Dump1090 ADS-B receiver

What you’re building

FlightAware’s dump1090-fa receives and decodes ADS-B, Mode S, and Mode 3A/C aircraft transponder messages from a directly connected SDR or a network feed. With HackRF support compiled in, a HackRF One can act as the receiver while a Linux or Unix-like host performs demodulation, decoding, and presentation. Results can appear as terminal data or a browser map, and PiAware can optionally forward them to FlightAware. The repository is designed primarily to build Debian/Raspbian packages and explicitly offers libhackrf as one of several SDR backends; manual make builds are also supported. The expected outcome is a local view of aircraft messages that the antenna and RF environment can receive. The key constraint is editorial accuracy: this is not firmware flashed to HackRF, and the repository’s default packaging is broader than HackRF. A suitable 1090 MHz antenna, host compute, libhackrf-enabled build, and receive-only lawful operation are required.

Key steps

1. Attach a 1090 MHz-capable antenna to HackRF One, connect it to the host, and verify the host can see the receiver through libhackrf.
2. Install the repository’s Debian/Raspbian build dependencies, including libhackrf-dev, or select the custom,hackrf build profile when intentionally limiting SDR backends.
3. Run prepare-build.sh for the host’s supported Debian release, enter the generated package directory, and build an unsigned binary package; use make only for a manual unsupported-installation path.
4. Install and start the resulting dump1090-fa service or binary with HackRF support enabled, then open the local terminal output or browser map.
5. Verify plausible nearby aircraft messages and tune only receive-side antenna placement and gain; add PiAware sharing only after reviewing its separate configuration and privacy implications.