Kedtracker

Ked Tracker - Open Glider Network tracker hardware

Based on design by glidernet.org project: http://wiki.glidernet.org/ogn-tracker-diy.

It is a small airborn avionic device that periodically transmits aircraft position. Signal is picked up by ground-based receivers and published on Open Glider Network, so that aircraft position can be found on various aircraft tracking systems, like http://glidertracker.de/ or https://www.flightradar24.com/. It is also received by other OGN tracker devices in the vicinity and can be used to improve pilot' situation awareness. See http://wiki.glidernet.org/ for more information.

Ked Tracker is designed using KiCad electronic schematic and PCB design software.

Features

• Can be powered from onboard 12V power supply (or any 9-24V power supply for that matter).

• Standard NMEA output.

• Uses FLARM NMEA sentences to report detected nearby aircrafts for interoperability with existing hardware and software.

• Communication via standard IGC RJ45 socket. Allows to re-use existing equipment like FLARM viewers or cables.

• Communication via USB interface. Device is visible as virtual COM port when connected to a computer. Requires no special cables other then standerd micro-USB cable. Device can also be powered by 5V from USB interface.

• Communication via Bluetooth. For hassle-free wireless connection with phone or tablet.

• Barometric sensor onboard for more precise altitude measurement.

• Slot for SD-card. Currently for logging device activity. Firmware for IGC flight logger is pending.

• Beeper to provide sound feedback for important events.

Schematics

Current schematics can be also downloaded in PDF format.

Setting Up Development Environment

You will need to install additional packages for development. Packages for ubuntu are specified here; other operating systems might have similar requirements.

Building Firmware and Flashing MCU

sudo apt install gcc-arm-none-eabi openocd picocom
sudo add-user `whoami` plugdev
sudo add-user `whoami` dialout

Developing Hardware

sudo apt install kicad