Set up a Raspberry Pi drone receiver

• RID Wi-Fi: receives supported drone Remote ID broadcasts with an installed driver that supports monitor mode and permitted channels.
• Bluetooth LE: receives supported BLE Remote ID broadcasts. The device must expose a Bluetooth controller to Linux. A programmable Nordic board running serial, sniffer or HID firmware is not automatically a Bluetooth USB adapter.
• ADS-B: receives aircraft data through a supported RTL-SDR or an existing decoder’s JSON or Beast feed. Other SDR families need a compatible external decoder.

A brand name or “monitor mode” on a listing does not guarantee compatibility. Check the chipset, firmware and installed driver.

Raspberry Pi OS Lite has no desktop browser. Use SSH from your laptop to run the command, then open the Pi’s local website in your laptop browser. The setup file stays on your laptop until you upload it through that page. You do not need to copy that file using SSH.

Manual downloads and installation instructions are available if you prefer an archive. Signature and compatibility checks still apply.

Use the pencil to name a device or its antenna. The name follows a verified device identity, not a USB socket. Devices without a unique identity cannot safely keep a portable label.

One Wi-Fi adapter can receive several drones on one channel. Extra adapters can cover more channels or provide another antenna view. They may share a channel when useful. Band settings cannot create channels or driver capabilities the hardware does not support.

RF frames include other Wi-Fi traffic. RID frames are compatible Remote ID messages; neither is a count of unique drones. BLE advertisements are not automatically drones. Channel switch time measures the tuning command through driver confirmation, not time spent listening or signal strength.

“Starting” is not “Ready”. A failed worker or stale report should remain visible even if the adapter passed its capability check.

A brief disconnected state is expected. Give Linux time to enumerate it, then check for a driver, power or capture error. Troubleshooting → USB placement compares positions using passive reception. Use the same antenna and similar conditions; no traffic or a moving transmitter cannot establish a winning port.

A short USB extension or USB 2 port may help some 2.4 GHz setups. It is a test worth trying, not a rule that USB 2 is always better.

1. Choose Add source, then Network JSON or Beast TCP.
2. Enter the local decoder address and use Test connection.
3. Save the source. Check its aircraft count, decoded-update rate, age and errors.

Each source’s Edit button opens its own settings. Cancel closes it without saving. Feeds must describe antennas at this station; use another Layer400 station for a receiver at another site. Do not forward router ports.

Share its healthy local JSON or Beast output. If that output is missing, fix the existing decoder or configure its endpoint. Layer400 will not stop it just because a radio appears idle. When Layer400 owns the primary decoder, other feeders can consume its local Beast endpoint if available; keep them in network mode rather than competing for USB.

Existing aircraft feed guide

Run sudo layer400 setup on the Pi for its current address. With local-address reporting enabled, your current dashboard addresses also appear in your Layer400 account and to authorised administrators. Look in the receiver’s details; the report includes when it was last seen.

Open requires your browser to be on the receiver’s network. It is not remote access through Layer400. Stale addresses are labelled; the cloud does not scan or fetch your LAN.

Known USB GNSS devices can be selected automatically. Generic USB-serial devices may need Select GPS device; select only your GPS, never a radio. No device, Acquiring satellites, Fix acquired, Fix lost and Permission/device issue describe different conditions. Reconnect the GPS, allow time for a fix and use Advanced diagnostics for device details. Not every USB device or retail revision is compatible.

Save multiple networks with Auto-join enabled. Higher priority is preferred when reconnecting; it does not force a switch away from a healthy connection. When Home Wi-Fi disappears, a reachable saved hotspot can be joined. Keep the internet adapter separate from Remote ID capture. For older adapters, enable the phone’s compatibility or 2.4 GHz mode.

Connect now explicitly switches Wi-Fi and can disconnect your browser. Keep Ethernet available for recovery when testing at home. A failed join retries the previous Wi-Fi within a bounded recovery period. Edit changes a saved profile; Forget removes it. Passwords are not shown back in status or diagnostics.

