New in 0.16.0: the original EchoScope can provide aircraft photos, maps, airports, routes and weather without an info server. An optional server still adds space stations, logbook, family-flight tracking and stargazing pages. Both the original and Mini also gain four optional radar visitors: Dr Evil, Nyan Cat, Santa and a UFO. Release notes and downloads.
A miniature radar station for the aircraft overhead.
A live aircraft radar for the VIEWE UEDX46460015-MD50ET rotary touchscreen: an ESP32-S3 with a 1.5-inch round AMOLED, touch input, encoder and push button.
Aircraft data is supplied by adsb.fi over Wi-Fi. No ADS-B receiver is required. A labelled demo is available before configuration.
The original provides standalone aircraft photos, airports, weather, routes and cached maps; feature sources and setup describe what works without Docker. A capable info server takes priority automatically.
- North-up radar centred on your location, with 5 / 10 / 25 / 50 / 100 km ranges.
- Rotate to zoom or select aircraft; hold and rotate to change the mode.
- Bold, brighter footer text shows what rotation controls.
- Touch an aircraft to see callsign, registration, type, altitude, ground speed, ground track, distance, bearing and position age where available.
- Faint altitude-coloured flight paths, with the selected path showing historical altitude colours, thicker and brighter above other paths.
- N/E/S/W compass labels and a decorative radar sweep.
- Local Wi-Fi/location setup, saved settings, stale-data indication and reconnection handling.
Latest release: 0.16.0 for both devices. Update the Docker information server too if you use it; the Mini does not require one.
A standalone ESP32-C3 / 240×240 Mini is available separately: Mini setup and controls. Build/upload it with make mini-build / make mini-upload; the normal targets continue to serve the larger knob.
Optional radar visitors work on both devices without an info server.
The user has confirmed the existing display, Wi-Fi, radar, touch and rotary controls on the VIEWE device. New release checks and remaining physical-device validation are recorded in VALIDATION.md.
| Input | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Rotate on radar | Adjust selected range / aircraft+airport selection / altitude / type mode; starts in selection mode |
| Rotate on a detail/info view | Next item clockwise, preserving the current page |
| Single mechanical click | Open highlighted aircraft/airport or selected Information entry; close setup |
| Double mechanical click | Return to radar; from radar, open Information when available |
| Hold and rotate on radar | Cycle Range / Aircraft / Altitude / Type modes |
| Hold and rotate in details | Cycle the selected item's pages, including airport approach and logbook trace |
Tap < / > or swipe |
Cycle available pages within the selected item |
| Centre tap on a detail view | Return to radar |
| Tap aircraft / blank radar | Open tapped / highlighted aircraft |
| Tap visible airport icon or label | Open that airport's details; aircraft overlapping it take priority |
| Tap bottom range / plane count / Alt / Type | Select mode; tap again to advance its value |
| Touch and hold still for 2 seconds | Open Information |
| Hold mechanical button still for 5 seconds | Open setup |
Mechanical clicks wait 400 ms to distinguish a double-click, matching the Mini.
Hold-and-turn consumes the release and does not trigger setup. Touch shortcuts
remain available on the original; all item/page navigation also works by knob.
Airport touch links require the updated information server (git pull then
make docker on the server). The selected airport is included even if it falls
outside the usual nearest-nine list.
Touch and mechanical-click events remain combined into one gesture. A two-second screen hold consumes the release tap, so it cannot immediately close the menu. The old top filter and INFO button are removed. See UI conventions.
The target has an ESP32-S3, 16 MB flash and 8 MB OPI PSRAM. Use the existing ribbon/USB adapter. Its jumper functions have not been verified here.
Run make setup to install the local tools. If desired, preserve the factory firmware before uploading:
.tools/venv/bin/python -m esptool --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyACM0 read_flash 0x0 0x1000000 factory-backup.binBuild with make firmware or download the release assets first. With the device in upload mode, write the merged image at 0x0:
.tools/venv/bin/python -m esptool --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyACM0 write_flash 0x0 dist/echoscope-merged.binUse the serial port your device exposes. The commands use esptool 4.x syntax. Restart normally without holding BOOT after flashing.
