In this update:
- New firmware features!
- ADSBee 1090U back in stock.
- People in government yell not nice things at each other about ADS-B in.
- Cryptic mention of future product announcements.
💾 Firmware Updates!
We pushed out a number of notable firmware updates in May, and the most recent firmware as of writing (0.9.0-rc19) is absolutely our best one yet! We’ve resolved some bugs with the demodulator and are seeing new records for packet rates from devices in the field, and have also massively improved the stability of OTA functions, the network stack, and our custom inter-processor communication stack.
Interestingly, the fixes to our demodulator quickly necessitated further improvements downstream to the way we pass packets between processors, and the way our network stack handles TCP messages, as we were having trouble clearing out messages as fast as they were coming in! With the full suite of improvements in place, we’re seeing message rates of 300+ messages per second being sent to multiple aggregators without issue on quite a few ADSBee installs. Our improved reporting stack is capable of sustaining 300+ message per second feeds even with different Mode S Beast feed styles being sent to different aggregators (for instance, some feeds with UAT and some without).
We also resolved a few issues with our GDL90 reporting protocol (which is used for interfacing with flight bag apps like AeroADSB / Foreflight / FlyQ EFB / Avare). I’d like to extend a special thanks to Pascal Dreer at Lakehorn AG for his efforts in testing our GDL90 feed and providing detailed bug reports.
Perhaps of most interest is our overhaul of the web UI on ADSBee as well as the introduction of a new reporting protocol. We finally added the often-requested dark mode option to ADSBee’s built-in webpage, and also implemented a whole new reporting protocol that mimic readsb’s aircraft.json protocol. The Aircraft JSON protocol is now available over USB, serial, and network (you can access it via WebSocket by visiting <your adsbee IP address>/aircraft). This JSON protocol is used to implement a live aircraft map that is served by every ADSBee. Just visit your ADSBee’s IP address or hostname, and click on the “Radar” tab at the top of the screen! You will be greeted by a leaflet map with small icons representing each aircraft being tracked by your ADSBee. Clicking on an aircraft will pull up a detailed information panel along with a trail of where the aircraft has flown. Aircraft are color coded by altitude in a manner very similar to tar1090, an open source aircraft map software by @wiedehopf, who has been a great friend of the ADSBee project.
The live onboard map requires internet access to load map tiles, so this isn’t exactly a fully self-contained off-grid solution, but the live map does make it easy to see what kind of range you are getting from your ADSBee without needing to fire up a separate mapping software or external app.
Users who edit their feeds via the ADSBee web interface will be pleased to see the new GUI feed edit option. Feed edits that previously required an AT command can now be done via the web UI with some easy clicks! We’re excited to bring additional settings interfaces to the web UI in the coming months; our goal is to make the ADSBee fully compatible with both the current command line interface, as well as a convenient point-and-click webpage interface that can be used on desktop or mobile devices.
🔧 Hardware Updates
Our stock of ADSBee 1090U got cleared out last month, but we’re pleased to announce that a new batch of freshly manufactured devices has just landed! All backorders have been shipped, and new orders for 1090U’s are being fulfilled daily.
📅 Upcoming Events
Open Sauce: July 18-19
ADSBee is exhibiting at Open Sauce 2026, located at the San Mateo Event Center. We will have new products and a few thousand stickers, come say hi and chat with us about ADSBee (and ADSB).
EAA Airventure: July 20-26
We are going where the planes are! Come see us in the vendor hall at EAA Airventure 2026 in Oshkosh, WI! We will be sharing our booth with RAD Aero and their line of experimental aircraft avionics (which use ADSBee)!
Astute observers will note that these events are extremely adjacent to each other. We have also made this observation, and will be enjoying our last minute redeye flights between the two. Yay!
🐝 ADSB-in in the news
ADSB seems to be a bit of a hot topic in the news recently. I’m pleased to say that ADSBee can provide ADSB-in functionality for slightly less than $50,000 per aircraft. 🙂
📢 Product Announcements
We have two large product announcements coming in late June / early July. Stay tuned!