Android ADS/B in for $20 available NOW!

It is finally available! I predicted it about a year ago, when I first ordered my tablet, and thought about writing it myself, and asked for help. I am glad there are more ambitious people out there, because they get it done. My Android development skills aren't there yet either. I am working on an app that will use maps, but haven't got to that part yet.

The app is $1.50 in the PlayStore, called ADS-B on USB SDR RTL (beta)  it shows up in apps called "USB ADSB..." on the tablet. The USB dongles are really only about $15-20 US, plus shipping. You will probably need an OTG cable or adapter for a phone or tablet. (The OTG cable allows attaching USB client devices like mice and keyboards to a phone or tablet). Really the cost may approach $50 plus a tablet.

The app shows promise, and really looks nice. It starts the map centered on Lakeland Florida, so it needs to be adjusted to where you are. The maps can be sectional, WAC, IFR, and street maps, and can be selected from a menu. The pinch to zoom works, but the menu allows zooming, along with buttons in the upper corners.

When the app comes up, it displays all the available devices, selecting the available device starts the app. The top part shows the map, the bottom part shows a list of the aircraft that the software has heard recently (can be adjusted in startup menu, defaults to 60 seconds).

It appears to be listening for 1090MHz Mode S with Extended Squitter (ES) transponders. 1090ES is the world wide standard. GA in the US will probably focus mostly on the 978MHz UAT devices, since there is more bandwidth available to those devices. See UAT or 1090ES in my other blog).

The developer says it will have weather eventually. Weather alone would make this app worth while, but the aircraft positions is a huge benefit. "Mounting" a tablet in an aircraft isn't hard, and there are a few adapters to make it easy. 

This doesn't completely compete with the Garmin GDL-39, and their Pilot app, but it will give you the chance to see what is possible, and the benefits to having ADS/B service.

I had trouble using it. The SDR dongle is very sensitive to the antenna chosen. I found a link to a site were there are extensive design and testing of antennas especially for ADS-B reception:

http://forum.planefinder.net/threads/ads-b-diy-antenna.23

I chose the simple 1/4 wave dipole and was able to get some reception. I didn't want a large antenna, nor an amplified one. I want to be able to use this portable in rental aircraft and such. It did seem if I got the SDR farther away from the tablet, it worked better. I used a USB extender to do that.

The battery life doesn't seem to be negatively affected running the SDR dongle, the screen still eats most of the battery. Someone suggested a split OTG cable, so it could be connected to power while running the SDR dongle. That is a great idea.

I can't say this will save a life, or replace TCAS for alerting, but it could help someone get the big picture when ATC calls out traffic.

If everyone only does ADS-B in, it looses some of the benefit. The future will require us to use ADS-B out as well, then everyone should be on the same level.

I guess I might be committed to Samsung (for now)

I finally got my tablet, maybe two weeks ago. It was off of eBay again. This time the experience was amazing. It showed up when promised, and with some extras. 

I got a Samsung 16GB Galaxy Note 10.1. It is WiFi only, and I am ok with that for now. Once in a while I would like it connected while I am away from WiFi connections, but mostly I get by. I have the NoteII, and can mostly do what I need to on that. The Note II can act as a hotspot, but I am on an old contract with T-Mobile, and they will charge an extra $20/month if I do that. I've asked about switching to their monthly plan, since that has hotspot included. The guy at the store was vague, about the savings, and I was in a hurry, so I went home, and wished I had more time.

Overall the tablet experience is great! The Samsung will allow running many apps in separate windows, and you can see them all. It is clunky, with the touch interface, and forces click to type, rather than hover (I am an old X windows user, I still rely on hover to type to be efficient). It is probably the most useful feature that Samsung added over the stock android. Touch wiz is fine, no specific complaints. 

Surprises in the software included Peel a TV controller, super easy to setup. PS Touch a fancy media editor. FlipBoard a news reader. When I first logged in, the apps all synced up with my phone! It was good and bad. My kids had a bunch of games so the games are mostly on both my phone and the tablet. I keep saying I'll clean them up, but so far I really havn't (I've had the angry birds making noises in meetings!).

I mostly won't setup a Samsung account. I see nothing for me compared to the Google version of the same services. When I got the phone, it came with a DropBox account, so I signed up, but I only use the Google Drive. 

The screen is readable in sunlight. Unless the sun is pointing right at the screen, you can see it all the time. It has enough bezel so holding the device, you aren't pressing buttons. 

It came without swype or any of the drag around keyboards. I thought that was going to be bad, but with the 10 in screen in landscape, the stock keyboard is mostly usable.  I did get a bluetooth keyboard for it. It makes a nice cover. The one I got is aluminium, and will snap to the front or back. Snapping it on the back is nice when it isn't needed in meeting and such. It is super lightweight, so light that you can't stand the 10in tablet in portrait mode, since the tablet will tip it over. It isn't as good as a laptop, since the screen will pop out if you wiggle around.

Battery life is pretty amazing. A couple days on a charge is really good. The proprietary connector is a pain. I did order an OTG dongle, but that hasn't arrived yet. It is kind of big, so I probably won't use it much.  

The UI is pretty standard. Nothing special there, other than the window controls. I am getting to like Google Now, so I am ok with letting Google read my mail and such.

I've also been Listening to +AndroidCentral, +AllAboutAndroid and +ThisWeekInGoogle podcasts from Google IO. Lots of good stuff coming making the whole Android experience richer. I see only good things coming up.

Write Soon 

I got a couple days...

Before the MAX31855's show up. So I can afford some distractions. The STM32F3 discovery board I ordered showed up. This board will probably be pretty useful. I still want to do some instruments, and this could be the strap down IRU maybe. It seems to have enough GPIO pins on the board to maybe even be an air data computer by adding a couple pressure sensors to it. It only has USB IO so connecting it to an Android might be a challenge.

I've been listening to the GoogleIO podcasts and the Android library has a nice IO library that allows similar calls for Bluetooth and USB. I think it requires 4.1 though, and may or may not have backward compatibility. I really feel I missed out on this years conference. I don't know why it wasn't even on my list this last year. They gave away a really cool ADK kit that is like an alarm clock, but allows many development options, including demo code for connecting euther Bluetooth or USB.

I figure between the ADK libraries and some demo code for the STM32 discovery board, I ought to be able to connect them together. I need to play with USB hubs though. The physical connectors are either USB minis or USB micros and nothing has a A connector. The discovery board has two USB mini connectors, and the tablets and phones have USB mini connectors. I believe the phones support USB On-The-Go so that should work, but I still need a cable. That is there I think the HUB would work, since I have plenty of A to Mini and A to micro cables.

Sure enough, once you start looking, good things happen! There are A female adapters to mini and micro B connectors, or individual ones. This is going my way now.

Some phones have gyros, and most have compasses with accelerometers, so why have this board in the plane? Few tablets have gyros, and that is what I want in the dash of the plane. The compass may not work in all orientations, or near whatever is in the panel either. Having this board allows placing the gyros and compass in known good locations, and having the air data information integrated will allow any tablet to be used, and know it will work at all times.

I may not finish this in the next couple days, but that is OK. I have plenty to follow up on, and read about and plan. Give me a couple months, and I think I'll have something working.