- Join EchoScope-Setup using the randomly generated Wi-Fi password displayed on the knob.
- Open http://192.168.4.1.
- Enter your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi credentials and the decimal latitude/longitude at the centre of your radar. West and south use negative coordinates.
- Save. The device connects, synchronises its clock and starts retrieving aircraft.
Before saving settings, press/tap to explore the labelled demo, then hold the knob to return to setup. Demo aircraft are never substituted for live aircraft after setup. Credentials and location stay in device storage; location is sent to adsb.fi to request nearby aircraft. The setup form never displays the saved Wi-Fi password. A blank password preserves it when retaining the same SSID.
When connected, holding the knob opens setup showing your configured SSID and LAN IP; browse to that IP from the same network. The EchoScope-Setup access point is off while connected. If the configured network is unavailable for 30 seconds, the fallback access point starts and setup shows its credentials/address instead. Opening setup manually while disconnected also starts it. Reconnecting shuts the access point down automatically. Setup access closes five minutes after being opened if Wi-Fi is connected. A failed connection leaves recovery setup available. Holding the knob reopens it. Range starts at the configured startup range after reboot; rotation mode resets. Wi-Fi and location persist.
Flash the application-only image at 0x10000, retaining Wi-Fi and location:
.tools/venv/bin/python -m esptool --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyACM0 write_flash 0x10000 dist/echoscope-app-0.2.3.binThis offset assumes an existing EchoScope installation with this project's partition layout. The merged image spans the settings partition; use it for first installation, not a settings-preserving update. Firmware checksums are in dist/SHA256SUMS.
Prerequisites: Linux/macOS, Python 3.10 or newer with venv and pip, GNU Make, Git and a C++17 compiler (g++/clang++ for host tests). On Windows, use WSL for builds or PlatformIO directly; USB access needs separate configuration. The Makefile creates its Python environment and PlatformIO toolchain under .tools/ in the project; it does not install packages system-wide.
git clone https://github.com/MrPsyware/echoscope.git
cd echoscope
make setup
make test
make firmwareFirmware images and checksums appear in dist/. After entering upload mode:
make backup PORT=/dev/ttyACM0 # optional: preserves a full 16 MB flash copy
make flash-full PORT=/dev/ttyACM0 # first installation only
# OR, for updates to an existing installation:
make upload PORT=/dev/ttyACM0 # writes only the application, retaining settings
make monitor PORT=/dev/ttyACM0Run make help for all commands, including deps, build, ports and clean. clean keeps downloaded tools and backups. You can override PYTHON, CXX, PORT, BAUD and PLATFORMIO_CORE_DIR. Use make -j only for a single target; operations that share PlatformIO's build directory should not be run simultaneously.
Prebuilt images are available from GitHub Releases.
| Device | Application update | First installation | Checksums |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original ESP32-S3, 466×466 touch | echoscope-app-0.16.0.bin |
echoscope-merged.bin |
SHA256SUMS |
| Mini ESP32-C3, 240×240 | echoscope-mini-app-0.16.0.bin |
echoscope-mini-merged.bin |
MINI-SHA256SUMS |
Use only the image for your device. Application updates retain saved settings; merged images are for first installation and overwrite the configuration area. The original supports USB or unlocked wireless upload; the Mini currently uses USB. See Mini build and upload instructions.
On the Docker server, update with git pull then make docker. Existing cache
and logbook volumes are retained; do not remove volumes during this update.
The older project name was Sky Knob; its NVS storage namespace is intentionally retained for settings compatibility. The setup Wi-Fi is now EchoScope-Setup.
The first build downloads the toolchain. Dependencies are pinned in platformio.ini: Arduino-ESP32 3.1.1 through PioArduino, Espressif Display Panel 1.0.3 and LVGL 8.4.0, among others.