GPS detection alone does not confirm that Layer400 can accept mobile observations. The Pi checks cloud compatibility before enabling Auto GPS. If it says Local GPS only — mobile observations are queued; not uploading yet., mobile uploads are held within the existing queue and storage limits. Keep Mobile off if you want to continue ordinary fixed uploads while testing the GPS.

Turning Mobile off restores the original fixed location and normal new fixed uploads. Older mobile observations keep their observation-time locations; they are never relabelled as receptions at home. A station without an original fixed location cannot restore one.

A lost GPS fix leaves the last known pin clearly marked stale. It does not jump back to home or invent fresh positions. If internet is lost, the durable queue remains bounded by available storage and the receiver’s reserve. Restore connectivity and check accepted observations, not just the connection light. Do not assume unlimited offline storage or that removing power without shutdown is risk-free.

1. Sign in as the local administrator and open Password & access → Work accounts.
2. Choose OpenLDAP or Active Directory, then enter the LDAPS server, port and search base. The hostname must match the server certificate.
3. For OpenLDAP, supply the user base for uid=username entries. For AD, supply the sign-in domain used for a UPN bind.
4. Enter the full group DNs allowed to administer or view the receiver. Only direct members count. OpenLDAP supports member, uniqueMember or memberUid; AD uses member.
5. If needed, paste your organisation’s CA certificates in PEM format—not a private key. Blank uses the system trust store.
6. Test an account, check its returned role, then save using the local receiver password. A successful draft test does not save the settings.

Use a short username on the sign-in form. TLS 1.2 or 1.3 and certificate/name checks are required. Plaintext LDAP, referrals, nested group expansion, domain joining and integrated Windows SSO are not provided.

• Local administrator: manages receiver settings and access policy.
• Work administrator: manages the receiver but cannot replace local access or directory policy.
• View-only: reads status, history and charts; cannot change settings, install updates or download administrator diagnostics.

Work sessions last at most one hour. Group changes apply on the next sign-in; changing receiver directory policy revokes its existing work sessions. Local sessions have a one-hour idle limit and an eight-hour maximum. Directory passwords are not saved for offline sign-in.

Choose Local administrator on the login screen. Directory failures do not consume the separate local password attempt limit. If the local password is lost, run sudo layer400 management-password-reset directly on the Pi.

Never expose the local dashboard with router port forwarding. LAN viewing does not grant administrator access. Changing settings requires an authenticated administrator; keep your owner password safe and use a trusted network.

Choose one day, two days, seven days or one calendar month, then a maintenance window of 1–12 hours. Save and check the confirmation. You can pause automatic installation; update checks still run and new releases remain visible.

A powered-off, disconnected, full or unhealthy receiver can miss its target. It retries in a later maintenance window without resetting the original target. Signature, compatibility and health checks are never skipped to meet a date. Rollback pauses automatic installation of the rejected release.

Check the supply, cable and combined load from every radio, including ADS-B. A correctly rated PoE/PoE+ HAT or powered hub can help a suitable installation, but Pi USB limits still apply. Do not use a hub that back-feeds the Pi.

The power chart shows observed kernel warnings, not a voltage meter. Older boot flags cannot tell us when an event happened. Brief events between samples may be missed. Power and hardware guide.

Use the passive comparison tools here. Keep antenna placement and conditions consistent. Wait for enough fresh frames, then compare rates, errors and tuning delay. Disconnects, background tabs and gaps can invalidate a run. The tools do not retune your internet adapter or promise that the fastest channel switch has the strongest signal.

Note the time, software version, what changed and the exact message. An administrator can download a bounded diagnostic report with service, power, storage and radio details. Review it before sharing. Automatic support reporting has a separate preference; detailed diagnostic logs are not silently uploaded.

For a model we have not seen, include its USB identity and driver from device details. Send a private hardware report.