wrote:

Thanks Chris. I renamed it to dump1090_sdrplus from dump1090_hackrf to reflect additional SDR device support.

https://github.com/itemir/dump1090_sdrplus

On 7/1/15 10:13 AM, Chris Kuethe wrote:

I've just merged airspy support into dump1090_hackrf. This weekend I'll try rip out device-specific airspy/hackrf support in favor of libosmosdr to allow compatibility with even more devices

On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 6:12 PM, Chris Kuethe <chris.kuethe at gmail.com <mailto:chris.kuethe at gmail.com> > wrote:

Great.  The amp is not enabled by default, so that you don't cook your receiver in case you have some strong local sources. 

Expect a bit more code churn later tonight; I've almost got airspy support working too.

On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 6:07 PM, Tom <vsboost at hotmail.com <mailto:vsboost at hotmail.com> > wrote:

Thanks, 

Its running quite well so far, got 6 planes with these settings and 10 with the lna on.

On 29 Jun 2015 10:58 am, Chris Kuethe <chris.kuethe at gmail.com <mailto:chris.kuethe at gmail.com> > wrote:

I've adjusted the default gain to 32/48 from 40/62.

On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 5:02 PM, Ilker Temir <ilker at ilkertemir.com <mailto:ilker at ilkertemir.com> > wrote:

Sure, I am glad it's been useful.

Default gains are the maximums but they can be adjusted from the CLI with --vga-gain and --lna-gain options.

On Jun 28, 2015, at 4:44 PM, Tom <vsboost at hotmail.com <mailto:vsboost at hotmail.com> > wrote:

Thanks for making this, I think the default vga gain of 60 is quite much, I had better luck with around 28.

Have only been running it for a few min so I cant compare yet.

From: HackRF-dev [mailto:hackrf-dev-bounces at greatscottgadgets.com] On Behalf Of Ilker Temir
Sent: Monday, 29 June 2015 3:16 AM
To: hackrf-dev at greatscottgadgets.com <mailto:hackrf-dev at greatscottgadgets.com> 
Subject: Re: [Hackrf-dev] Adding HackRF support to dump1090

Here it goes: https://github.com/itemir/dump1090_hackrf

I can get some reception from my window with the standard HackRF antenna.

Ilkers-MacBook-Pro:dump1090_hackrf itemir$ ./dump1090 
No supported RTLSDR devices found.
HackRF successfully initialized (AMP Enable: 0, LNA Gain: 40, VGA Gain: 62).
*5dab7437d7920a;
CRC: d7920a (ok)
Single bit error fixed, bit 10
DF 11: All Call Reply.
  Capability  : Level 2+3+4 (DF0,4,5,11,20,21,24,code7 - is on airborne)
  ICAO Address: ab7437

*5fa69b92ccd411;
CRC: ccd411 (ok)
Single bit error fixed, bit 13
DF 11: All Call Reply.
  Capability  : Level 7 ???
  ICAO Address: a69b92

*5dab9091529b68;
CRC: 529b68 (ok)
Single bit error fixed, bit 24
DF 11: All Call Reply.
  Capability  : Level 2+3+4 (DF0,4,5,11,20,21,24,code7 - is on airborne)
  ICAO Address: ab9091

Feedback and contributions welcome.

On 6/27/15 7:27 PM, Tom wrote:

Well done.

Look forward to trying this out.

From: HackRF-dev [mailto:hackrf-dev-bounces at greatscottgadgets.com] On Behalf Of Ilker Temir
Sent: Sunday, 28 June 2015 11:49 AM
To: Donald Pupecki
Cc: hackrf-dev at greatscottgadgets.com <mailto:hackrf-dev at greatscottgadgets.com> 
Subject: Re: [Hackrf-dev] Adding HackRF support to dump1090

Thanks! signed to unsigned conversion was the culprit. I first tested it with cox by converting the file and then tweaked my code to do that within the receive path. 

I now have a working port of dump1090 to HackRF. I need to do some cleanup but as soon as done, will post it on GitHub and announce on this forum.

On 6/27/15 1:29 PM, Donald Pupecki wrote:

I don't believe hackrf_transfer and rtl_sdr output in the same format. They are both 8 bit but the hackrf output is signed whereas the rtl output is unsigned. 

If you get this working a hackrf please post the port on github or somewhere as that would be sweet.

On Jun 27, 2015 4:00 PM, "Ilker Temir" <ilker at ilkertemir.com <mailto:ilker at ilkertemir.com> > wrote:

Hello,

I am trying to add HackRF support to Salvatore Sanfilippo's dump1090 tool (https://github.com/antirez/dump1090) as a learning exercise. The tool was originally designed for RTL SDR devices. However, I can't seem to get this port to work.

To eliminate potential issues in my code, I simplified the troubleshooting steps. Here are the basic set of troubleshooting steps I am using:

Per tool's documentation, a data file can be captured with rtl_sdr utility in the following way: 

        rtl_sdr -f 1090000000 -s 2000000 -g 50 output.bin

Then you can pipe it into dump1090 like this:
        dump1090 --ifile output.bin

I made an assumption that the HackRF equivalent of rtl_sdr command above would be the following:

        hackrf_transfer -r output.bin -f 1090000000 -s 2000000 -p 0 -a 0 -l 40 -g 62

However, capturing packets with HackRF this way and piping them into dump1090 doesn't do anything. I have tried this sitting next to an airport and capturing packets while planes were landing and taking off. I don't have an RTL SDR dongle so I can't test the rtl_sdr command myself. It didn't make to sense to buy a RTL SDR device after HackRF but if I can't crack this, I am considering to buy one. 

BTW, I also tried different gain settings, and sample rate of 8e6 with hackrf_transfer, no difference. That said, I never enabled amp_enable. 

Would anyone know if rtl_sdr and hackrf_transfer capture the packets in the same way and format? Or do I need to do some kind of a conversion or translation in between the two to make them compatible? 

Any help or idea will be appreciated.

P.S. I am aware of gr-air-modes for HackRF to decode ADS-B signals. My goal is to hack dump1090 and add HackRF support as a learning exercise. 

Thanks,

Ilker

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-- 

GDB has a 'break' feature; why doesn't it have 'fix' too?

-- 

GDB has a 'break' feature; why doesn't it have 'fix' too?

-- 

GDB has a 'break' feature; why doesn't it have 'fix' too?

-- 

Ilker Temir 

 <https://twitter.com/IlkerTemir>  <https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilkertemir> 

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