The supported BOARD_VIEWE_UEDX46460015_MD50ET definition is used. Its touch wiring differs from the manufacturer's README table:
- Encoder A/B: GPIO6 / GPIO5. Push button: GPIO0. Two transitions per detent.
- Driver touch configuration: SDA GPIO1 / SCL GPIO3, CST820.
- CO5300 QSPI display: GPIO12 CS, GPIO10 clock, GPIO13/11/14/9 data, GPIO8 reset and GPIO17 power.
- Driver resolution: 472 × 466; the round 466 × 466 interface is centred within it. RGB565 byte swapping is enabled.
- Network/Arduino task: CPU core 0. LVGL: core 1. Render period adapts to leave at least 50 ms after drawing, with a maximum of five frames per second.
Up to 64 valid airborne aircraft within 100 km are retained, prioritising watchlist matches and then nearest distance. Rotation skips aircraft outside the current visible range. Selection follows aircraft identity across updates. Unknown fields are shown as unavailable. The optional info server supplies flight-route information on a second detail page when available.
Trails retain the path while the aircraft remains visible and fresh. They clear when the aircraft disappears, exits the current range (including after zooming), or its position ages past 60 seconds. Re-entry starts a new history. The start of the encounter is preserved while older geometry is simplified when the bounded 192-point history fills. Straight sections are simplified within a 20-metre tolerance. Histories are stored in PSRAM and clipped at the radar boundary.
The sweep is decorative: aircraft are shown at their last reported positions, without extrapolation. Coverage depends on the feed's receivers.
Aircraft are requested from https://opendata.adsb.fi/api/v3/lat/{lat}/lon/{lon}/dist/54. Polling waits five seconds after a successful request; failures back off up to two minutes. HTTP 429 waits two minutes. An empty successful feed clears the list; a failed request retains the ageing snapshot. Positions dim after 20 seconds and disappear from the radar after 60 seconds.
HTTPS verifies the hostname and certificate using Google Trust Services Roots R1 and R4. A valid clock is required. The pinned TLS client advertises HTTP/1.1 and an ECDHE AES-GCM cipher set. On the first failed feed connection per boot, it tests a verified TLS handshake to pki.goog, without sending an HTTP request or location data. Serial logs include network, TLS, task and rendering diagnostics.
The currently pinned Arduino core can emit Bad file number messages even while verified TLS and live updates succeed. These messages remain an unresolved client-integration issue; inspect the [network] and [tls] results rather than assuming every such line represents a failed fetch.
Use the adsb.fi public API in accordance with its personal/non-commercial terms and rate limits. API access is not guaranteed.
make test compiles and runs the model/input and JSON tests on the host. They cover projection, range and selection behaviour, touch/button arbitration, history cleanup and clipping, JSON validation and capacity bounds. make firmware validates the generated application partition offset before merging images.
GitHub Actions runs setup, host tests and a complete firmware build on pushes and pull requests, and stores firmware as a downloadable workflow artifact. See VALIDATION.md for prior checks and hardware limitations.
A vintage radar-station-style 3D-printed enclosure is planned. CAD/STL files and assembly instructions will be added when available; they are not included yet.
This is a new application inspired by MatixYo/ESP32-Plane-Radar. Hardware support comes from the VIEWE examples and Espressif libraries.
Original application code is MIT licensed. See LICENSE and THIRD_PARTY.md for component attribution and licences.
Run make monitor PORT=/dev/ttyACM0 to see each request's HTTP status, response byte count (-1 means unknown advertised length), read timing, parsed/retained aircraft counts and retry delay. Failures also report the exact ArduinoJson decoder error or missing ac array, incomplete-body reason, selected response headers (including Retry-After and CF-Ray when present), memory and Wi-Fi state, and at most 240 characters of the response prefix. Remote text is flattened to printable single-line text. Error-body reads are limited to 1 KiB/one second; successful-response reads to 512 KiB/eight seconds. Repeated failures are logged even when the screen status has not changed.
