• Firmware
• Hardware
• EU Distributor
• Events
  • XPonential
  • Open Sauce
  • EAA Airventure
• New project!

Howdy bee friends! It’s been a very busy month at Pants for Birds. Here’s what we’ve been up to!

💾 Firmware

📶 0.9.0-rc15

We have a new firmware release candidate available for testing, 0.9.0-rc15! This release candidates includes a number of significant features and bug fixes that were introduced within the past month of development by Pants for Birds and members of the ADSBee developer community. Here’s a few of the big ones:

• Fixes FIS-B weather messages forwarded over GDL90 / WiFi UDP. This means UAT weather information now streams properly to apps like Foreflight / Avare / FlyQ EFB!
• Introduces a new CSBee protocol version 3, mostly compatible with CSBee protocol version 2 (more info below).
• Properly distinguishes between direct aircraft contacts and rebroadcasts on both Mode S and UAT. Mode S aircraft have a new “non transponder” bit flag to indicate they are being rebroadcast, and UAT aircraft include a 4-bit address qualifier at the beginning of their ICAO address (which can be up to 28 bits instead of 24 bits). These details are available as part of CSBee protocol version 3, and the expanded ICAO address for UAT aircraft means they are now assigned separate entries in the aircraft dictionary.
• MAVLINK component ID (thanks @AndersonRayner) and protocol versions corrected in MAVLINK1/MAVLINK2 reporting protocols.
• General GDL90 improvements (thanks @snax01).

⛅ 0.9.0 Stable is on the horizon!

We’re in the final stretch before we cut a stable 0.9.0 firmware. The 0.9.0 release candidate train started in September of last year with the initial implementation of dual band receiver firmware on ADSBee 1090U, and we’ve spent a significant amount of time massively improving performance, enhancing stability, and adding key features since then. There’s been a list of important bugs to fix throughout the duration of our run of 0.9.0 release candidate firmwares, and I’m happy to say that we’ve systematically worked through just about all of them at this point. Since September of last year, we’ve gone from what was essentially a dual band proof of concept ADS-B receiver to a reliable receiver workhorse that’s been deployed in hundreds of locations across the world on drones, balloons, ground stations, tactical radios, ground vehicles, and experimental avionics systems.

Work will not be slowing down once we reach a 0.9.0 firmware milestone that meets our criteria for a “stable” release. I’m excited to share more about some of the very interesting plans we have in the pipe!

🔧 Hardware

🛒 ADSBee 1090U Stock

Our most recent round of ADSBee 1090U’s is just about sold out! If you need a receiver soon, there’s still a few in stock. We have another build in process and should have additional stock landing before the end of this month.

🧩 ADSBee m1090 in Stock!

Our first production run of ADSBee m1090’s has arrived. If you are looking to build ADSBee 1090U style dual band ADS-B reception into your custom design, these modules are a fantastic way to do it. We have bulk pricing available up to 100 unit quantities!

🇪🇺 EU Distributor

We are pleased to introduce our EU distributor, Hentronic! If you are looking for ADSBee in Europe or the UK, and want to avoid expensive international shipping from our US shop, Hentronic is an excellent option. Shipping to most EU locations is very affordable, and no import tariff is required.

📅 Events

❎ XPonential

I’ll be at XPonential as an attendee (not an exhibitor) next week. If you have an interest in open source ADSB for your embedded application, and you’ll be at the show, I’d love to meet up and have a chat!

🤖 Open Sauce

We are happy to announce that ADSBee has been accepted to exhibit at Open Sauce this year! Catch us showing off some new projects (and products) before we do a crazy all night transportation bender to get to EAA Airventure which starts the following Monday (hoo boy).

🛩️ EAA Airventure

ADSBee will be exhibiting at EAA Airventure, along with one of our partner businesses, RAD Aero! RAD Aero builds Electronic Flight Information Systems (EFIS) for experimental aircraft, along with a CAN bus ADS-B receiver based on the ADSBee m1090 module.

Bryan at RAD Aero (@snax01 on Github) has been a very helpful open source contributor and beta tester for the ADSBee 1090 firmware, and we’re excited to be attending the World’s Coolest Airshow with him.

👀 New Project

We’ve been busy cooking up a major new project based on the ADSBee m1090 module. Things are still in the early prototype phase, but we have a device name and preliminary feature list that’s ready to share very soon. Stay tuned for a separate announcement!

In the meantime, here’s what the less interesting side of it looks like 🙂