Capture the complete [feed] block around a failure to distinguish an API error page, rate limit, truncated transfer or memory issue. A prefix can contain aircraft positions returned by the public feed. The radar zoom changes the display only; requests always use the saved home latitude/longitude and /dist/54.
Version 0.2.5 also logs the approximate zero-based parser stopping offset, a 200-character context window, up to 33 hexadecimal bytes around the stop, and the last 200 response characters. Capture these lines with the failure headers. For a response without Content-Length, transport ended=yes only means the connection closed; JSON parsing must still succeed.
Version 0.2.6 fixes large-response corruption in the pinned Arduino core by accumulating response bytes in a fixed-capacity PSRAM buffer instead of growing an Arduino String. The successful-response buffer is 512 KiB, freed after each request. JSON failure diagnostics remain enabled.
Version 0.2.7 samples the mechanical button in a separate task every roughly 5 ms, with 30 ms debounce, so a radar render cannot hide a short press. Timestamped button events are handled by the UI; touch overlap suppression and the five-second setup hold remain. Serial [input] lines show releases, touch overlap and accepted clicks.
Tap the top radar label to cycle All → Military → Rotorcraft. Filtering applies to symbols, trails, hit testing and knob selection. A new feed request refills the nearest 64 matching aircraft; the display can be empty briefly while it arrives. Military is the database flag (dbFlags & 1), not an inference from callsign or tracking source. Missing tags do not prove civilian status.
Aircraft use light/large fixed-wing or rotorcraft symbols when classified; unknown classes use a diamond. Classification uses emitter category with a small model-code fallback for common rotorcraft. The independent M badge marks military-tagged aircraft. Selected symbols stay orange; the highlighted trail shows each point’s recorded altitude. Full model descriptions appear on the details screen when supplied.
The radar radius is 210 pixels. Normal live operation has no persistent status banner; stale/error messages remain and adsb.fi attribution appears on the details screen.
The filter stays in the bottom footer beside ALT. It no longer hides, and the north marker stays visible.
After the configured idle period (one hour by default) without touch, press or rotation, the panel and radar rendering turn off. Aircraft polling continues every 30 seconds, returning to the normal 5-second interval while a fresh watchlist match is visible. Request durations and error backoff can extend these intervals. Touch/knob sensing and Wi-Fi remain active; this is display standby, not ESP32 deep sleep. The first interaction wakes the display without changing settings or selection, and requests fresh aircraft data. Serial [power] messages mark sleep and wake.
The original downloads and decodes registration thumbnails directly from Planespotters.net when no capable info server is available. No API key is needed. Eight recent thumbnails are cached in PSRAM; see standalone photo behaviour and caching.
The optional information server adds a shared, persistent photo cache. Start it with make docker (listens on 0.0.0.0:8086), then hold the knob for five seconds to open web setup. Enter http://YOUR-SERVER-IP:8086 in Info server URL, test and save. Leave it blank for standalone operation.
Aircraft details automatically request the actual aircraft's thumbnail by registration when photos are enabled. The same page shows aircraft type, altitude, speed, distance/bearing, track and position age alongside the photo. Turn to select another flight; tap the centre or double-click to return to radar. Photos retain photographer credit; open http://KNOB-IP/photo for the original-photo link. The service caches attributed thumbnails on disk for seven days; its /cache page clears them manually. Missing photos and unavailable servers leave the radar usable. New photo requests pause during standby, and obsolete responses are discarded. Server thumbnails use the bounded image protocol; standalone thumbnails are decoded locally from baseline or progressive JPEGs. See the service README for deployment, provider and protocol details.
The radar radius is now 210 pixels.
Hold-and-turn cycles Range → Aircraft → Altitude → Type → Range. In altitude mode, rotation cycles All, below 5,000 ft, 5,000–14,999 ft, 15,000–29,999 ft, 30,000 ft and above, and unknown altitude. The selected band remains active when changing rotation mode. Filtering happens before the 64-aircraft capacity limit. Range, aircraft-class and altitude filters combine.
Aircraft and their trails use green below 5,000 ft, cyan below 15,000 ft, blue below 30,000 ft and purple above; unknown altitude is muted. The selected aircraft stays orange. Its brighter, thicker trail uses each recorded point’s altitude; other trails use their aircraft’s current altitude. Stale unselected symbols are muted. Altitude is reported barometric altitude, falling back to geometric altitude when unavailable.
Hold for five seconds and open the displayed setup address to configure:
- Brightness: 5–100%, saved and restored after wake/reboot.
- Idle sleep: 0–1,440 whole minutes; 0 disables automatic sleep.
- Watchlists: comma/space-separated types, registrations and callsigns, up to 16 entries per field. Matching ignores case; a trailing
*matches a prefix (B74*,RCH*).A380also matches the ICAOA388code. Other type entries use feed type codes. - Military/helicopter watches: optional category switches; classifications depend on the feed's metadata.
Visible watch matches have a small category-coloured ring. The configurable outer ring activates while any matching aircraft has a position no older than 20 seconds. Alerts respect the selected range and filters, stop when positions age or leave coverage, and never trigger for demo data. Watch matches receive priority when retaining the nearest 64 matching aircraft. Enable Wake screen for watched aircraft in setup to automatically wake on fresh visible matches. It is off by default and needs no info server. Automatic wake returns to sleep when a successful feed has no match, or after 60 seconds without confirmation during a feed failure. Interaction cancels automatic return and starts the normal idle timer. Saved watch rules and display settings survive reboot. Flight details still open by touch and return with a double-click/centre tap.
Space-station predictions are available through the optional information server; they use a separate orbital feed from aircraft data.
Install this version once over USB with make upload PORT=/dev/ttyACM0. The existing 16 MB flash layout already contains two 6.25 MiB application slots, so no repartitioning or settings reset is needed.
For later wireless updates, hold the knob for five seconds to unlock setup, then run from your checkout:
make upload IP=192.168.2.151
make monitor IP=192.168.2.151Upload builds the application, verifies the target protocol and available partition size, and sends it to the inactive slot over local HTTP. The device checks the ESP32-S3 application header, exact byte count and MD5 checksum before selecting the new firmware and rebooting. Interrupted or invalid transfers do not select the incomplete image. A syntactically valid firmware with a runtime bug is not automatically rolled back; keep USB available for recovery. Physical setup unlock is required for every upload session (the existing five-minute window). If the build takes longer, hold again and retry. Only upload trusted EchoScope application firmware, never a merged image. This LAN service is not intended for Internet exposure.
Network monitoring is read-only and does not need setup unlocked. It replays up to 8 KiB of recent application diagnostics, then polls for new logs; it reconnects after Wi-Fi loss/reboot and reports overwritten log data. Feed, TLS, input, power and display diagnostics are included. ROM/bootloader, panic output and Arduino/SDK internal logs still require USB. Feed requests can delay log delivery because the HTTP server shares the network loop. Monitoring does not wake the display; sleep continues reduced-rate aircraft monitoring.
Omit IP to retain USB upload/monitoring. USB app upload also resets OTA selection to app0, so it works after previous wireless updates while preserving Wi-Fi/location/watchlist settings. Docker is not involved. Dotted IPv4 addresses are preferred; commas are normalized for convenience.
Web setup now has an Alert appearance section. Set separate colours for ordinary watchlist matches, helicopters and military aircraft. Colours apply to the outer ring and the small watch markers; aircraft altitude colours and orange selection remain unchanged. Military classification takes precedence over helicopter classification, including for aircraft matched by a type/registration/callsign rule. When multiple categories are visible, the outer ring uses military first, then helicopters, then ordinary watch matches.
The new defaults are a 30% peak brightness, 3-pixel ring and a gentle 4-second pulse. Ordinary watches are green, helicopters cyan and military purple. The gentle pulse fades smoothly from 10% of the chosen peak up to the peak and back, instead of switching fully on/off. Controls are:
- Ring brightness: 0–100%, relative to the overall display brightness; 0 hides the outer ring.
- Ring width: 1–8 pixels.
- Pulse/flash period: 2–12 whole seconds per cycle.
- Effect: Off, Steady, Gentle pulse or Flash. Off leaves the small aircraft markers visible.
Appearance settings persist across reboot. Hold five seconds to unlock setup, open the displayed address, adjust and save. Existing watch rules and display settings are retained when upgrading.
Set Startup range in web setup to 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100 km. The default remains 25 km until changed; normal knob rotation does not overwrite the saved startup choice.
The Docker companion is now EchoScope Info Server. Update it with git pull and make docker on your server, then update the knob firmware. The existing server URL and port work unchanged. See server setup, sources and options.
The server advertises its capabilities. Photos and maps have standalone fallbacks on the original; server-only features disappear when unavailable. Flight details use their full text layout until a matching photo has loaded successfully. A faint, range-matched OpenStreetMap background includes visible attribution; a background toggle appears in setup when supported. The Information menu (hold the screen for two seconds) offers a separate station sky view only when the server has fresh orbital data. Rotate to choose ISS/Tiangong; tap the centre or double-click to return. Pass times use UTC and a 10° elevation threshold; predictions do not imply naked-eye visibility.
The former photo-service/ directory is now info-service/; make docker handles it. The Compose project/service IDs remain unchanged for in-place upgrades. INFO_PORT is the new port override; PHOTO_PORT still works. No external server is required for the aircraft radar.
Update both the information server (git pull then make docker) and the knob firmware. Hold the screen still for two seconds to open Information. Rotate to choose an item and press or tap to open it. Inside a view, rotation changes items and side arrows change pages within the item. Centre tap or double-click returns to radar. Unavailable features are hidden.
In web setup, Family flight appears after the server advertises flight support (allow up to a minute after adding/changing the server URL). Enter a flight number, an optional actual callsign override and an arrival airport such as LGW or EGKK for Gatwick. Leave the flight number blank to hide this menu item. An easyJet booking number can differ from its transmitted EZY/EJU/EZS callsign: the free route database tries to resolve it, but an override may be needed. The example U2123 is only a format example, not a Gatwick flight recommendation.
Family tracking requests the specific callsign independently of the local radar range. It shows fresh position coordinates, registration/type, altitude, speed and direct distance to the configured airport when the airport index knows it. Missing coverage does not mean landed. Duplicate callsigns are reported instead of choosing an arbitrary aircraft. Routes are database information, not confirmed current operational routes; a mismatch with your arrival airport is flagged. Check the date and flight with the airline. This free version has no scheduled/estimated arrival, delay, gate or terminal information. It refreshes about every 20 seconds while that page is open; it is not a background arrival notification service. Existing watchlists continue to apply to local radar aircraft.
Weather / clouds now has three views: next hour, today and the following three days. Icons show clear sky (sun/moon), partial cloud, overcast, rain, snow, thunderstorms or fog. Today includes tonight's mean cloud cover. Daily temperatures are min/max, daily cloud is the mean and daily rain is peak probability; daily wind is the maximum. Next hour uses the next forecast hour after the current model time. Dates/times follow the radar location's timezone, shown on screen. Data refreshes every 15 minutes while viewing the page. These are forecasts, not a measure of astronomical seeing, transparency, moonlight or light pollution.
Nearby airports lists the nine nearest airports/airfields matching the overlay airline/size filters from the cached OurAirports index. Aircraft-specific routes are on the second aircraft details page, not the INFO menu (see below). These features are optional and run through the Docker server. The knob keeps at most nine compact text pages and rejects oversized responses. Information fetching pauses during screen sleep; stale family positions are hidden.
Sources: adsb.fi, adsbdb, Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), and OurAirports (public domain). The free adsb.fi and Open-Meteo services are intended for personal/non-commercial use under their respective terms.
Open an aircraft as usual. The segmented outer ring indicates the selected aircraft. When a route is offered, use < / > to cycle between photo/telemetry and the route. Horizontal swipes remain supported. A centre tap or double-click on either page returns to radar. Rotate to change aircraft; the selected route/details page stays open for the new aircraft. Logbook route/trace pages behave the same way.
The route page shows the database origin/destination and airline when known. This is not a filed flight plan with waypoints, nor confirmed operational routing or ETA. An unavailable route shows a retry status instead of another aircraft's route. Routes are prefetched while viewing details, and a route you opened stays tied to its callsign even if that aircraft leaves radar coverage.
The 380 ms eased transition moves cached LVGL images rather than redrawing text on every animation frame. Two optional 466x466 RGB565 snapshots use 868,624 bytes of PSRAM (about 0.83 MiB). If allocation fails, swipes still change pages immediately. Animation responsiveness depends on the physical display; native previews cannot measure hardware frame rate.
Update both parts for the new weather cards: git pull && make docker on the server, then pull the firmware checkout and use your normal upload command. New firmware also accepts the old server's text weather pages; older firmware can read the new server's text fallback.
Under Maps and airports in web setup (size filters apply to the server dataset; standalone mode uses the built-in/custom airport list):
- Airports: Off, Airline airports (default), or All airports.
- Size: Any (default), Medium + large, or Large only.
- Airport-code labels: enabled by default; IATA codes such as LGW/LHR, falling back to ICAO/local identifiers.
- Colour and brightness: muted blue-grey (
#9BB8CD) at 35% by default; brightness is relative to the display.
Airline airports means the OurAirports dataset reports scheduled airline service; size is a separate dataset category. Closed airports and heliports are excluded. Markers are outlined squares with a symbolic runway bar (not actual runway heading), drawn behind trails and aircraft. Crowded markers/labels and labels near aircraft are omitted. The server returns at most 32 airports within the current radius, prioritising scheduled service, larger airports, then distance. Edge/footer markers may be omitted to preserve the round screen's controls. Zooming in reduces clutter.
Works on plain radar or over the street map. Requires the updated info server's
airport_overlay capability; the overlay/settings disappear if it is absent.
The server reuses its daily OurAirports cache and automatically upgrades older cache
files to retain size categories. The knob refreshes markers on range changes and
every ten minutes while viewing the radar; failures retry after 30 seconds.
No extra API key, image download or framebuffer is needed. Data: OurAirports.
Information → Nearby airports uses the same Airline/All and size filters as the radar overlay, applied before selecting the nearest nine airports. Turning the overlay Off hides markers only; the Information list uses Airline airports with the saved size filter. This prevents closer private airfields crowding out airports such as Gatwick when Airline airports is selected.
Rotate to select an airport; the outer ring shows that selection. Tap < or > to
switch between airport details and a 10 km radius, north-up close-up radar.
Changing airport preserves the page. Centre tap or double-click returns to the
main radar. The airport list refreshes once per minute while open.
Runway endpoints come from the daily cached OurAirports runway dataset; up to three longest open runways with valid endpoints are shown. The longest is labelled with its runway numbers. If unavailable, a centre marker replaces the runway geometry. No invented runway alignment is drawn.
Aircraft and available trails come from the existing home-centred feed (about 100 km coverage, up to 64 retained aircraft, with the current aircraft-type and altitude filters). The main radar's display range does not clip aircraft in this close-up; available trail history still depends on the main radar range. This is a proximity view, not confirmed arrivals/departures. Coverage edges and stale data are labelled; demo aircraft are suppressed. It does not make additional adsb.fi requests. Update both firmware and Docker for the new airport metadata and runway cache.
Highlighted-trail altitude history is recorded locally during observation. Straight-line simplification preserves colour-band transitions; long histories remain bounded to 192 points and older position/height samples are thinned together. Unknown heights use muted grey-green. This adds 48 KiB of PSRAM across the 64 trail slots, with no extra network requests. Saved logbook tracks are unchanged.